Matt Botsford
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Kate MorrellKate Morrell joined the FGCU volleyball staff as an assistant coach in February 2020 and has since been elevated to Associate Head Coach.
Morrell joins the Eagles from Mercer University, where she served as an assistant indoor and beach volleyball coach since August 2017. While there, she had head coaching responsibilities for the beach program, while recruiting and training indoor players such as Annie Karle and Brittany Major, who both earned Southern Conference all-freshman team honors in 2018. Both players then landed a spot on the 2019 Southern Conference all-tournament team. Morrell also served as the Master Coach of Texas One Volleyball in Houston from June 2016 to May 2017 following a successful playing career that saw her play professionally in the Philippines, Switzerland and the Netherlands. Morrell played collegiately as an outside hitter at UAB following a one-year stint at Hutchinson Community College. She was a member of both the indoor and beach programs at UAB, where she was a three-year letter-winner and was named to the Conference USA Commissioner's Honor Roll while serving as a team captain in 2012-13. She graduated with a bachelor of arts in public relations in May 2013. |
JACK BURTONJack Burton, who spent the last two seasons with the University of Dayton, was named assistant coach of the FGCU Volleyball program in January 2022.
Burton was a volunteer assistant coach with the nationally-ranked Flyers during the 2020 and 2021 campaigns. He helped UD go 40-8 with two Atlantic 10 Championship titles and a pair of NCAA Tournament appearances. His primary focus was attack/setter training, film breakdown and scouting, recruiting, and summer camp coaching outside of his in-match responsibilities. In his two seasons with the Flyers, Dayton received its highest AVCA ranking at No. 26 and was one of the top ranked offenses and defenses in the country. He helped train two AVCA All-Americans, three first team all-region selections, two A-10 Athletes of the Year, two A-10 Setters of the Year, two Players of the Year, a Libero of the Year, and nine All-Atlantic 10 honorees. A graduate of Grand Canyon University in Phoenix, Ariz., Burton played in 63 matches at outside hitter for the Lopes men's volleyball team. He was voted team captain for the 2019 and 2020 seasons. He was named to the MIVA Academic All-Conference team as a freshman. He earned a bachelor's degree in exercise science with an emphasis in sport performance training from GCU in 2020. A native of Bolingbrook, Ill., Burton played for Naperville Central High School where he was a three year varsity starter, was named Illinois All-State in 2014 and 2015, and tallied 1,000+ career kills. He was a two-time captain and National Honor Society member, plus holds the Naperville Central record in kills and aces. In addition, he played club for Sports Performance Volleyball, starting on the 15's team up through the 18's team and qualifying for four open USAV nationals, placing as high as 5th place at USAV nationals. He was named to the USAV 18's open division all-tournament team at nationals. He joins the Flyers after serving as the boys assistant coach, 16N-RL for Prestige Volleyball Arizona from 2019-20. He served as a summer coach at the GCU men's volleyball all-skills camp. He was the boys 17's assistant coach for Club 1 Boy's Volleyball in Plainfield, Ill. That squad qualified and was the 13th place finisher at USAV Nationals at the 2016 Indoor Open and also were AAU National Champions. |