Honoring a coach who guided Arizona State to a record-shattering season, the 26-sport department of ASU Athletics casted its votes and Sun Devils Volleyball’s first-year head coach JJ Van Niel was the recipient of the Frank Kush Coach of the Year award in 2024.
Thank you for reading this post, don't forget to subscribe!Legendary ASU Football coach Frank Kush passed away on June 22, 2017, and ever since then, this honor is one way other coaches at the university can recognize one another who had a successful season in their sport. Kush led the Sun Devils to a 176-54-1 record from 1958-79 and won seven Western Athletic Conference titles during that 22-year span.
During his first season as a head coach, Van Niel led Arizona State to a 28-7 record, its first NCAA Tournament berth since 2015 where the Sun Devils also won two matches for the first time in program history, earning a trip to the Sweet Sixteen. The record they earned was the best this century at ASU and they collected the second-highest win total ever.
Flipping a 13-19 ASU squad from 2022 to achieving the success that they did last year, Van Niel became the AVCA Pacific South Region Coach of the Year, Pac-12 Coach of the Year and won the Linda Vollstedt Coach of the Year award.
Arizona State was 14-6 in Pac-12, eclipsing the most conference wins as a program. Furthermore, the Sun Devils also ended their last season in the Pac-12 in a tie for third place in the conference, the best conference finish since they were tied for second back in 1993.
Not only did Van Niel win such prestigious accolades this season, but he saw many of his athletes do the same as well.
In her final season, senior opposite hitter Marta Levinska was an AVCA First Team All-American as well as receiving AVCA South Pacific Region All-Region and All-Pac-12 First Team honors. Graduate students Claire Jeter and Shannon Shields were both honorable mention All-Americans. As a whole, the team had three AVCA All-America honors, five AVCA All-District winners and won six Pac-12 postseason awards and five Pac-12 weekly awards.
The other coaches who were in the running for the Frank Kush Coach of the Year honor against Van Niel included Sheila McInerney from women’s tennis after her 40th and final season as coach, triathlon’s Cliff English who won a seventh straight national championship and Kristen Rohr of beach volleyball after she was the Pac-12 Coach of the Year and her team made it to the NCAA Tournament.
ASU Baseball lands UTSA transfer Matt King, Louisville pitcher Will Koger
*Get the BEST Phoenix sports insider information, and exclusive content. SIGN UP HEREÂ to unlock our premium content!*
Reporter Alec Cipollini covers ASU Athletics, Phoenix Mercury and more for Burn City Sports. You can follow him on his X account, @AlecCipollini
