Last week I mentioned a position opening up in Germany’s top division on the women’s side. One of my coaching contacts told me a bit about the club and strongly encouraged me to go after the job. Another contact asked around on my behalf and told me they were looking to move quickly, so I went ahead and got my CV in. We’ll see if anything develops. If nothing else, it doesn’t hurt to have my name out there. It’s a relatively large club, so there might be other opportunities.

That same contact also pointed me toward a pair of other clubs in search of new coaches – both on the women’s side. One finished near the bottom of the Bundesliga, but should be able to stay up. The other has earned promotion this year. In the latter case, the current coach apparently doesn’t feel up to coaching in the top flight, so is stepping down to assistant. Potentially an awkward situation for someone new coming in, but it doesn’t bother me. I actually see it as an opportunity to have someone on-hand who would be able to quickly get me up to speed on the team, the club, and the overall system. A different coaching friend in Germany – one with a high profile – emailed the club manager on my behalf.

Back in the US market, I put in for a pair of assistant coaching jobs in Division I. I actually got my first phone interview for one of them! Had that last night. It seemed to go pretty well. Sounds like the head coach is looking to move quickly, so I’ll know if it’s going to go anywhere fairly shortly. I plan on writing a post about the interview questions I got, as I imagine they are probably fairly common ones and therefore may be of interest to others going through the process.

I also gave some hard consideration to a combined men’s and women’s Division III job in the Northeast. As I’ve mentioned, I like the idea of that kind of position at that level, but this particular situation doesn’t look to be a good one. It’s a very small school (if both teams had full rosters it would represent like 5% of the student body!) with what I suspect is limited support.

In terms of the positions I won’t be getting, the LIU Division I head job is filled. Ditto for the UConn and Illinois Division I assistant coach jobs, and the Northwest Oklahoma State (NAIA going Division II) and Rockford Division III head jobs. Also got a “you’ve not been selected for an interview” email from North Dakota State with respect to an assistant position there.

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John Forman
John Forman

John is currently the Talent Strategy Manager (oversees the national teams) and Indoor Performance Director for Volleyball England, as well as Global Director for Volleyball for Nation Academy. His volleyball coaching experience includes all three NCAA divisions, plus Junior College, in the US; university and club teams in the UK; professional coaching in Sweden; and both coaching and club management at the Juniors level. He's also been a visiting coach at national team, professional club, and juniors programs in several countries. Learn more on his bio page.

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