Jill Kramer, who has coached at the collegiate, club and international volleyball levels, has been named West Virginia University’s third volleyball head coach, Director of Athletics Oliver Luck announced on Aug. 9

“We are delighted to welcome Jill into our Mountaineer family,” Luck says. “She will bring tremendous energy and enthusiasm as well as a wealth of experience from club and USA volleyball. She has also helped turn around and been a part of successful programs at Alabama and Virginia. It is an exciting time for our volleyball program.”

Kramer comes to West Virginia after spending the last two seasons as an assistant at the University of Virginia, where she made an immediate impact on the future of the Cavaliers’ volleyball program. In just her first season at Virginia, where she coordinated all recruiting efforts, Kramer helped head coach Lee Maes bring the program its first-ever nationally ranked recruiting class, posting a No. 15 ranking by PrepVolleyball.com. She then followed that up in her second year with a class that was tabbed No. 9 by PrepVolleyball.com.

“I am honored and humbled by the opportunity afforded to me by West Virginia University,” Kramer says. “I’d like to thank Oliver Luck, Terri Howes and Mike Parsons for their faith and trust in my vision for WVU volleyball, as well as their commitment to see WVU volleyball rise to new heights.

“West Virginia is a special place; a place where I immediately felt at home. I’m eager to get in the gym and begin working with our team. It is such an exciting time for Mountaineer volleyball!”

Prior to her stint at Virginia, Kramer spent two seasons (2006-07) as an assistant at Alabama, helping the Crimson Tide reach the NCAA Tournament in consecutive years. At Alabama, she was involved in all aspects of the program, including on-court training, opponent scouting and recruiting, while tutoring two time All-American Crystal Hudson. In her second season at Alabama, Kramer served as the recruiting coordinator, bringing in the first ranked recruiting class in Tide volleyball history, a No. 27 ranking by PrepVolleyball.com.

Kramer began her collegiate coaching career as an assistant at the University of Texas at San Antonio from 2003-05. UTSA advanced to the Southland Conference tournament in each of her three seasons, including a championship berth in 2005.

While coaching at UTSA, Kramer also was the co-director for the Alamo Volleyball Club, coaching the 17-and-under team. She oversaw all player and coach development while Alamo grew to 26 teams and over 250 athletes. During her time there, 17 teams qualifed for the Junior Olympics, while six of those teams earned medals and 12 players earned All-America awards.

Kramer has also been involved with USA Volleyball for the past five years. Kramer’s teams have posted a 27-1 record during her time with USA Volleyball. In 2006 as an assistant with the USA Junior A-2 training camp and Red team, the squad won gold at the High Performance Championships. In 2007 as an assistant, the USA Junior A-2 team won the gold medal at the Global Challange in Pula, Croatia. As a co-coach in 2009, Kramer led the USA Youth A-2 team to a gold medal at the High Performance Championships. This past summer, as an assistant on the USA Senior A-2 Blue team, Kramer helped her team to a gold medal at the USA Open National Championships.

From 2007-09, she coached at the USA Women’s National team tryouts in Colorado Springs, Colo.

Her coaching career began in 1998 as an assistant for the 16-and-under national team of the Metroplex Volleyball Club, currently Texas Advantage, in Fort Worth, Texas.

Kramer, formerly Jill Pape, was a four-year letter winner and team captain at Texas Christian University from 1996-99. She was a member of TCU’s inaugural volleyball team and a part of the first graduating class. Her 1999 senior class was TCU’s first four-year group of volleyball student-athletes.

A native of San Antonio, Kramer earned a bachelor of business administration degree in marketing from TCU in 2000 and is currently completing USA CAP Level I and II certification. She is married to Willem Kramer of The Netherlands.

-WVU-

08/09/10

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