About
Bernadette Voss is in her sixth year at AB as Head Coach of the Women's Volleyball program and Assistant Professor of Sport Management. Since her arrival in 2020, the AB Battler volleyball program has earned three MEC tournament championships (2022, 2023, 2024), made the NCAA Division II Tournament round of 32 twice, and produced six AVCA All-Region selections. Her career head-coaching record (across two institutions and eleven seasons) is 247-119.
A native of Bowling Green, Ohio, Voss holds an M.S. in Sport Administration from Ohio University (2014) and a B.S. in Exercise Science from Ohio University (2010). As an undergraduate she was a four-year starter on the Ohio University volleyball team and a Mid-American Conference Academic All-Conference selection.
Before AB she was Head Coach at the University of Findlay (G-MAC, 2014–2020), where her teams won two G-MAC regular-season titles and produced two AVCA All-Americans. She came to AB to be closer to her partner's family in Buckhannon and — as she tells it — "because the AB job description was the rare one that asked you to be both a coach and a teacher, and I wanted to be both."
Education
- 2014M.S., Sport Administration — Ohio University. Concentration in athletics administration and sport finance.
- 2010B.S., Exercise Science — Ohio University. MAC Academic All-Conference.
Teaching
Coach Voss teaches across the Sport Management curriculum and is the program's lead instructor in athletic administration.
- SPM 245Introduction to Sport ManagementA foundational sophomore course covering the major segments of the sport industry from collegiate athletics to professional leagues.
- SPM 320Athletic AdministrationA required junior-year course on the operational management of a collegiate athletic department. Includes a semester-long shadow project with an AB athletics staff member.
- SPM 425Coaching Theory & PracticeA senior elective on the philosophy and craft of coaching. Each student designs and teaches a youth-clinic coaching session as the final project.
Coaching, Teaching & Service
Voss's professional identity is the dual practice of coaching and teaching — she insists that the two are forms of the same vocation. Her academic publication record is modest by AB standards (a coaching textbook chapter and two peer-reviewed conference papers) but her coaching record is exceptional: 247 career wins, three conference championships, and twelve student-athletes who have gone on to professional or international playing careers.
She is a member of the AVCA Coaches Honor Court, the NCAA Division II Volleyball Committee (regional rep), and the Mountain East Conference Coaches' Council.
Selected Publications & Presentations
- 2024Book chapter, "The Teaching Coach," in Modern Coaching Pedagogy (Human Kinetics).
- 2023"Recruiting at the Small D-II Program." AVCA Coaching Volleyball.
- 2021Conference paper, NASSM Annual Meeting.
- 2025Panelist, AVCA Annual Convention, "Coaching Through Mental-Health Awareness."
Honors & Service
- 2024MEC Coach of the Year (third time).
- 2024MEC Tournament Championship (third consecutive).
- 2023AVCA Coaches Honor Court appointment.
- 2020Joined AB as Head Coach and Assistant Professor.
- 2010Ohio University MAC Academic All-Conference.
The locker room and the lecture hall are the same room. The only difference is that the locker room is a little louder and the consequences of being wrong are immediate. I teach the same thing in both: you are responsible for the next play.— Coach Bernadette Voss, M.S.
Beyond the Classroom
Voss lives in Buckhannon with her partner Erin (a public-defense attorney) and their dog. She is the AB Athletics Department's informal academic liaison for student-athletes considering graduate school in Sport Management, and a frequent youth-volleyball clinic instructor at the Barbour County YMCA.
A serious endurance athlete, she has completed eight marathons including the Boston Marathon (2022) and three half-Ironmans. She is also a competitive amateur poker player in the Pittsburgh circuit.