Jody Rogers hired as head coach of VCU women’s volleyball team

Colin Kennedy
Contributing Writer

Nearly three months after the controversial firing of James Finley, VCU has named Jody Rogers the new Head Coach of the Rams volleyball program.

Rogers will be making the jump from the University of Indianapolis where she built a Division II powerhouse over the past 16 seasons.

During her tenure with the Greyhounds, she compiled an overall record of 406-180 (.693) and led her team to six consecutive NCAA tournaments.

She ranks 26th all-time in total wins among Division II coaches, and after leading UIndy to four straight top-15 finishes, Rogers says she was ready to make the next step.

“The program has so much potential and that’s the main reason why I came to VCU,” Rogers said in a release. “My coaching philosophy is that we go fast and we have athletic players that can do great things on the court and in the classroom.”

VCU Athletic Director Ed McLaughlin hopes Rogers can be another valuable addition to the Rams athletic program and says that her commitment to developing well-rounded student athletes contributed greatly during the hiring process.

“Jody is a proven winner who brings a lot of energy to the VCU Athletics family,” McLaughlin said in a release. “She is a teacher of the game who will promote hard work, discipline and strong communication as keys to sustainable, elite-level success, both athletically and academically. We are excited for her to lead our program and achieve our goals of providing a tremendous student-athlete experience and winning championships.”

Winning championships isn’t something all too foreign to Rogers, who took home the junior college national championship in 1989 as a part of the Miami-Dade CC (Fla.) volleyball team.

And although she fell short of the top prize, a trip to the Final Four with the Greyhounds last year helped earn Rogers the 2012 CaptainU National Coach of the Year award.

The change in leadership comes after eight seasons under former coach James Finley. During Finley’s tenure the Rams had a 151-116 record and academic progress rates consistently under national averages.

“Our program needs a different direction and different leadership to attain our goals of achieving at an elite level nationally,” McLaughlin said in a statement on Nov. 19.

Under Finley, the Rams multi-year academic progress rate was among the lowest 10 percent of 327 volleyball teams nationwide from 2009-2011.