MOREHEAD, Ky. – With a long list of success in helping Morehead State volleyball achieve greatness in all aspects of the program,
Kyrsten Becker-McBride is the new head coach for Morehead State volleyball.
Having just completed her 12
th season on the Eagle staff, Becker-McBride has earned her opportunity to lead the program. Long-time head coach Dr. Jaime Gordon has stepped aside to focus his efforts on being MSU's Director of Athletics.
"Today marks a new and exciting chapter for Morehead State Volleyball. Kyrsten is an outstanding coach who is unquestionably the right person to lead this program," said Gordon. "It is a rather unique situation, as a departing coach, to be able to select your successor as the Director of Athletics. This is one of the easiest decisions I have ever had to make. Kyrsten has been a tremendous part of this program's success. We have been so privileged to be able to retain such a talented coach for as long as we have, and are fortunate to have her as our next Head Coach. I am fully confident that she will lead with the student-athletes at the heart of this program, and guide Morehead State to new heights."
Becker-McBride will also continue serving as head coach of the MSU Beach Volleyball program, a position she has held since the 2020 season.
"I would like to thank Jaime Gordon for the opportunity to lead this storied volleyball program, and the mentorship and friendship he has provided over the past twelve years," she said. "From the first time I stepped on campus in 2011, it was clear this program is built with the student-athletes at the heart of it. Morehead State Volleyball is about family and empowering women on and off the court. Those core values will continue to guide us, and I'm honored with the responsibility to carry out that vision."
Becker-McBride has helped lead Morehead State to prominence since joining the staff as director of operations in 2011. She served 2012-22 as an assistant coach and has held the title of associate head coach since the 2016 season. She has helped guide MSU to five Ohio Valley Conference regular season championships.
Becker-McBride has also served as recruiting coordinator since 2015. During her time on staff, Morehead State has had 14 student-athletes earn First-Team All-OVC honors with 23 total first-team awards. Fifteen additional players have earned second-team or all-freshmen accolades from the OVC.
She has coached two OVC Players of the Year (Ellie Roberson, Olivia Lohmeier), one OVC Defensive Player of the Year (Leslie Schellhaas) and three OVC Freshmen of the Year (Laura McDermott, Merideth Jewell and
Bridget Bessler). She has also mentored five American Volleyball Coaches Association All-Region selections and two AVCA All-Americans.
With her on staff, Morehead State went 50-2 in conference matches from 2011-13 en route to three consecutive regular-season league championships. The Eagles captured conference tournament titles in 2011 and 2013 on their way to NCAA Tournament appearances. She also helped lead MSU to the OVC Tournament title in the spring 2021 season and helped guide the Eagles to the program's first-ever NCAA Tournament victory, defeating Creighton.
The Eagles also posted back-to-back 20-win campaigns in 2018 and 2019 and have compiled six 20-win seasons with her on staff. She has been a crucial part of 212 wins since she came to MSU.
During her seasons as head coach of the beach program, she led the Eagles to the first-ever OVC regular season title in 2021 while coaching the league's Player of the Year and Pair of the Year.
Morehead State, which has posted a 3.5-or-better team grade point average for the indoor program in each of her years, won the OVC's Team Academic Award in 2011, 2013, 2016 and 2017. The Eagles also claimed MSU's Team Academic Awards in 2011, 2012 and 2013 and have earned 11 Team Academic Awards from the AVCA. Two student-athletes have been named CoSIDA (now CSC) Academic All-Americans in her tenure.
With Becker-McBride on staff, Morehead State has earned 10 straight public recognitions for having one of the top Academic Progress Rates in the nation.
In 2015, she was tabbed by the AVCA as one of the nation's top 30 coaches under the age of 30.
She came to Morehead State after a four-year playing career at St. Francis (Ill.). The outside hitter was a three-time All-Chicagoland Collegiate Athletic Conference performer. An Academic All-District selection, she was also a two-time Daktronics NAIA Volleyball Scholar-Athlete.
A native of Arlington Heights, Ill., Becker-McBride earned a bachelor's degree in mathematics and secondary education from St. Francis in 2011. She received her Master's Degree in educational technology from Morehead State in 2015. In the summer of 2021, she married Josh McBride.
"The chance to be a head coach at this university, with this program, is truly the opportunity of a lifetime. Over the past twelve years, countless members of our program and this university have turned into family, and Morehead, Kentucky has become home," she said. "I can't wait to continue building the legacy of Morehead State Volleyball with the student-athletes and community that I love."
