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There will be a NCAA Division I-II men’s volleyball team in West Virginia starting in 2015.
The University of Charleston announced Wednesday that it will add men’s volleyball as a varsity sport beginning in the 2014-15 school year.
Charleston is a NCAA Division II school with about a 1,400 student enrollment that is located in Charleston, W.Va. In addition, Charleston becomes the first West Virginia college to sponsor men’s volleyball since the NCAA sanctioned the sport in 1970.
“We are very pleased to add men’s volleyball to our athletic department next season,” athletics director Bren Stevens said in a statement. “This is a growing sport and one which we think will be a hit with sports fans in the Kanawha Valley due to the fast-paced and high-energy play on the floor.”
The athletics department also announced Wednesday that a nationwide search for a head coach is underway and it is still seeking candidates to apply for the position.
With the addition of men’s volleyball, the Golden Eagles will have 18 varsity sports at the start of next school year.
Charleston while unveiling its men’s volleyball program did not announce Wednesday any potential future plans for the new team to join a conference. The Golden Flashes for their other varsity sports compete in the Mountain East Conference — which currently does not have any other schools with a men’s volleyball team.
The university geographically is located in-between the two East Coast men’s volleyball conferences with the Conference Carolinas to its south and the EIVA to its north.
Charleston is the second school in 2013 to announce that it would start a Division I-II men’s volleyball program. North Greenville, an existing member of the Conference Carolinas, announced in the summer that will begin a men’s volleyball program for the 2015 season.