Chad McDole

Chad McDole, Head Coach Office Phone: 641-784-5317 e-mail: cmcdole@graceland.edu

Chad McDole -- Head Men’s Volleyball Coach

Yellowjacket alumnus Chad McDole looks to lead the Yellowjackets to the top of the Mid-America Men's Volleyball Intercollegiate Conference (MAMVIC) in his fifth year with the program.

McDole returns six players from last year's season, including an all-conference player Joe Klein. McDole is really excited about this season. "This is most talented core I have had in my coaching career at Graceland" says coach McDole. What's equally exciting is the school has announced that it will fund two JV teams for the 2009-10 seasons and beyond. Graceland Head Coach Chad McDole is looking for the athletes to make this dream a reality.
"I've been campaigning to get (the JV program) back ever since I got here," said McDole. "From our standpoint, it's a win-win for everybody. The school will gain new students, but in our view it's a win for boys' volleyball since it creates 24 more opportunities to play at the college level."

The JV volleyball program will have scholarships available and every year there will be tryouts for the varsity team.

"It's going to be a competitive environment," McDole said. "Everyone has a fair shot; we want to improve our program over all."

The head coach knows the quality of player he needs due to his personal experience in the sport. McDole was a defensive specialist for the 1998 NIRSA men's volleyball national championship team. He also served as one of Graceland's junior varsity women's volleyball coaches from 1996-99, and then graduated with a degree in wellness and recreation at the end of the year.

Following his playing tenure at Graceland, McDole completed his masters of education in sports administration from the University of Kansas in Lawrence. At KU, McDole spent two years as a women's volleyball assistant under Head Coach Ray Bechard.

2002-2004 McDole was the head women's volleyball coach and sports information director at a fellow Heart of America Athletic Conference school, Benedictine College. For the Ravens, McDole was in control of both a varsity and junior varsity women's volleyball program. The varsity team finished the season 26-7, with a second-place finish and an 8-2 record in the HAAC. "This was fun for me because of the unique opportunity to compete against my father Stew McDole" McDole says. "Benedictine was very much a rival school with Graceland, in fact Benedictine had never beaten Graceland ever in women's volleyball" adds McDole. "Of course that tradition did not last long after I got there, ha ha I was fortunate enough to go 1-1 with Graceland in the two years I coached there" chuckles coach McDole.
The Graceland graduate has been on staff for several volleyball camps including USAV National Development Camps for the past 19 years, USAV Regional High Performance Camps for two years, University of Kansas Volleyball camps for the past four years, the Benedictine College Camp for two years and the Fort Osage Volleyball Camp for three years. McDole is also a member of USA Volleyball and the American Volleyball Coaches Association.

McDole's coaching position is coupled with a teaching appointment in the Division of Health and Movement Sciences, where he teaches facility management, wellness assessment, motor learning, introduction to leisure studies and teaching team sports.

Chad and his wife Amber are the parents of twin boys, Tyson and Trevor. Chad is the son of Patty and Stew McDole, who is the head women's volleyball coach at Graceland University.