Emily Gann To Depart After 18 Years At Helm of Guilford College Volleyball Program

Gann To Depart After 18 Years At Helm of Guilford Volleyball Program
Also served Quakers as Assistant Athletic Director and Senior Women Administrator

GREENSBORO, N.C. – After 18 seasons leading the Guilford College volleyball program, Emily Gann is preparing to step down as Head Coach, Assistant Athletic Director, and Senior Woman Administrator within Quakers Athletics, effective June 24, 2024, the department announced on Thursday.

“Emily has had a tremendous 18-year run as the Head Coach of our women’s volleyball program,” Director of Athletics, Bill Foti said. “She has recruited and coached some outstanding student-athletes that have represented Guilford with distinction. Beyond coaching, Emily has had a profound impact on Guilford Athletics. The last three years, she has embraced administrative responsibilities as the Assistant Director of Athletics and Senior Woman Administrator (SWA). In these roles, she has enhanced all of our 22 sports through her compassion and vision which were driven by her tremendous work ethic. Her work as the Advisor to the Student-Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC) has been profound. She has been the driving force behind our extremely popular Student-Athlete Awards Ceremony: The Quakies. I will be eternally grateful for her friendship, assistance, and guidance during our three years together in athletic administration at Guilford. I am excited for her as she embarks on this new venture and I know she will continue to positively impact young student-athletes.”

Gann completes her Guilford tenure with 183 wins, second-most in program history, earning eight Old Dominion Athletic Conference (ODAC) Tournament berths along the way. In addition, during her time leading the volleyball program, the Quakers have had 16 student-athletes named to an All-ODAC team, with one First Team Selection. Five other players received All-ODAC Honorable Mention status during that span.

“After 18 years at Guilford College I have decided to step away from collegiate coaching,” Gann said. “While it is difficult to leave a team I care about deeply, the opportunity to start the next chapter of my career teaching and coaching at the same school my children attend is one I could not pass up. I am grateful for the amazing memories created with my players, alumnae, SAAC members, student-workers and colleagues. I will always cherish our shared experiences, even the challenging ones, as they helped shaped who I am today. Thank you to the administrators who entrusted me with the leadership of the volleyball program and to the Guilford community for your support. The future of Guilford Volleyball is very bright and I am excited to watch this talented and determined group of young ladies achieve great things in the future.”

Taking over a program in July of 2006, Gann oversaw the team, building and improving their overall record and conference record each of the following four seasons, culminating in consecutive ODAC Tournament berths in 2009 and 2010. The team’s 16-13 record in 2010 marked the program’s highest win total in 15 years, and its first winning season since 1996. A third-straight league tournament appearance in 2011 made volleyball’s first stretch of three-consecutive ODAC Tournament bids since making it in four-straight years from 1999-2002.

Following a four-season stretch without a postseason berth, the Quakers re-emerged better than ever in 2016 with an ODAC Tournament appearance in 2016 followed by 12-11 record in 2017, the first of three-straight winning seasons for the program for the first time since doing so in seven-consecutive years from 1987-1993. That last of those seasons was 2019, Guilford Volleyball’s best under Gann’s guidance, in which they went 19-8 including 9-3 in ODAC play with the team’s 19 victories being the most since 1993, and their third-place ODAC finish being their highest since 1997.

Following the COVID-disrupted 2020 season and a couple of rebuild years, Gann oversaw a standout 2023 campaign that would ultimately be her final season at GC with her fifth winning season and eighth ODAC Tournament bid as the team finished 18-9 on the year, and 6-6 against conference foes.

Developing winners both in the classroom, and out of it, Gann has seen a player named to an ODAC All-Academic team 110 times, excluding 2023-24 selections who have not yet been announced by the conference. In addition, as a program, the Quakers have received the AVCA Team Academic Award four-consecutive times for each academic year since 2019-20.

In August of 2021, Gann took on additional responsibilities, rising to become an Assistant Athletics Director and the Senior Women Administrator, becoming an invaluable and second-longest-tenured member of the Quakers Athletics Administrative team. Additionally, she has served as Advisor for the Guilford College Student-Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC) since 2010, playing a major role in the advancement and improvement of the Quakies Awards, among other projects.

Gann will remain connected to volleyball in her new role at the nearby Revolution Academy where she will serve in the position of Head Volleyball Coach and Health and PE Teacher.

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