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Kohan Named New Colorado State Volleyball Head Coach

12/13/2022 8:14:00 AM | Volleyball

The seven-year Associate Head Coach of the Rams to take the helm next season

FORT COLLINS, Colo. – Colorado State has a new leader of its volleyball program as Director of Athletics Joe Parker has named Emily Kohan, who has spent seven years on the staff including the previous three as associate head coach, as the new leader of Ram Volleyball.
 
"Though we knew Emily and her qualifications ahead of this search process, it was still important for us to identify the best candidate to take on the challenge of leading one of the nation's preeminent volleyball programs," Parker said. "In the end, Emily's experience with our team, the championship culture that has been established around it, and her love and familiarity with the importance of community support and engagement were all powerful indicators that she was the right person for this opportunity."
 
"It is truly a dream opportunity to represent Colorado State as the next head volleyball coach for this storied program," Kohan said. "I would like to thank Joe Parker, Shalini Shanker and Steve Cottingham for their thoughtfulness throughout this entire process to ensure our team is taken care of. Also, a big thank you to Tom Hilbert for mentoring me over the past seven years to understand what makes this program special and how to be a good steward as he passes the torch."
 
Starting her career at Colorado State as an assistant coach in 2016, Kohan was promoted to associate head coach in 2019 and has now been elevated to the head coaching role after the retirement announcement of 26-year head coach Tom Hilbert.
 
"The Fort Collins community loves this team, and my family equally loves the Fort Collins community – Pat, Evie and I are blessed to call this place home," said Kohan. "I speak for our whole group, staff and players, when I say we're ready to work to build on the legacy of Colorado State Volleyball and bring home more championships."
 
During her time with Colorado State, Kohan has helped the Rams to five postseason berths and four Mountain West championships. She also has helped lead CSU to 32 Mountain West All-Conference Awards, including a program and Mountain West record six honorees in 2017 and 2021.
 
In 2019, she again led the Rams' defense to lead the Mountain West with an opponent hitting mark of .111, which also led the country and was the first time in program history earning a No. 1 spot in a team category. In the following two seasons, she guided transfer libero Alexa Roumeliotis to pace the Mountain West in digs and earn back-to-back All-Mountain West honors. The 2021 season saw the season-ace record fall under the direction of Kohan, as Ciera Pritchard recorded 47 to set the modern-scoring record and tie for seventh all time.
 
Kohan began her volleyball career as a student-athlete at Iowa where she played libero for four years. As a four-year captain, she finished second all-time in digs (1,929) and 12th in service aces (97) for the Hawkeyes and also earned Academic All-District honors twice and Big Ten Academic Honors three times. Kohan graduated from Iowa in 2009 with a Bachelor of Business Administration, majoring in finance and marketing, while earning a minor in Spanish.
Moving into her coaching career, she began as a volunteer coach for one year before being elevated to an assistant coaching role at Oregon State while working for AVCA Hall of Famer and US National Team Head Coach Taras "Terry" Liskevych.
 
In 2015, Kohan helped Oregon State's freshman libero Kayla Ellis to an All-Freshman Honorable Mention season in the Pac-12, ranking second among the league's rookies in digs. Libero Darby Reeder set the OSU single-season record for digs in 2014 with 615, placing third in the Pac-12. Kohan also mentored libero Becky Defoe for three of her four seasons at Oregon State (2011-13), which were perhaps the finest defensive seasons in program history. Defoe, who ended her career in 2013, broke the school's record for digs in a career and is one of just 10 players in Pac-12 history with 2,000 or more.
 
Originally from Swink, Colo., Kohan made the move back home to coach for the Rams in 2016.
 
A formal press conference and fan meet-and-greet will be held Friday at 3:30 p.m. Due to commencement ceremonies in Moby Arena, the public announcement of Kohan will be held in the OCR Field Club at Canvas Stadium. Fans are encouraged to come out and meet the new face of the program.