NEW YORK — With more than 20 years of collegiate coaching experience, including 11 as a head coach at the NCAA Division I level, Allison Keeley has been named Columbia University Head Volleyball Coach, Campbell Family Director of Intercollegiate Athletics and Physical Education Peter Pilling announced on Wednesday.

"We are excited to welcome Allison Keeley as our new volleyball coach at Columbia," Pilling said. "With over 20 years of experience at the collegiate level, Allison brings a high level of head-coaching experience at a variety of institutions. She is a proven leader with unparalleled character, passion and work ethic. Everywhere that she has been, Allison has been committed to achieving success and building a positive team culture. At Columbia, we aim to compete for championships and provide an outstanding student-athlete experience. Allison fits into that vision."

Keeley comes to Columbia after spending last season as the assistant and interim head coach at Boston College. She has also served as a collegiate head coach at East Stroudsburg (2012-16), UNLV (2004-10) and Villanova (2001-03).

"I am proud and excited to join the Columbia athletics department as its next head volleyball coach," Keeley stated. "Columbia has such a rich tradition of academic and athletic excellence. The volleyball program has made some great strides recently, and I look forward to taking the program to the next level and competing for Ivy League championships. I am very grateful for this opportunity and want to thank Peter Pilling and Jacqueline Blackett for the confidence they have in me to lead this program to new heights." 

Keeley's head-coaching experience spans the Atlantic Coast, Mountain West and BIG EAST conferences. She is a proven winner who left UNLV as the all-time winningest coach in program history.

Keeley's collegiate coaching career began as an assistant at her alma mater Carleton College in 1995. A year later she was named the head coach at Chaffey College in Rancho Cucamonga, California. Keeley moved to Southern Arkansas University from 1998-2000 before being named the head coach at Villanova in 2001.

In three years at Villanova, Keeley took a team that finished last in the BIG EAST with just two wins and guided the Wildcats to the semifinals of the conference tournament. She coached the program to its first winning season since 1997 with an 18-16 overall mark in 2002. The Wildcats won 11 more matches than the year prior and finished with an RPI of 85.

Keeley spent the next seven years at UNLV, where she won 108 matches and guided the Rebels to their first Mountain West Conference championship and NCAA Tournament appearance in 2007. That year, the Rebels went 24-6 with a 12-4 mark in the Mountain West and achieved a top-25 national ranking. UNLV earned the No. 2 seed in the conference tournament and defeated Utah in five sets to win the championship. They took Long Beach State to five sets in the first round of the NCAA Tournament. Keeley's team finished the year with an RPI of 19.

Keeley was named Mountain West Conference Coach of the Year and AVCA West Region Coach of the Year in 2007. Her seven seasons at UNLV included two 20-win campaigns, also going 20-10 in 2006, as well as five seasons with at least 15 wins. She also coached one of the best players in UNLV history, Lauren Miramontes, to an All-America selection. Miramontes still holds UNLV single-season records for kills (521) and kills per set (4.65), as well as the career record for block solos (80).

After taking a two-year hiatus from coaching, Keeley emerged as the head coach at NCAA Division II East Stroudsburg University in 2012. She spent five years in eastern Pennsylvania, rebuilding a program that went 4-23 the year before she arrived to 14 wins in her final season. A year after she left, her first recruiting class went 17-13 in 2017.

Keeley has coached a combined 15 all-conference selections, two All-Region selections and one All-American, along with two conference Freshman of the Year selections. Besides coaching success on the court, Keeley's players have also excelled in the classroom. She produced 45 Academic All-Mountain West Conference selections, which included tying the program record of 10 honorees in both 2005 and 2008. Two of her players at UNLV earned CoSIDA/ESPN The Magazine All-District honors, including one on the All-District First Team. Keeley's focus on academics was also evident at Villanova, where 33 of her student-athletes earned BIG EAST academic honors, including another that landed CoSIDA All-District distinction.

Keeley began her coaching career at Sparks High School in Sparks, Nevada in 1993 and 1994.

Keeley competed in volleyball and track and field at Carleton, graduating with a bachelor's degree in political science and education in 1990. She was an all-conference setter and went on to compete in Women's Open Beach Volleyball and USA Volleyball Women's Open Volleyball. She earned her master's degree in education and physical education from Azusa Pacific (Calif.) in 1998. 

What They're Saying About Allison Keeley:

Vince Nicastro
 - Deputy Commissioner and Chief Operating Officer, BIG EAST Conference
 -Former Director of Athletics at Villanova University
"Allison is a terrific hire for Columbia. She consistently approaches her work in a thoughtful and mature manner and has had success at all levels of college volleyball. Allison is an outstanding teammate and will quickly become a valued member of the Columbia University community. Most importantly, she has an unwavering commitment to the holistic development of her student-athletes."

Russ Rose
  - Head Women's Volleyball Coach at Penn State University
"I think Allison will do great things at Columbia as she has a wide range of experiences in the game but her passion and ability to connect with her athletes always ring true. She should be able to hit the ground running in all facets of the game and lead the program to new heights."

Chris Monasch
 - Former Director of Athletics at East Stroudsburg University and St. John's University
 -Former Commissioner of the America East Conference and Northeast Conference
"Allison will be a great fit as Columbia's new head women's volleyball coach. When I had the opportunity to work with Allison at East Stroudsburg University, I was most impressed by her commitment to develop the total student-athlete. She has had coaching experiences at a variety of different levels. Allison portrays enthusiasm, organization and integrity in her work. I see exciting results in Columbia's future."

Mike Hamrick
 - Director of Athletics at Marshall University
 -Former Director of Athletics at UNLV
"Allison did an outstanding job with our program at UNLV. I enjoyed watching her build our program in a very competitive conference. Her student-athletes always represented our University in a first-class manner. She will do a great job."