Thornburg tabbed to lead volleyball program at Defiance College

DEFIANCE, Ohio – Defiance College has named Jeremy Thornburg as head volleyball coach and will lead the Yellow Jackets transition to NAIA competition in the fall of 2024. Thornburg becomes the 17th head coach in program history and comes to DC from the Angola-based Team Pineapple Volleyball Club.

During his time in Northeast Indiana, Thornburg spent single seasons as an assistant coach at NAIA Goshen and Division-III Trine before joining Team Pineapple in March 2021. In addition to his coaching duties for various age groups at the club level, he was also in charge of camps, clinics, events, and programming for Team Pineapple.

Nearly half of Thornburg's coaching career took place as the men's volleyball head coach at Loras College in Dubuque, Iowa. He started with the program in 2014 and built a team that began competing in the spring of 2015. The team's win total jumped from three to 10 in the second season of competition and turned in the first winning season in year four, which featured a runner-up finish in the conference tournament. Loras, a D-III institution, finished with winning records in each of Thornburg's last three years highlighted by a 21-7 campaign in 2019. Thornburg compiled a 66-76 record over his six seasons with the Duhawks.

"I would like to thank Athletic Director Tiffani Selhorst, President Richanne Mankey, and the entire search committee for putting their trust in me to be the next Head Volleyball Coach at Defiance College," said Thornburg on his hiring. "I am excited to move the program forward in a new direction as we begin our transition to NAIA and the Wolverine-Hoosier Athletic Conference next season. I am grateful to have learned from some of the best in the game of volleyball throughout my career and I wouldn't be afforded this opportunity without them. My family and I are excited for the opportunity to join the Yellow Jacket family and I cannot wait to get started."

Thornburg is a 2012 graduate of Indiana-Purdue Fort Wayne and was a student manager and assistant for the Mastodons men's volleyball program. He was part of IPFW's NCAA Tournament runs to the 2006 Final Four and runner-up finish in the 2007 national title match. From there, he spent single seasons assisting the women's programs at Division I Arkansas State and D-II Eckerd College in Florida before landing in Iowa for the next seven years.

"We are excited to have Coach Thornburg join us at DC. His previous head coaching experience and exposure to multiple levels of competition in college and club volleyball will allow him to navigate many challenges in building the DC volleyball program back up," says Defiance College Athletic Director Tiffani Selhorst.

Thornburg will have the task of restoring success to a program that enjoyed plenty of winning after joining the HCAC in 2000. From 2000 through 2019, Defiance volleyball compiled seven 20-win seasons, 11 winning seasons, and the first two conference championships in program history in 2013 and 2014. That stretch also included a 19-year run under just two head coaches. The Jackets will have experience entering the new NAIA era with three all-conference players on track to return for 2024.

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