Fran Vandermeer

Head Coach of Women's Volleyball

fvanderm@williams.edu

413-597-4381



Head Coach Fran Vandermeer enters her ninth season with the Ephs in 2008. 

Vandermeer has accumulated an overall record of 216-60 at Williams for a .790 winning percentage and was voted NESCAC Coach of the Year in 2006 and 2007.  She is the all-time leader in wins in volleyball at Williams now. She coached the Ephs to a school record 36 wins in 2002 (36-6) and was selected AVCA New England Region Coach of the Year in 2002 and again in 2004.  Coach Vandermeer’s teams have won five of the last six Little III titles, four NESCAC championships, and went undefeated (10-0) in the NESCAC regular season in 2006. 

 

2004 All-Americans (l. to r.): Meg Demment, Robin
Young, Fran Vandermeer and Joyia Chadwick

Vandermeer serves as a Division III representative on the NCAA Volleyball Rules Committee and serves on the American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA) New England Region Awards Committee.  She is a poll voter on the AVCA Top 25 National Coaches Poll and is also an active member of the New England Women’s Volleyball Association (NEWVA).  She is the director of the Nike Volleyball Camp held at Williams and lectures at area camps and clinics throughout the Northeast.
 
Born in Hartford, Connecticut, Vandermeer is a 1988 graduate of Southern Connecticut State University, where she captained the Owls' volleyball squad. As the team’s setter, Vandermeer led SCSU to the NCAA tournament in 1980 and 1981 and quarterbacked her USVBA women's open team to the New England championship in 1979, 1981, and 1988. She holds a B.S. in Business Economics and a physical education teaching certificate from SCSU and is completing work on a master’s degree in kinesiology from Texas Woman’s University this year.
 
In 1998, Vandermeer was inducted into the Connecticut Women's Volleyball Hall of Fame and in 2002 she was inducted into the New Agenda Northeast Women’s Hall of Fame.  In 2007, Southern Connecticut State University’s Alumni Sports Hall of Fame honored her with their Alumni Citation Award.

Vandermeer officiated volleyball on a national level for over twenty-five years and holds a PAVO (Professional Affiliation of Volleyball Officials) national rating. She was a member of the Big Ten, Big East, and Atlantic 10 Conference officiating crews and worked six NCAA Division II Championship matches between 1996 and 2002. She also worked the NCAA Division I Regional Finals as well as the Big East, America East, and Ivy League championships, and the Women's Professional Beach Volleyball (WPVA) Tour.

Coach Vandermeer is an assistant professor in the physical education department in addition to her coaching duties at Williams.  She is a first year advisor and serves on the college’s Committee on Undergraduate Life (CUL).  An avid golfer, she is also the Co-Head Coach of the women’s golf team in the spring and the current club champion at Taconic Golf Club in Williamstown.
 
Prior to joining the Williams athletic staff, Vandermeer coached at St. Joseph's and Trinity in Connecticut.

 Fran Vandermeer
 
8 years at Williams: 226-60 (.790)
 Overall:  316-136 (.699) 
 
School record 36 wins in 2002 (36-6)
 
2002 AVCA New England Coach of the Year
 
2004 AVCA New England Coach of the Year
 
2006 NESCAC Coach of the Year
 
2007 NESCAC Coach of the Year 
 
NCAA Tournament: 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004 & 2007

2004 NCAA Elite Eight
2004 NCAA New England Regional Champions

2003 NCAA Elite Eight
2003 NCAA New England Regional Champions

2002 NCAA New England Regional Champions
2002 NCAA Quarterfinalists
 
NESCAC Champions: 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004 & 2007
 
Little Three Champions: 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004 & 2006
 
4 All-Americans
9 Honorable Mention All-Americans


Mary Beth Miller

Assistant Coach of Women's Volleyball



413-597-4381



Mary Beth Miller begins her fifth year as an assistant in the Eph volleyball program. Previously Miller assisted coach Vandermeer for four years (2002-2005) before returning to the sidelines this season.

Miller played collegiately at Division II Ashland [OH] University.

Mary Beth and her husband Jack reside in Williamstown with their three children Jakin, Corban and Annie Kate. 

 


Meg Demment

Assistant Coach of Women's Volleyball



413-597-4381



Meg Demment '05 returns to Williams after a phenomenal four-year run with the Ephs that saw her and her teammates compile a 50-match win streak vs. NESCAC teams and advance to the NCAA Elite Eight three consecutive years.

The three straight trips to the NCAA Elite Eight were a first at Williams, as were the three straight New England NCAA Regional titles.

Demment was a setter/libero for the Ephs, was elected a captain her junior and senior years, and earned All-America honors as a senior.


Joel Williams

Assisant Coach of Volleyball

Joel.J.Williams@williams.edu

413-597-4914



Joel Williams is a Chicago native and earned his B.A. in physical education from North Central College (NCC) in Naperville, Illinois.

While at NCC, Williams was also an assistant women’s varsity volleyball coach and head JV coach, guiding the Cardinals to a 106-63 overall mark and two berths in the conference championship match.

At North Central Williams competed on the track & field team, helping the Cardinals win three consecutive College Conference of Illinois & Wisconsin (CCIW) titles from 1996-98.

Williams was a standout performer for the North central track & field team, earning all-conference and All-American honors and winning the 1998 NCAA title.


Williams previously coached at Division III institutions Elmhurst College (IL), Aurora University (IL), and US Merchant Marine Academy (NY) and at Division I Kent State (OH).