SUNY Brockport Athletic Director Erick Hart announced the hiring of Jim Clar as the new head women's volleyball coach on Thursday. Clar will be responsible for all aspects of Brockport's storied women's volleyball program.

"We are excited to have Jim join our Brockport family," said athletic director Erick Hart. "He has over a decade of head coaching experience at our level and was able to develop Hartwick's program into a championship caliber team in the Empire 8 Conference. He's also a proven recruiter and he did an excellent job conveying his vision for Brockport volleyball during the interview process. We're thrilled to welcome Jim into the Brockport community, and we can't wait for him to begin working with our student-athletes."  

Get to Know Coach Clar

Clar spent the last 11 seasons developing the Hartwick College volleyball program into a perennial contender in the Empire 8 Conference.  His hard work came to fruition this past Fall as he guided the Hawks to their best record in program-history, 20-5 overall, en route to earning Empire 8 Coaching Staff of the Year honors. He piloted the Hawks to the program's first Empire 8 Championship game appearance; four all-conference selections and he also mentored the Empire 8 Player of the Year.

"I am honored and grateful to be selected as the next Head Volleyball Coach at SUNY Brockport," said Clar. "I want to thank Erick Hart and the entire athletic administration for their confidence in my ability to lead this program. I look forward to working relentlessly in pursuit of making a positive impact on all aspects of the student athletes' experience."

During his time at Hartwick he had a 96% retention rate of recruited student-athletes while building an inclusive, respectful, and competitive team culture. His coaching style features highly organized practice plans to optimize repetition efficiency with the use of the cauldron system to ensure a competitive atmosphere with equal opportunity for all athletes. He was responsible for all aspects of the program, including monitoring academic success, scheduling and organizing travel and competitions, as well as maintaining the team budget. He also spent three seasons as the Empire 8 Volleyball Chair, and he was a member of the AVCA All-American/All-Region selection committee for five years.

While at Hartwick he also spent time as the head strength and conditioning coach, he was a physical education instruction, a Title IX representative and he oversaw gameday management for indoor sports.

From 2010-2016 he was a USA Volleyball Coach at the High Performance Championships in Des Moines, Iowa, the High Performance Developmental Camp in Geneva, Ohio and he was a High Performance Tryout Coach in Buffalo and Rochester. 

Prior to his time at Hartwick he was the assistant women's volleyball coach at Nazareth, helping to guide the Golden Flyers to an NCAA berth in 2011. He also has experience at the club level. He was the Legion Volleyball Club 17U girls travel head coach (2016-17) and he spent three seasons with the Rochester Volleyball Club coaching the 15U, 17U and 18U teams.

Playing Experience

Originally from Rochester, Clar earned four letters in volleyball at Churchville-Chili High School before attending the University of Hawaii to pursue a degree in Sociology while playing Division I men's volleyball. He captained the squad in both his junior and senior seasons as an outside hitter.

After graduating from Hawaii in 2009, he trained and competed professionally overseas, in Holland and Germany. 
 
Brockport Volleyball
 
Brockport's celebrated volleyball history includes nine SUNYAC Conference Championships. The Golden Eagles have won four of the last seven SUNYAC Championships, earning the conference's automatic qualifier into the NCAA Division III Championships each season.
 
In the last ten seasons Brockport has posted 190 victories, four SUNYAC Conference titles and the Golden Eagles have made eight consecutive SUNYAC Conference Tournament appearances. 

This past season, under the guidance of interim Head Coach Kate Isaksen, the Golden Eagles went 20-8 overall and 8-1 in SUNYAC play. They earned the No. 2 seed in the conference tournament and advanced to the SUNYAC Championship match, narrowly falling to top-seeded Cortland in the finals. Jordan Thompson and Andrea Coyle were named AVCA All-Americans and four Golden Eagles earned All-Conference honors.