Kate Witte is in her 29th season and final as head coach of the Ohio Northern University volleyball program.

She has announced her retirement at the end of the 2019 season.

During her previous 28 years at ONU, Witte has guided the Polar Bears to an impressive 715-235 record (.753 winning percentage), 18 Ohio Athletic Conference regular season titles, 14 OAC Tournament Championships, 22 NCAA Division III Tournament bids, 12 NCAA Division III Tournament Sweet 16 appearances, four Elite 8 appearances and one Final Four appearance.

The Ohio Northern volleyball program is one of the more storied programs in the university’s athletic history, posting an impressive 1,321 victories in 60 seasons. Northern also posted an NCAA all-divisions record 35 consecutive winning seasons from 1976-2010.

Witte has established herself as one of the nation’s top coaches.

She has been named OAC Coach of the Year in ’91, ’94, ’96, ’97, ’02 and ’08 and the AVCA Regional Coach of the Year in ’94, ’96, ’97, 2003, 2009 and 2016.

Witte also earned All-Great Lakes Region Coach of the Year in 2016 for leading the Polar Bears to as high as No. 22 in the American Volleyball Coaches Association coaches poll.

In addition to coaching, she also served as ONU’s Senior Woman Administrator from 2000-2016, is an NCAA Great Lakes Region representative, an assistant professor in the ONU Department of Human Performance and Sport Sciences and is one of the department’s most respected and knowledgeable educators.

She is also the director for ONU’s annual summer volleyball camps, serves as the Chair of the Great Lakes Region, on the NCAA regional ranking, and All-Region and All-America selection committees.

Witte came to ONU from Iowa State University, where she had been a temporary instructor of health studies in the department of physical education and leisure studies and the coach for the men’s volleyball club team for two years.

Witte graduated from the University of Northern Iowa in 1982 with a degree in health and physical education. While there, she was a four-year standout and was named to the Midwest Region AIAW All-America team her senior year.

From 1982-87, she taught health and physical education on the elementary and high school levels in Iowa and was the head varsity volleyball coach at St. Albert High School.

In 1989, Witte obtained her master’s degree from Indiana University in school health education. While at Indiana she served as an associate instructor and graduate assistant to the women’s volleyball program.

Volleyball under Witte

Dr. Brian Hofman is in his 27th season as an assistant volleyball coach at Ohio Northern.

He serves as the middle hitter position coach and is a key reason ONU has had an All-Region middle hitter in 13 out the last 19 years and an All-OAC middle hitter in 17 of the last 20 years.

In 2009, Hofman’s efforts on the sidelines were recognized as he was named the AVCA National Assistant Coach of the Year.

He also serves as assistant athletics director and an associate professor in the department of Human Performance and Sport Science. Hofman has also served as coach of the men’s volleyball club at ONU for 17 seasons. He led the Polar Bears to the 2007 National Small College Club Volleyball National Championship and a runner-up finish in 2004.

Additionally, Hofman has also received the United States Volleyball Association’s honorable mention leader in volleyball award for his service to the USVBA.

He graduated from Iowa State in 1993 where he was a standout volleyball player for the Iowa State men’s volleyball club team.

Hofman led the Cyclones to two Top 10 finishes in the men’s collegiate club national tournament and was a Midwest Intercollegiate All-Conference selection his junior year.

He earned his Master’s Degree from Bowling Green State University in Recreational Management in 1995 and received his Doctoral Degree in higher education at the University of Toledo in 2004.

Katie (Weininger) Kuhn is in her ninth year as an assistant coach for the Polar Bear volleyball team. She is also currently an adjunct professor in the Communication Arts department.

She will be taking over as head coach of the ONU volleyball program on Jan. 1, 2020, replacing 29-year head coach Kate Witte, who has announced her retirement at the end of the 2019 season.

Kuhn is no stranger to the ONU volleyball program, as she was a four-year letterwinner and three-year team captain as a student-athlete from 2005 to 2008.

For her efforts on the sidelines, Kuhn was named one of the nation's top 30 volleyball coaches under 30 years of age in 2016 by the American Volleyball Coaches Association.

The AVCA's Thirty Under 30 award was created in 2009 to honor up-and-coming coaching talent at all levels of the sport.

The two-time All-American finished her career third all-time in assists at 4,680. She was also the 2008 OAC Co-Player of the Year, the same season the Polar Bears reached the NCAA Final Four.

In spring 2011, Kuhn completed a graduate assistantship at Ashland University where she earned her master’s degree in education. As a volleyball assistant for the Eagles, she focused primarily in the areas of setting, while also tending to game management and operations.

She graduated from Ohio Northern in 2009 with a dual degree in public relations and sport management.

Kuhn married fellow ONU alum and All-OAC swimmer Brett Kuhn in May 2011 and the couple resides in Bellefontaine.