Head coach Dan Fisher wins AVCA Coach of the Year

LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Pitt volleyball head coach Dan Fisher won AVCA National Coach of the Year on Thursday afternoon after leading his team to a 33-1 record — the best record in the NCAA.

Fisher is the first Pitt volleyball head coach to win the prestigious honor. Fisher won ACC Coach of the Year earlier in the year and has won that award three times in his coaching career at the University of Pittsburgh. Fisher also won AVCA East Coach Region Coach of the Year in 2024 — the fourth time he has won that honor.

He coached a total of four All-Americans in 2024 and three of those All-Americans were on the First Team, with the other right behind them on the Second Team.

Senior setter Rachel Fairbanks, sophomore opposite hitter Olivia Babcock and sophomore outside hitter Torrey Stafford were the Panthers players on the First Team. Redshirt junior middle blocker Bre Kelley was the Panthers’ lone Pitt player who was on the Second Team.

The 33 wins for the Panthers this season are the most wins that Fisher has earned in a single season during his entire Pitt tenure. The second-most wins in Fisher’s tenure at Pitt was in 2022 when Pitt had 31 wins and lost in the Final Four to Louisville.

Pitt has made the NCAA Tournament for nine consecutive seasons under Fisher’s leadership, dating back to 2016. The furthest Fisher’s team has ever made it is the Final Four, making it to that mark in the past three seasons and this season, in 2024. 

Before Fisher made it to four straight Final Fours his team made it to the Elite Eight once, during the 2021 spring season and then in all of the other seasons Pitt made the Tournament under his leadership, his team got eliminated in the second round of the NCAA Tournament. 

Currently, Fisher has a 320-68 record while leading the Panthers in the 12 seasons he has been at the helm of Pitt volleyball. The 320 wins are also the most wins for a Pitt volleyball head coach in program history, passing former Pitt volleyball head coach Shelton Collier’s 287 wins earlier in the 2024 season.

Fisher has a chance to tack on two more wins to his 320 wins at Pitt while the Panthers compete in the Final Four this weekend. In the National Semifinal tonight, Pitt plays Louisville at 6:30 p.m. and the game will air on ESPN.