Director of Athletics Brian Cavanaugh and the D’Youville College Athletic Department are pleased to announce the hiring of Chris Krueger as the new head coach of the D’Youville men’s volleyball program.
Krueger comes to D’Youville with unique set of experiences both as a player, head, and assistant coach at the collegiate level. A former Spartan, Chris played four years for D’Youville from 2010 to 2013 and has his name in several categories of the D’Youville record book. His unique perspective and experience with the program coincide with his head coaching experience as head men and women’s volleyball coach at Hilbert College and assistant coach at Canisius College. However, Krueger’s ultimate desire has been to get back to coaching at D’Youville.
Krueger has spent the past two seasons with the Canisius College Golden Griffins as their women’s volleyball assistant coach at the Division I level. Of his primary responsibilities, Krueger worked with the outside hitters and middle blockers, developing scouting reports, and the use of analytics. In 2018, the team saw a seven-match improvement in victories as they finished second in the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC) regular season standings and their first ever MAAC championship game appearance.
With Krueger’s tutelage, the team set a new attacking percentage record at .252 during the 2018 season. In addition, the team had six players selected to MAAC postseason teams – including the MAAC Libero of the Year, two All-MAAC First Team selections, and two All-MAAC Rookie Team selections.
Prior to his time at Canisius, Chris spent three seasons leading the men’s volleyball program at Hilbert College and then took on the head coaching role for two seasons with the women from 2014-17. Krueger coached nine Allegheny Mountain Collegiate Conference (AMCC) all-conference players as well as 17 AMCC Academic All-Conference players.
In 2016, the men’s program set new program records in wins and conference wins – matching the number of conference victories the program had amassed over the previous ten seasons as well as a top-10 finish nationally with 10.39 team digs/set. Academically, the team received national recognition as one of eleven NCAA men’s volleyball programs (Division I-III) to receive the AVCA Team Academic Award in 2015-2016 for achieving a cumulative team GPA of greater than 3.3 and the first ever AVCA National Player of the Week award in Hilbert’s program history, on March 31, 2015.
With his previous knowledge and experience with AMCC opponents and rules, coach Krueger knows that it will help him in his new position and set the team up for success.
Going back to his playing days as a Spartan, Krueger tallied 702 kills for fourth all-time in program history during his four-year career. He also ranks fourth in matches played at 358 and fifth in total blocks with 208 and was a two-year captain for the men. Chris played both outside hitter and middle blocker for the Spartans and was a two-time AMCC Second Team All-Conference selection.
On his expectations as a coach, Chris’ focus will be on creating a culture. Not only does he expect to perform on the court, but he also expects the team to grow together off it.
Within his first few weeks, coach Krueger has several things he would like to do with his team. Long-term, bringing a presence back to the men’s volleyball program, impacting the school, and bringing past players and coaches back are all goals that not only he, but the entire team would like to attain.
Chris earned his Bachelors in Exercise and Sports Studies from D’Youville and is a native of Hamburg, NY.