Danielle Essix Named ECU Volleyball Head Coach
ADA, Okla. – East Central University Director of Athletics Matt Cole has officially announced the hiring of Danielle Essix as the fourth head volleyball coach in program history.
"I'm pleased to announce Danielle Essix as our new volleyball coach," Cole said. "After a thorough search of some outstanding candidates, coach Essix kept rising to the top of our list. As a graduate of ECU, she brings not only a successful background as a head coach, but a perspective of recruiting student-athletes to our institution. Welcome home, coach Essix!"
"I'm extremely excited about the opportunity to return to my alma mater and work with all the great people at East Central University," Essix stated. "I believe we have a well-supported institution and athletic department. I want to thank Athletic Director Matt Cole and President Wendell Godwin for the opportunity to lead East Central University women's volleyball into the future and the Great American Conference. I hope to continue to build a strong, competitive, family-based atmosphere that will lead to competing for championships each year."
"We are excited to have a former ECU Tiger return to lead our volleyball program," Godwin stated. "Coach Essix has a great vision to build on our recent success and take it to new heights. She is a winner with a track record to back it up."
Essix has spent the last five seasons as the head coach at Lee College, an NJCAA team in the Region XIV Athletic Conference in Baytown, Texas. During her time with the Navigators, she guided the program to more than 70 wins and helped produce one Libero of the Year, three First Team All-Conference selections, four Second Team All-Conference selections, seven Honorable Mention All-Conference selections, and four Academic All-Americans.
Prior to her tenure at Lee College, Essix was the assistant coach at Blinn College in Brenham, Texas, for the 2016 and 2017 seasons before serving as interim head coach for five months. There, she assisted the team to a first-place finish during the 2017 conference season and a second-place finish in the Region XIV Conference Championships.
Essix's first coaching position began at ECU, where she was a graduate assistant from 2014-15 under longtime head coach Dave Thorn, who started coaching the program in 2008.
Before entering her coaching career, Essix was a stand-out on the court from 2010 to 2013, where she left her name on several ECU Career Top-10 lists, including No. 2 in kills and attacks, No. 3 in service aces, points, and double-doubles, No. 4 in matches played, and No. 6 in sets played. In Essix's senior season in 2013, she earned Second Team All-GAC and landed a spot on the All-Tournament team at the GAC Championships.
A native of Commerce, Texas, Essix received her degree in athletic training in 2014 and completed her master's degree in sports administration in 2015 from ECU.
