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FAMILY FIRST AS CHATMAN RESIGNS FROM UCA VOLLEYBALL

Hate to see her leave, but understand the reason why.
Newberry and Collins have done a nice job in her place this season. I wonder if we may see a dual head coaching roll in the near future.

Sad to lose her...such a good fit for our program....and out players....totally understand her reason for resigning which also sets a good example for her players....she will have other opportunities to coach...………

UCA is a very desirable program so Brad will have options...….John and Marissa are top notch assistants....

Thanks to Coach Chatman for her 5 years at UCA....

Co-head coaches

I wonder how that would really work? It guess it could work when things were going well. If things started to go poorly, and blame were being cast, well...

I think it would be hard to be on a team where there was doubt about who really had the final say. Kind of like kids playing mom against dad.

I know that if I were on the hook for a team's success, I would need to be where the buck stops.

Newberry Named Head Coach

Collins will stay on as Associate Coach

https://ucasports.com/news/2019/11/26/newberry-to-head-uca-volleyball-program.aspx

Two new head coaches...…….

CONWAY, Ark. _ John Newberry has had three different titles in his two stints with the University of Central Arkansas volleyball program, and now he has a fourth - Head Coach.

Dr. Brad Teague, UCA's director of athletics, named Newberry the new head coach on Tuesday. Newberry, a UCA assistant coach and recruiting coordinator since 2017 and an associate head coach this past season alongside Marissa Collins, is replacing Jeni Jones Chatman, who resigned following the 2019 season to devote time to her family. She missed the 2019 season due to the birth of a son in July.

Newberry is in his second stint with UCA Volleyball, originally joining the coaching staff in 2012 and helped lead the Sugar Bears to unprecedented heights during that time. Collins, one of the most highly decorated Sugar Bear players in school history from 2010-13, will remain on staff as Associate Head Coach. Autumn Erickson, an Associate Head Coach for the beach volleyball program under Jones Chatman, will take over the reins of that program as head coach.

"I am just extremely excited about this opportunity,' said Newberry, who first came to UCA in 2000 as a punter for the football team and earned All-Conference and All-American honors for the Bears. "I worked very hard to earn this position if the opportunity presented itself. This is absolutely the greatest honor.

"And I can't thank a couple of people enough. No. 1 would be Jeni for allowing me to come back to UCA and allowing me to do my job my way, and completely trusting decisions that were made. And then obviously the UCA administration, with Dr. Teague allowing me to step into this new role. Thank you to my wife Brittany for getting me interested in his sport and supporting me all the time. And Marissa... she is a person that I've always trusted and we've always been able to lean into each other in practices and in games. And we usually know exactly what each other is thinking.

"And that cohesion is crucial for having a great staff. She is incredibly valuable. She also bleeds purple and gray. She's put a lot of banners on the walls as a player. She is great with the girls on the court and off the court.'

Newberry, a 2005 graduate of UCA, was on the Sugar Bears' staff from 2012-2014 under head coach David McFatrich before following him to Mississippi State for two seasons. He returned to join Jones Chatman's staff in the summer of 2017.

"I am very proud to name John Newberry as the next head volleyball coach at UCA,' said Teague. "John is a graduate of UCA and has worked two stints as our assistant volleyball coach. He cares about our student-athletes' well-being and insures we continue to have great young women coming into our UCA family. I am confident Coach Newberry will continue the great tradition of UCA Volleyball.

"I am also extremely proud that Marissa Collins will continue to serve as our Associate Head Coach. She and Coach Newberry have been together for many years and they are a great team. I want to thank them both for their hard work and great effort this past season. Their dedication to our program and student-athletes did not go unnoticed.'

During Newberry's first stint as a UCA assistant, the Sugar Bears were the most successful program in the Southland Conference and one of the winningest programs in the nation, making consecutive NCAA Tournaments and winning back-to-back Southland Conference regular season and tournament championships, a feat not accomplished within the league in 23 years.

In 2012 and 2013, the Sugar Bears went a combined 59-9 (the 2nd most wins in Division I during that period behind only 2013 national champion Penn State), defeated Top 25 teams, broke into the Top 45 nationally in RPI, maintained perfect APR scores and ended the 2013 season ranked No. 17 in one national Top 25 poll. The Sugar Bears took home the league's Player of the Year and Student-Athlete of the Year awards and Setter of the Year twice, while having six 1st-team All-Southland selections.

The Sugar Bears, under Newberry and Collins, finished the 2019 season with a seven-game winning streak to earn the fifth seed in the recent SLC Tournament held at the Farris Center.
"This past season was very unique for us,' Newberry said. "There were no clear-cut ways to go about the season. There was no direction other than Jeni telling us to just treat this program as if it is your own. And we did that. And we were about as successful as I feel like we could have been in this situation. And we also landed some really, really good recruits during the season as well.

"We've had high success here, but we've got some catching up to do to get back to the top where we've been used to being. And it's going to start off with recruiting. We have some great ones coming in and we have to continue to add to that depth with high caliber talent.'

Collins, from Pearland, Texas, won three SLC Setter of the Year Awards, the SLC Freshman of the Year award and SLC Player of the Year award in 2013. Erickson played for UCA volleyball in 2003-04 and returned to UCA as assistant for the beach program in 2018.

"We made the decision to separate coaching duties for indoor volleyball and beach volleyball,' Teague said. "After four seasons of beach volleyball, it has become clear that the two sports overlap in too many ways for a coach to split time. Therefore, Coach Autumn Erickson will be elevated to the head beach volleyball coach. Autumn has been with our beach program for several years and has proven to be a great leader of our beach ladies.

"This separation will allow both programs to have coaches dedicated full-time to their sport.'

Newberry, from Crossett, Ark., said UCA and the town of Conway will always be home. His wife Brittany is the head volleyball coach at Hendrix College.

"I've bled purple and gray for a long time,' said Newberry. "I joke about always having a UCA shirt on underneath whatever I'm wearing. But being here in this town for 17 years, and now having the opportunity to continue to live here is an absolute honor. I believe in this school, from the academic side and the athletic side.'

NEWBERRY ADDS MACLEAN TO COACHING STAFF

She seems like a nice addition to the staff. Welcome Coach Maclean!