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The committee responsible for determining the NCAA Tournament will now include one of the winningest coaches in MIVA history.
Lewis coach Dan Friend was selected to be the Midwest representative on the five-person NCAA men’s volleyball committee.
Friend in 20 seasons with the Flyers has accumulated 392 career wins and guided the program to five NCAA Tournament appearances. Lewis has reached the NCAA Tournament semifinals three times under Friend, including advancing to the NCAA Tournament finals in 2015.
The NCAA men’s volleyball committee is responsible for selecting the two at-large bids and seeding the nine-team field for the annual NCAA Tournament. It also oversees the championship event and annually adopts any rule changes.
The group is comprised of five individuals who each serve four-year terms – one representative from the East Coast, Midwest and West Coast along with two at-large selections.
The NCAA committee since expanding from three to five members in 2020 has typically included at least one active head coach on the committee. Stanford coach John Kosty and former King coach Ryan Booher served on the committee from 2020-23, and Fairleigh Dickinson coach Karl France joined the committee in 2023.
MIVA commissioner Tim O’Brien completed a four-year term this summer as the Midwest representative on the committee.
Friend is the third person to serve as the Midwest representative since O’Brien’s term ended.
Rock Perrotte was initially slated to replace O’Brien but had to step down from the committee after departing Purdue Fort Wayne to join the Penn State coaching staff. John Hawks was then selected as the committee’s Midwest representative but also had to step down after leaving Loyola in the fall to become the UCLA head coach.
Friend will be the only new committee member from last year. France, SIAC commissioner Anthony Hollmand, UC Irvine athletics director Paula Smith and Princeton executive associate athletics director Anthony Archbald all will continue to serve on the committee in 2025.
Archbald also will serve as the committee chair for the upcoming season.