Baden Pronounce

Sixth-year head coach Erik Olson has secured four straight winning seasons at the helm of the Central Michigan volleyball program, the first stretch of four consecutive winning seasons since 1986. CMU is 75-47 during the last four campaigns, a stretch that includes the program’s first postseason win since 1982, its first appearance in the Mid-American Conference Tournament semifinals since 1996, its first 20-win season since 1985 and the biggest one-year turnaround in MAC history. The program’s struggles in the late 1990s seem to be a distant memory, with visions of playing for a MAC title replacing those thoughts. CMU posted its fourth straight winning season in 2009 (17-13), and reached the MAC Tournament semifinals for the first time since 1996. The Chippewas tallied postseason victories over Eastern Michigan and Northern Illinois to reach the semis. The last time the Chippewas had four straight winning seasons came in the program's first 13 seasons, when Central posted winning records from 1974-86. In 2008, Olson was named MAC Coach of the Year after Central just missed posting its second straight 20-win season at 19-11 and earned a bye in the opening round of the MAC Tournament thanks to a 12-4 league mark and second place finish in the West Division. The 12 MAC wins were the most since 1994, when the Chippewas finished 14-3. He is the first head coach in program history to earn MAC Coach of the Year honors. The 2007 campaign saw CMU take another step forward in its resurgence, posting its first 20-win season since 1985 with a 22-10 overall record. CMU also posted just its second double-digit win MAC season since 1996 with a 10-6 league mark, good enough for second place in the West Division. Central went on to defeat Toledo in the opening round of the MAC Tournament, ending the 24-year postseason victory drought. The Chippewas got off to the best start in program history at 8-0 and posted two eight game winning streaks. Olson guided CMU to a 17-13 overall record in 2006 and the Chippewas finished just below .500 in the conference at 7-9. That 12.5-game improvement in the overall standings, the largest in conference history, came after CMU went 3-24 overall and 0-16 in the league in 2005. In his six seasons, Olson is 85-94 at CMU. Olson Focuses on Building Program Athletically and Academically Olson began the rebuilding challenge by recruiting and signing some top-notch talent. A pair of his early recruits, Kate Fissel and Whitney Evers, each finished their careers last season as two of 12 players in school history to tally at least 1,000 kills. Freshman Kaitlyn Schultz was named MAC Freshman of the Year in 2008, just the second Chippewa to garner the honor. In all, Olson has mentored four first-team All-MAC choices (Fissel in 2007, Evers and Schultz in 2008 and Lauren Krupsky in 2009) and six second team All-MAC picks. The Chippewas have also had an honoree on the MAC All-Freshman squad in two of the past three seasons (Lauren Krupsky in 2007 and Schultz in 2008). Schultz was also named MAC Freshman of the Year in 2008. During his tenure at CMU, four of Olson’s recruiting classes (2005, 2008, 2009, 2010) have been ranked among the nation’s top-100. Olson has also made academics a priority with CMU earning the GamePlan/American Volleyball Coaches Association Team Academic Award in each of the last four years, an award that carries a minimum of a 3.30 team GPA. The volleyball program was also awarded the 2007-08 Dick Enberg Team Leadership Award, recognizing the CMU program which best meets the following five criteria – overall grade point average, academic progress rate, community service, athletic performance and commitment to excellence. The Chippewas have had six academic All-MAC choices in Olson's six seasons. Olson Brings Wealth of Coaching Experience to CMU Program CMU announced Olson’s hiring on June 2, 2004 as he became the fourth coach in Chippewa volleyball history. He came to CMU after helping start the University of Miami program in 2001. He was the Hurricanes’ top assistant for three seasons, helping Miami to a record of 66-22 (.750). Miami reached the Sweet 16 of the NCAA Tournament in 2002 and finished in the Top 25 poll. Olson’s primary responsibility was mentoring the middle blockers and team blocking. Prior to Miami, Olson was the assistant coach at Wisconsin-Milwaukee for one season in 2000. The Panthers went 23-5 and won the Midwestern Collegiate Conference regular season title that year, receiving an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament. Olson also has extensive high school and club level coaching experience, including working with the USA Volleyball Men’s Junior National Team. The 37-year-old Olson began his coaching career as the founder of the Marquette University (Wis.) High School boys’ program in 1994, where he served as the head coach for three seasons. Olson also spent three seasons as the girls’ varsity coach at Shorewood High School in Shorewood, Wis., from 1997-99. Both stops featured a conference title. From 1995-2001, Olson was head coach of the North Shore Milwaukee Volleyball Club, serving as the co-director from 1998-2001. There he directed all phases of the boys’ Junior Olympic program that was one of the top clubs in the country. He was co-head coach of the Boys’ USA National High Performance Camp in Colorado Springs in 1999 and an assistant coach for the USA Men’s Junior National Team in Lake Placid, N.Y., in 2000. The team won a bronze medal in the NORCECA Championships in Cuba. The Milwaukee native graduated from Wisconsin-Milwaukee in 1997 with a bachelor's degree in geology. He was a four-year letterwinner for the Panthers and served as team captain in 1995. Upon completion of his career, Olson ranked in the top five in several career statistical categories, including holding the school’s all-time blocks record. In 1991, he was a member of the North Shore Volleyball Club team that won the 19 and under national championship. Erik and his wife, Becky (Stewart), were married in 2002. She was a four-year volleyball letterwinner at Northern Illinois, earning first team All-Midwestern Collegiate Conference honors in 1996 and first team All-MAC and AVCA all-district honors in 1997. The couple have two children, Nathan (three) and Samuel (one), and reside in Mount Pleasant.