Volleyball Today: Kiraly adds assistants; more boffo ESPN ratings

LOUISVILLE — Greetings from the site of the NCAA Division I Volleyball Championship, where we’ll be in the KFC Yum! Center all day Wednesday for practices and news conferences for Pittsburgh, Louisville, Nebraska and Penn State.

This is another potpourri edition of Volleyball Today, because Karch Kiraly added assistants to his USA men’s national team, an NCAA team hired a coach, USA Volleyball will honor our friend Bill Forrester, and we have more good news from ESPN about its volleyball broadcasts.

Kiraly tabs Slabe, Weber

Not surprisingly, after he resigned as head coach at NC State, Luke Slabe will join the staff of new USA men’s coach Karch Kiraly. He was one of Kiraly’s assistants when the USA women won gold in Tokyo. Kiraly also added Argentinian Javier Weber.

Read the USA Volleyball news release here.

Frier Award goes to Bill Forrester

USA Volleyball will honor longtime official and event administrator Bill Forrester with the prestigious Harold T. Friermood “Frier” Lifetime Achievement Award at the 2025 USA Volleyball Hall of Fame. The award is USA Volleyball’s highest honor, recognizing individuals who have made extraordinary contributions to volleyball in the United States.

The Hall of Fame at the Dorothy C. Boyce Banquet will be held May 21, 2025, in Denver, just before the USA Volleyball Open National Championship begins at the Colorado Convention Center.

USA Volleyball previously honored Forrester with the George J. Fisher Leader in Volleyball Award in 2004 and the Glenn G. Davies Referee Service Award in 1999. He is the organization’s 57th recipient of the Frier Award.

Read the USA Volleyball news release here.

Tarleton State hires Jazmyne Johnson

Tarleton State of Stephenville, Texas, which finished 7-22 last season, 2-14 in the WAC, has hired Louisiana assistant Jazmyne Johnson as its head coach.

Johnson, who was with the Ragin’ Cajuns for four years, played at Mississippi State.

Read the Tarleton news release here.

Most-watched NCAA volleyball regionals

Thanks to Larry Hamel for this breakdown of the news that ESPN had more record-breaking numbers last week:

Televising the regional rounds of the NCAA women’s volleyball tournament on platforms with greater visibility produced outstanding results for ABC/ESPN. Total-average viewership for the eight round of 16 matches (all on ESPN2) and the four regional finals (three on ESPN2, one on ABC) spread over four days saw an astounding 98% increase over 2023. ESPN PR noted they were the most-watched regionals on record, averaging 401,000 viewers.

The showdown on Sunday afternoon between red-hot Big Ten rivals Nebraska and Wisconsin before a packed house in Lincoln on over-the-air ABC, predictably, lured the largest audience in history for a regional volleyball final. Buoyed by highly invested fan bases from both schools, the ABC telecast was watched by 798,000 viewers, despite a relatively short match (won by Nebraska in three sets) while going against intense competition from NFL football on CBS and Fox. The “early” NFL window on those networks combined for 24.9 million viewers.

Four other matches produced the Nos. 2, 3, 4 and 5 top TV viewerships in regional rounds, according to ESPN PR. The regional final on Sunday night between Creighton and Penn State was seen by an average of 674,000. Regional semifinals on Friday night netted 617,000 viewers for Dayton-Nebraska and 524,000 for Texas A&M-Wisconsin. And the Stanford-Louisville regional final on Saturday night was watched by 524,000.

Women’s volleyball also continued to display growth in key demographics coveted by advertisers. Viewership during the telecasts of the regional rounds skyrocketed 232% in the 18-34 age group, 115% in the kids demo (2-17) and 112% among women of all ages. The 16 regional matches were piggybacked on the ESPN+ streaming platform and they enjoyed a year-over-year increase of 44%.

Arizona wins NIVC

In the first title match to go to a fifth set, Arizona beat Bowling Green to become the first NIVC champion to win on their home court.

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