Nicole Cirillo has been hired as the head volleyball coach at South Dakota State University, Director of Athletics Justin Sell announced Tuesday.
Cirillo previously served as associate head coach at IUPUI.
“Nicole is a wonderful fit for South Dakota State and the Jackrabbit volleyball team,” Sell said. “She is familiar with our program and The Summit League, emphasizes academic success and has coached at a championship level.”
“I would like to thank Justin Sell and the rest of the search committee for this amazing opportunity to become a part of the Jackrabbit family, “ Cirillo said. “I’m excited to get started in moving the Jackrabbit volleyball program forward.”
Cirillo, who becomes SDSU’s 12th volleyball coach, has spent the last five years as associate head coach for the Jaguars. During her tenure, Cirillo was part of four of the best seasons in IUPUI volleyball history as it won three Summit League regular-season titles, played in three consecutive Summit League Tournament title games, won the 2013 Summit League tournament championship, advancing to the program’s first NCAA Tournament.
As IUPUI’s recruiting coordinator, Cirillo recruited and coached multiple Summit League award-winning student-athletes both on and off the court.
During her five years as assistant coach at Missouri Southern State, Cirillo worked directly in the development of the squad’s middle blockers, helping MSSU reach the South Central Regional Tournament and a top-25 American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA) ranking in 2006. Cirillo also was the club director for the Ozarks Juniors Volleyball Club and served as a head coach for several USA Volleyball Juniors teams. During her four-year collegiate career, Cirillo served as a team captain at Southwestern Illinois College (2000-02) and the University of Central Arkansas (2002-04). A native of Edwardsville, Ill., Cirillo was first-team all-conference and all-metro player at Edwardsville High School, earning player of the year honors on the all-area team while leading EHS to regional and sectional championships. She was an honorable-mention all-America and a first-team all-region selection at Southwestern Illinois College, where she played the first two years of her collegiate career before transferring to UCA. At Central Arkansas, Cirillo played in 173 games and logged 409 kills, 125 blocks (27 solo) and 62 service aces. In 2003, she helped the Sugar Bears to their first Gulf South Conference Tournament appearance since 1998. Cirillo, a team captain, was also named to the GSC Academic Honor Roll. Cirillo earned her bachelor’s degree in management information systems from UCA in 2004 and her masters of science in administrative studies from Missouri State in 2006.
