After three tumultuous seasons, Sean Burdette resigned as Bradley’s head volleyball coach in December.
On Jan. 5, former Lehigh University coach Jenny Maurer was named the eighth head coach in Bradley volleyball history.
“Jenny Maurer represented all of the qualities that we were seeking when we began our search,” said Bradley Director of Athletics Dr. Michael Cross. “She is a smart, driven and energetic professional who has led successful cultures and programs throughout her career. She is a gifted communicator with tremendous values that impressed everyone who met her during the interview process. Everyone we spoke to around the country had high praise for Jenny as a person and a coach.”
Maurer inherits a program that finished 8-23 in 2010, but this isn’t the first time Maurer has been asked to rebuild.
In the three years prior to her arrival at Lehigh in 2007, the Mountain Hawks had a 9-74 combined record. In Maurer’s final season she led Lehigh to a 13-13 mark, giving the program its best record in more than a decade.
Maurer said there were many factors that attracted her to becoming the next volleyball coach at Bradley.
“Bradley is in a very well-respected conference in the Missouri Valley and has a strong commitment from the university to have the volleyball program succeed at the highest level,” she said. “Also personally for me, Peoria is in between St. Louis and Chicago where my husband and I are from so the opportunity to advance my career and move closer to home was a winning combination.”
Despite Bradley’s struggle with losses prior to her arrival, Maurer has high expectations for the team.
“We want to be a nationally recognized program,” she said. “We want to attract high quality people who are excellent in the classroom then carry that excellence over to the court.”
Maurer wants to continue that excellence away from the court as well.
“Off the court, we want to give Bradley University and the city of Peoria a volleyball team to be proud of and get behind.”
Maurer has been apart of winning teams her entire life and expects that to continue when she takes the helm at Bradley in the fall.
“Whether it’s winning the conference or playing in the NCAA tournament, we want to achieve at the highest level possible and I’m confident we’ll get there,” Maurer said.
