Coach Wade Benson began his volleyball career in his early teen years while living in Marina del Rey, Calif.
"My background developed in junior high, and I grew to love it," Benson said. "While living in Southern California, I trained alongside former Olympians."
Benson continued on his path and, before coming to Auburn, received the opportunity to play overseas in Australia and Europe.
Now in his second season with Auburn women's volleyball, Benson brings experience as well as an impressive record to Auburn, having coached at his alma mater, Eastern Washington University, for seven seasons.
In those seasons, he led his team to three consecutive Big Sky regular-season titles, as well as a Big Sky Tournament title in 2001.
Before he coached at EWU, Benson spent four years as an assistant coach at Western Oregon University.
He accumulated a 154-55 record while at EWU. His career record is 202-87.
Benson said the "athletics, the beautiful campus, spirit of the students and, of course, the academics," are what brought him to Auburn.
Benson continually stresses the academic expectations of the team, as in six of his seven seasons with EWU, the team earned the Game Plan/American Volleyball Coaches Association Team award.
The AVCA Team award is awarded to high school and college volleyball teams that excel in the classroom. A minimum team GPA of 3.30 is a requirement for the award, and the team must hold that mark for the entire academic year.
Benson said he has high hopes and goals for his team.
He said his expectations do not necessarily amount to the wins or losses that the women attain, rather, it's that they give their absolute highest effort in practices and in matches.
"It's a young team," Benson said. "We have high hopes for a great 2010--not to say that 2009 will not be great, but our expectation is to have an impressive 2010."
Benson is married and has two children, Brady, 6, and Bailey, 4. His wife, Jill Benson, was an All-American volleyball player at Sacramento State University and is a member of the SSU volleyball hall of fame.
The Tigers are in the second year of Benson's three-year plan.
"We have a great administration here, great support and an excellent university and town to recruit to," Benson said. "My excellent staff and I have put together a three-year plan for the team and the future is bright for Auburn volleyball."
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