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A longtime Ball State volunteer assistant coach has received a promotion the upcoming season.
Ball State coach Joel Walton announced Wednesday that Jim Palilonis was named a full-time assistant coach for the 2014 season.
Palilonis has served as a volunteer assistant coach since 2007 and helped coach the team in 2002 when the Cardinals won their last MIVA championship. The Ball State graduate also has primarily worked with the team’s setters and offense and has overseen Ball State’s recruiting in the Chicago area.
“Ball State volleyball has been a large part of my life over the years, and I am very excited for this opportunity to continue working with the men’s program,” Palilonis said in a statement released Wednesday. “Ball State has a great tradition of success in volleyball and I look forward to helping the program continue to achieve at a high level.”
Along with his college men’s volleyball experience, Palilonis served as the head coach for several high school and club volleyball teams throughout Indiana. In addition, he served on the staff of Ball State women’s volleyball coach Steve Shondell and helped the Cardinals reach the 2011 NCAA Tournament.
This is the first time in more than a decade that the Ball State men’s volleyball team will have two full-time assistant coaches.
Palilonis will join assistant coach Kevin Furnish, the 2013 AVCA National Assistant Coach of the Year, on Walton’s coaching staff.
Ball State finished last season with its first 20-win season in five years and ranked in the national coaches poll. The Cardinals also ended the regular season on a 12-match winning steak — their longest winning streak in almost 20 years.