Coach of the Year
2025-26 AHSVCA COACHES OF THE YEAR
Congratulations the 2025-26 AHSVCA Coaches of the Year!!
- Class 1A - Ginger McArthur, Fayetteville School
- Class 2A - Jennifer Mann, Pleasant Valley High School
- Class 3A - Beverly Barron, Dadeville High School
- Class 4A - Kaylon Cantrell, Prattville Christian Academy
- Class 5A - Melissa-Paul Gardner, Guntersville High School
- Class 6A - Justin Kisor, Spain Park High School
- Class 7A - April Marsh, Austin High School Volleyball
View the 2025-26 AHSVCA All-State Teams and 2025-26 AHSVCA Player of the Year award recipients by school classification. CLICK HERE to download the 2025-26 AHSVCA All-State Teams, Players of the Year and Coaches of the Year Announcement.
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2024-25 AHSVCA COACHES OF THE YEAR
Congratulations the 2024-25 AHSVCA Coaches of the Year!!
- CLASS 1A - Ricky Austin, Spring Garden High School
- CLASS 2A - Jennifer Mann, Pleasant Valley High School
- CLASS 3A - Meredith Donald, St. Luke's Episcopal School
- CLASS 4A - Jana Killen, Deshler High School
- CLASS 5A - Emily Logan, Priceville High School
- CLASS 6A - Perry Robinson, Pelham High School
- CLASS 7A - Kate Wood, McGill-Toolen Catholic High School
CLICK HERE to download the 2024-25 AHSVCA All-State Teams, Players of the Year and Coaches of the Year Announcement.
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2023-24 AHSVCA COACHES OF THE YEAR
CLICK HERE to download the 2023-24 AHSVCA All-State Teams, Players of the Year and Coaches of the Year Announcement
CLASS 1A - Ricky Austin, Spring Garden High School
Volleyball Head Coach Ricky Austin led his team to win the 2023 AHSAA 1A State Volleyball Championship, but this wasn't his first state championship win this year. This win marked the second volleyball title for Spring Garden High School with the first in 2007.
The Spring Garden girls basketball team also won the 2023 Class 1A state title with Austin as the coach and his daughter Ace earning state tournament MVP (Ace also was named to the Class 1A Volleyball All-Tournament Team).
CLASS 2A - Dana Bryant, Pleasant Valley High School
Dana Bryant has invested her career into Pleasant Valley volleyball for the past 25 years. She began coaching Junior High, then took over Varsity 17 years ago. Her teams have consistently been ranked and played at a high level. She has led the program to 15 Area Championships, 17 Regional appearances, 8 Elite Eight appearances, and 1 State Runner-Up in 2022. This year, her team won the 2023 AHSAA 2A State Championship. The AHSVCA thanks Bryant for her dedication to the program and developing girls on and off the court, and wishes her a happy retirement!
CLASS 3A - Danielle Helms, Ashford High School
Danielle Helms has coached the Ashford Yellow Jackets for the past 17 years. Helms, who is also her school's athletic director helped to get her school funding through Operation Round Up in 2019, for a much needed gym upgrade including a crow’s nest for the school to film practices and games, updates to the scoreboards, new TV screens for announcements during school and games, and more.
CLASS 4A - Drew Murphy, Central High School
Coach Drew Murphy has done a phenomenal job building the Central High School Volleyball program over the past decade. He consistently tries to learn and grow the game by attending clinics, hosting camps and even working at other local camps to help out his coaching colleagues. His devotion to helping his student-athletes improve their games is admirable through the countless extra time spent in the gym during the season and summer. Andrews was the 2018 TimesDaily Class 4A-7A Volleyball Coach of the Year and a recipient of the AVCA Thirty Under 30 Award.
CLASS 5A - Julie Gordon, Montgomery Academy
Julie Gordon has served as the Montgomery Academy Head Volleyball Coach during the past 45 years, leading the Eagles to eight state championships in 1986, 2005, 2006, 2013, 2018, 2019, 2020 and 2023. Her team finished the season with a 53-6 overall record this year winning the 2023 AHSAA 5A State Championship. This marked the Eagle's eighth state championship. Julie also serves on the Alabama High School Volleyball Coaches Association Board of Directors as the Vice President.
Coach Gordon reached the 1500 career win milestone last year. She was inducted into the Alabama High School Athletic Association (AHSAA) Hall of Fame Class of 2013 and the AHSVCA Hall of Fame Class of 2020-21, and is past recipient of the Montgomery Coach of the Year award.
CLASS 6A - Joi Washington, Pike Road High School
Joi Washington has served as the Pike Road High School Volleyball Head Coach for the past five years, and has coached volleyball 11 years. This season, she earned her 200th varsity win as head coach.
Joi has built the Pike Road volleyball program into a very competitive program. They have won their area four consecutive years. She knows the game, and teaches it at the highest level. She sets high expectations for her teams, and they continually rise to those.
CLASS 7A - Jenny Jarrett, Bob Jones High School
Jenny Jarrett joined the coaching ranks as Bob Jones High School Head Volleyball Coach in 2022, and is already setting the bar high. The team advanced to the 2023 AHSAA 7A State Volleyball Championship Finals before being defeated. Bob Jones is currently ranked as the No. 1 Alabama ranked team according to MaxPreps, and No. 15 in the USA Today/AVCA Super 25 national girls volleyball rankings with a 52-2 record as of November 2, 2023. Jarrett also served as the assistant volleyball coach at Bob Jones from 2015-2019.
Coach Jarrett has dedicated herself to the coaching profession for the past 25 years. Prior to coming to Bob Jones, Jarrett lead the Athens Bible School to the Class 1A State Softball Championship title in 2002, and was an assistant coach of the Athens Bible School's volleyball program that won state titles in 2009 and 2014. Jarrett has also served as the head coach of the United 16 National team as part of the United Volleyball Club, and was named United’s Coach of the Year in 2021.
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