Kate Witte enters her 22nd season as head coach of the Ohio Northern University volleyball program.

During her two decades at ONU, Witte has guided the Polar Bears to an impressive 551-183 record (.758 winning percentage), 15 Ohio Athletic Conference regular season titles, 12 OAC Tournament Championships, 18 NCAA Division III Tournament bids, 10 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 1,143 victories in 52 seasons. Northern also posted an NCAA all-divisions record 35 consecutive winning seasons from 1976-2010.

Without a doubt, Witte has been a major part of that continuing success and 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 and 2009.

In addition to coaching, she also serves as ONU’s senior woman administrator, 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.

She also has served as the chair of the NCAA national Division III committee.

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