Three seasons (31-49 through 2011)
Stephanie Dragan enters her fourth season as Head Volleyball Coach at Franklin Pierce in 2012. She also serves as senior woman administrator at the University. Through three campaigns in Rindge, Dragan has posted an 31-49 record (.388 winning percentage) over 80 matches to push her career record to 252-289 (.466) in 541 matches over 16 seasons as a collegiate head coach.
In addition to her responsibilities at Franklin Pierce, Dragan is currently serving the second year of two-year terms as both the chair of the NCAA Division II East Region Women's Volleyball Committee and the chair of the Northeast-10 Conference Volleyball Coaches Group. As chair of the NCAA East Region Committee, she will also serve a two-year term as a member of the NCAA Division II National Women's Volleyball Committee. Dragan is also representing the East Region on the American Volleyball Coaches Association's Division II committee.
Most recently, the Ravens' resurgence continued in 2011, as Dragan guided the team to a 13-13 mark, which included a 7-8 record in Northeast-10 play, both figures marking the high-water mark for her in Rindge thus far. The team finished ninth in the Conference, one lone game from qualifying for the eight-team Northeast-10 Championship in the 16-team Conference. The squad, which featured no seniors nor juniors, clearly set the table for a potential return to the postseason in 2012.
Lauren Miller, a Northeast-10 All-Rookie pick in 2010, made the successful transition from outside hitter to libero for the 2011 campaign, as she finished among the top 100 players in the nation in digs per set, ranked third in the Northeast-10 in the same category, and was twice named Northeast-10 Libero of the Week. At the net, transfer right side Natasha Ray led the offense with 15 double-doubles while leading the team in kills and points per set.
Away from the court, Dragan has also seen her players honored for
their work in the classroom since arriving in Rindge. Libero
Chelsie Kohout was a Northeast-10 Conference
All-Academic Team selection in both 2010 and 2009, while the team
earned the Team Academic Award from the American Volleyball Coaches
Association by posting a grade-point average higher than 3.30
during each of the last three seasons. For the 2011-12 academic
year, the team collected the Northeast-10 Conference Team Academic
Excellence Award for volleyball, as the team with the highest GPA
in the league.
Dragan collected her first 10-win season as a Raven in 2010 with a 10-14 campaign and has the team poised for future success, with three freshman earning starting spots during the most recent season. Lauren Miller earned a spot on the Northesat-10 Conference All-Rookie Team, while her and Katie Jackson combined to pick up three Northeast-10 Rookie of the Week honors during the season. In addition to Miller, senior libero Chelsie Kohout picked up hardware from the conference with her selection to the All-Northeast-10 Third Team. They marked the first conference awards for the team under Dragan's watch.
In addition, Dragan saw multiple players reach personal milestones during the 2010 season. Chelsie Kohout surpassed 1,500 career digs on her way to finishing her career with 1,905, which obliterated the previous program record. In addition, Pamela Walker collected the 1,000th assist of her career, while Christina Calderon returned for her senior season after a four-year hiatus and surpassed 1,000 career kills.
After an 8-22 debut season in Rindge in 2009, Dragan brought her first recruting class to the University over the off-season. The group boasted a duo of All-State players at the high school level, as well as numerous All-Conference performers. After losing only three graduating seniors for the 2010 team, and with no seniors on the roster for 2011, the core of the Franklin Pierce squad will have the opportunity to grow together over the upcoming years.
Dragan amassed 13 years of head coaching experience before coming to Rindge, the last four of which came at the Division I level for Western Carolina University. Before that, she spent seven very successful seasons at NCAA Division III Centre College, in Danville, Ky., where she compiled an overall record of 159-107 (.598). Prior to Centre, she posted a 30-30 (.500) record in two years during her first head coaching position at Agnes Scott College in Decatur, Ga., from 1996-97.
While at Centre, Dragan enjoyed five 20-plus win seasons including a 28-victory campaign and unblemished home record in her final year at the Colonels' helm in 2004. She produced the lone All-American in program history, two All-Region players and 15 All-Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference (SCAC) selections. She also coached the 2003 and 2004 SCAC Freshman of the Year as well as one AVCA South Region Freshman of the Year. In her third season in 2000, she led Centre to a 26-8 record and was named the SCAC Coach of the Year.
Dragan's eye for talent continued to show at Western Carolina, recruiting a Collegiate Volleyball Update (CVU) "Rising Star", a prepvolleyball.com "Defensive Dandy" and two prepvolleyball.com Top 250 recruits. Carrie Minogue set a Catamounts program-record with 770 digs during her freshman season in 2008, which placed her 15th nationally in Division I. Dragan led WCU to its first Southern Conference (SoCon) Tournament win since 2000 with a three-game sweep of the University of North Carolina-Greensboro in 2005. The program also produced no less than six TIAA-CREF SoCon fall All-Academic honorees under her tutelage.
Dragan has also performed a variety of tasks at the collegiate level in addition to her volleyball coaching duties. She served as assistant strength coach and assistant sports information director at Centre, while also working with the College's Student-Athlete Advisory Committee. She was also the head softball coach over four years at Centre and Agnes Scott. Dragan had returned to her native Ohio following her stint at Western Carolina and was coaching the Mavericks Volleyball Club in Parma.
Dragan is a 1994 graduate of Shawnee State University, in Portsmouth, Ohio, where she earned a Bachelor of Arts Degree in social science and was a standout setter on the Bears volleyball team. Dragan earned her Masters of Sport Science from the United States Sports Academy in 2008. She is an active member of the American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA), is IMPACT certified and is a graduate of the NCAA Women's Coaches Academy. She has also served as an assistant coach for the USA Developmental Team as part of the 2008 Global Challenge held in Puola, Croatia.
Originally from Bedford, Ohio, Dragan currently resides in Troy, N.H.
Career Record (16 seasons: 252-289 (.466))
Franklin Pierce (three
seasons: 31-49 (.388) overall, 14-31 (.311) Northeast-10
Conference)
2011: 13-13, 7-8 Northeast-10
2010: 10-14, 4-11 Northeast-10
2009: 8-22, 3-12 Northeast-10
Western Carolina (four
seasons: 32-103 (.237) overall, 18-54 (.250) Southern
Conference)
2008: 6-26, 3-15 Southern
2007: 9-24, 4-14 Southern
2006: 8-28, 4-14 Southern^
2005: 9-25, 7-11 Southern^^
^^ Southern Conference Championship Quarterfinalist
^ Southern Conference Championship First Round
Centre (seven seasons: 159-107 (.598) overall)
Agnes Scott (two seasons: 30-30 (.500) overall)
