Chris Poole has earned conference Coach of the Year honors seven times.

June 10, 2008

Florida State University Deputy Director of Athletics Kellie Elliott announced Tuesday the hiring of Chris Poole as head volleyball coach for the Seminoles.  Poole comes to FSU after 14 seasons as the head coach at the University of Arkansas, where he literally built a nationally-prominent program from the ground up.  

"It's a wonderful feeling," Poole said.  "I'm so excited to become a Seminole.  I have always loved building programs and at three different universities I have been able to do that.  At Florida State, I see a program that already has a good foundation and has the support of the new administration.  I think the community is really excited about seeing the volleyball program climb again and for me, that's just a great situation to go into."

Poole started the University of Arkansas' volleyball program in 1994 and was not only successful, but led the Lady Razorbacks to 11 Southeastern Conference Western Division titles. Add to that, 11 postseason appearances - two NIVC and nine NCAA - along with the SEC Tournament title and numerous individual player honors.

Upon arriving in Fayetteville in 1993, Poole personally handled every element of building the program from buying the first pieces of equipment, hiring the assistants and recruiting the players, to renovating the court and building locker room facilities.

"Chris' success has not come without a lot of hard work," Florida State University Director of Athletics Randy Spetman said.  "His desire and determination to achieve great things, along with his strong work ethic, has garnered him respect among his peers and in the volleyball community as a whole.  We look for him to not only be a great coach but also a great role model.  We are proud to welcome him into our Seminole family.
 

With head coaching stints at Arkansas, Arkansas State and Arkansas Tech, Poole holds a 550-230 career record in 21 seasons and has been named conference coach of the year seven times and was pegged the South Region Coach of the Year in 1997.  In 24 years of collegiate coaching, including three seasons as an assistant coach at Arkansas Tech, Poole has won 19 conference or divisional championships and has been to the finals 17 times in 22 conference tournaments.  He has also taken his teams to a postseason tournament in 19 of his 24 years.

During his 14 seasons at Arkansas in which he compiled a 316-161 record, Poole produced two AVCA All-Americans, three AVCA honorable mention All-Americans, 24 players with 44 All-SEC honors, three SEC Freshmen of the Year and 25 AVCA All-District/All-Region honorees.

In addition to the success on the court, Poole's teams excelled in the classroom as well with 67 SEC Academic Honor Roll selections, 10 CoSIDA All-District selections, two H. Boyd McWhorter Scholar-Athlete finalists and one McWhorter winner.

Poole certainly made his mark in the SEC as well. Since 1994, he guided Arkansas to a 159-65 record in the SEC regular season for a 71 percent league winning mark. Poole and the Lady Razorbacks were even more impressive against the Western Division winning 11 of 14 titles.

Poole spent an entire year away from competition preparing for the Razorback's inaugural season and it was time well spent as he led Arkansas to a 19-17 overall record, a 10-5 SEC mark and a SEC Western Division title with a perfect 10-0 divisional record in the first year of competition.  The Lady Razorbacks finished third overall in the league that year and played well enough to earn a postseason bid to the National Invitational Volleyball Coaches tournament in Kansas City where they finished seventh in a field of 20 teams.    Poole was selected the 1994 SEC Coach of the Year while two of his players (Krystal Osborne and Jaimie Torromeo) earned All-SEC honors, and one player (Osborne) earned All-District honors.

Poole's ability to build was proven first with Arkansas Tech then at Arkansas State. He took over days prior to the 1987 season at ASU, and his first team showed the effects with a dismal 8-24 record. But with one season under Poole's careful tutelage, virtually the same team was 41-1 the next year, launching a five-year run of winning seasons for the Lady Indians.

His 1988 team had a 33-match win streak, longest in the nation, and posted a school-record 41-1 overall mark. The next year, ASU had a 34-match win streak, notched the Lady Indian record with 43 wins (43-6 overall) and was ranked ninth in the South Region.

In his last season at ASU, the Lady Indians were 41-6 and received an automatic bid into the NCAA tournament in 1992. ASU entered the 32-team NCAA field with the most wins of any team, but lost a tough four-game match to the Northwest Region's top-seeded team, Long Beach State.

Prior to ASU, Poole was an assistant and later head coach at Arkansas Tech. In two seasons as head coach at ATU, he posted a 53-20 record, winning the Arkansas Intercollegiate Conference title in 1985 as co-head coach and finishing runner-up as head coach in 1986. He started his collegiate career in 1983-84 as a graduate assistant for the nationally ranked Arkansas Tech Golden Suns. Tech was 58-9 and a perfect 24-0 conference mark in two seasons with Poole as an assistant coach.

A native of Heber Springs in north-central Arkansas, Poole is a 1983 graduate of Arkansas Tech and earned a master's degree from Tech in 1989.  He is a member of the American Volleyball Coaches Association and has served on the AVCA's All-American, All-South Region and All-South Region Ranking committees and is also an AVCA Top 25 voter.

Poole and his wife, Toni, a former Arkansas State track and field standout, have two children, son Joshua and daughter Taylor.

Poole's Coaching Record

ASSISTANT COACH - ARKANSAS TECH

HEAD COACH - ARKANSAS TECH

HEAD COACH - ARKANSAS STATE

HEAD COACH - UNIVERSITY OF ARKANSAS

*Western Division finish

HEAD COACHING CAREER RECORD