For More Information
Neil Elliott,AD, (620) 792-9378
Mike Marzolf, SID, (620) 792-9310
marzolfm@bartonccc.edu

Ivans comes to Barton from LSU, where he spent the past 3 months as an assistant for the Tigers. Prior to his short stint at LSU, Ivans spent 3 seasons with the University of Oklahoma as an assistant coach. Ivans has also spent time with Wichita State University, Graceland University, and in the USA Volleyball developmental camps.

"We are extremely pleased and excited to be able to announce the hiring of Josh Ivans as our new head volleyball coach,” Barton Athletic Director Neil Elliott said. “After an extensive nationwide search, it became evident that Coach Ivans was the absolute cream of the crop of the applicants for the position. He comes to us after having been a Division I assistant coach in both the Big 12 at the University of Oklahoma and in the SEC at LSU. In addition, Coach Ivans was highly recommended to us by numerous Division I head coaches as well as various other highly respected individuals in the volleyball ranks.”

In his short time at LSU, Ivans was in charge of the Tigers recruiting. He had similar responsibilities at OU, where he was integral in signing the 22nd best recruiting class in the NCAA in 2003. Ivans recruited Fab 50 player Laura Tomes to Oklahoma as well as the Big 12 Freshman of the Year candidate Joanna Schmitt.

“It was a very difficult decision for me,” Coach Ivans said. “I had committed to myself to the program at LSU and Coach (Fran) Flory. She was extremely professional.”

Ivans spent a season as a graduate assistant at Wichita State as well as an assistant coach at Graceland University, his alma mater. He played collegiate at Graceland, where he was the setter on the NIRSA National Championship volleyball team his senior season. His teams finished 9th his sophomore and junior seasons.

“Coach Ivans has had tremendous success as both a volleyball player and as a coach,” Elliott said. “As a player he was a first team All-American and was the setter for a national championship team at Graceland University. As a coach he was instrumental in successfully recruiting the 22nd best class in the nation while at the University of Oklahoma. We believe that Coach Ivans possesses a very strong work ethic and will continue to prove to be an outstanding recruiter. Although the search took longer than we had hoped, we feel as though through being patient we were able to get an individual that can continue our strong volleyball tradition and will make a solid commitment to the program long term.”

Ivans has also spent time as the coach and director of USA Volleyball Developmental Camps for 5 years. He was the Oklahoma Region High Performance Camp Director and Coach in 2002. From 1998-2000 he was the High Performance Camp Coach at the Iowa Region.

Ivans now takes on the task of defending the 2003 NJCAA Championship season with what will be an almost entirely new cast of characters at Barton.

“Success has been part of the program,” Coach Ivans said. “That is something I want to continue.”

“Probably the thing that impressed us the most about Coach Ivans was the fact that even though the volleyball program is coming off of a national championship season and we have very few student-athletes returning from that team, he did not let that scare him away from accepting the challenge of heading up our program,” Elliott said. “Both he and the college understand that he has a very challenging job ahead of him finalizing recruiting in a relative short amount of time.”

He is married to the former Michele Hallagin, the older sister of recent Cougar Ashley Hallagin, giving him connections to the Kansas.

“If you could create an ideal job for me, it would be one where my wife and I could be close to family,” Coach Ivans said. “It would be a job where we could raise our kids in a safe environment. It would be a place where I can be a head coach. Barton offered a lot of things that were important to my wife and I.”

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Check out Barton County Volleyball Online at http://www.bartonccc.edu/sports