|
|
 |
|
| |
| Coaching Staff |
Head Coach Laurie Bitter
MSU Moorhead, 1989
Office Phone: (218) 755-3784
Email: lbitter@bemidjistate.edu
Second Season - 10-17 overall (.370)
NSIC Record - 6-12 (.333)
Second year head coach Laurie Bitter, who tallied the fifth-most wins (10) as a BSU rookie general, became the 12th head coach in BSU history last season after spending 16 years in the high school ranks.
Bitter took the helm at BSU after a 16-year tenure at Lake
of the Woods High School where she turned the Bears’
volleyball program and Lady Laker club team into powerhouses
that have competed well on the regional, state and national
levels.
While at Lake of the Woods Bitter piled up an impressive
354-100-1 record as its head coach. Nine times she led the
Bears to North Boarder Conference Championships--including
the last six consecutively. The team has also won eight
district championships and participated in the Minnesota
State High School Volleyball Tournament four times under
the watchful eye of Bitter, earning an AA Championship in
2005 and runner-up honors in 2003.
Bitter earned Section Coach of the Year accolades in both
1998 and 2001.
In addition to Bitter’s high school coaching experience,
she has also been active on the club team circuit.
She helped start the Lady Laker program in 1993 and in 2001
and 2003 she mentored her teams to North Country Region
Championship and trips to the Junior National Championships.A
two-year participant in both volleyball and track as a student-athlete
at and Minnesota State University Moorhead, Bitter turned
her focus to her passion--teaching and coaching--as a junior.
Taking on a program that has not experienced a tremendous
amount of success in recent years while playing in one of
the elite conferences in all of NCAA Division II will hold
its fare share of challenges for Bitter and her crew, but
that is something she understands. She is confident that
with hard work and dedication from everyone involved, good
things are on the horizon for the BSU volleyball program.
“This is what I do...I build programs,” said
Bitter. “I want to come in right away and begin to
train the student-athletes, motivate them and help them
to believe that they can be competitive and win.”
“I know things are different at the collegiate level
and I know there are aspects I will have to learn. But I
have always had to work for everything and I don’t
expect that to change now.”
Bitter is a graduate of Minnesota State University Moorhead
with a degree in physical education/health/coaching. She
is currently in the process of completing her master’s
degree in theory at the University of Minnesota Duluth and
expects to graduate in May.
Bitter and her husband Curt have two children. Courtney, who has signed to play for Bemidji State beginning in the fall of 2008 and Isaac is
in the ninth grade and occupies his time with hockey and
baseball.
--bsu--
|
Graduate
Assistant Coach
Kristen Van Wettering
Eastern New Mexico '07
Office Phone: (218) 755-2771
Email: kvanwettering@bemidjistate.edu
Graduate assistant coach Kristen Van Wettering begins her first season at Bemidji State this fall. The New Mexico native came to Bemidji State after an accomplished playing career at Eastern New Mexico University, a Division II institution in Portales, N.M.
While at Eastern New Mexico, Van Wettering was an outside hitter for three seasons for the Zias. Van Wettering was a member of the Lone Star Conference South Commissioner’s Honor Roll and a four-time member of the Eastern New Mexico University Athletic Honor Roll.
Although Bemidji State is just the second collegiate coaching stop in Van Wetterings’ brief career, she brings a wealth of different coaching exeriences to the table.
During the fall of 2006, Van Wettering was an assitant volleyball coach at New Mexico Military Institute in Roswell, N.M. Her responsibilities included teaching skill development, supervise players, and assist with recruiting and other daily activities.
During the spring and summer months of 2006 she was an aqua aerobics instructor at Eastern New Mexico University were she developed lesson plans and implemented those lesson plans to students ages 18-75.
In the summer of 2005, Van Wettering traveled to Chisinau, Moldova were she was a volunteer volleyball coach in Moldova for athletes in action. During the spring of 2004 she was a assistant varsity tennis coach at Portales Municipal Schools. She coached varsity and junior varsity players during her stint as assistant tennis coach.
Van Wettering will begin her master’s degree in sports studies this fall at BSU.
|
 Volunteer
Assistant
Todd Frauenholtz
St. Cloud State '93
Office Phone: (218) 755-2817
E-mail: tfrauenholtz@bemidjistate.edu
Todd Frauenholtz (pronounced Frow-in-holtz). Frauenholtz begins
his fifth season on the BSU sidelines as a volunteer assistant
coach. He truly has a passion and love for the game that proves
him to be a valuable asset to the Beaver coaching staff. Frauenholtz
draws from a number of playing and coaching experiences from
Junior Olympic, high school, and collegiate teams as well
as clinics and camps.
A graduate of St. Cloud State University, Frauenholtz played
on the Huskies’ men’s club team from 1988-91.
He also has years of playing experience on USA Volleyball
A and BB teams in the Great Plains and North Country Regions.
Todd’s coaching experience began in 1993 when he coached
a St. Cloud, MN Area 18-and-under Junior Olympic squad. He
then moved to South Dakota where he coached at Watertown High
School for two years. As a graduate student at South Dakota
State University, Frauenholtz was an assistant coach for the
SDSU summer volleyball camps in 1996 and 1997. It is the game
and the people that fuel his passion.
Currently, Frauenholtz is an associate professor at Bemidji
State University. He received his master’s degree in
educational administration from South Dakota State in 1998
and his Ph.D. in mathematics education from the University
of Minnesota in 2001. Frauenholtz resides in Bemidji with
his wife Kerry and their one year old son, Ben.
|
|
|
| 2007 Volleyball Coaching Staff |
Laurie Bitter (First Year)
Head Coach |
Kristen Van Wettering (First Year)
Graduate Assistant Coach |
Todd Frauenholtz (Fifth Year)
Volunteer Assistant Coach |
|
