With more than 20 years of Division I assistant coaching experience, Craig Bere brought his extensive volleyball knowledge to The Hill prior to the 2015 season and the Hilltoppers haven't taken their foot off the gas pedal since. Bere is set for his ninth season on the sidelines for WKU volleyball in the 2023-24 school year, his first as associate head coach.
Embarking on his ninth season on The Hill, Bere’s knowledge and expertise helped gude the Hilltoppers to their ninth CUSA regular-season and eighth tournament championships. With an automatic bid into the NCAA championship, Bere contirbuted to WKU’s continued success with their fifth-straight NCAA Tournament Second Round appearance. WKU opened the season at No. 24 and finished the season ranked No. 22. Bere also helped outside hitter Paige Briggs earn her third All-American accolade as well as becoming the fourth player in WKU program history to be drafted to play professional volleyball.
Even in a challenging preseason to the 2022 campaign, Bere’s 8th season on The Hill still composed a 29-4 record, which included the program’s 1000th win and a fourth-straight NCAA Tournament Second Round appearance with an at-large bid to the Dance. After starting the 2022 season without starting libero Kelsey Brangers due to injury, true freshman Abby Schaefer took charge in the passing game all season long, along with redshirt-freshman Callie Bauer setting, new to the court. The Tops would gain their 15th championship since joining Conference USA, earning the regular season title in a battle against Rice to go undefeated in conference in the regular season. After opening the season at No. 21 in the AVCA Preseason Poll, WKU maintained status in the Top-25 all season long, reaching as high as No. 20, while rounding out the No. 23 spot in December. Closing a historic career, Lauren Matthews finished up her time in the Red and White earning the C-USA Alyssa Cavanugh Player of the Year award for the third time in her career, tabbed AVCA South Region Player of the Year, and AVCA Second Team All-American – the first Hilltopper with three team remarks. Matthews ended her time on The Hill as WKU’s all-time blocks leader and second all-time in kills. 2022 also saw senior Paige Briggs with another All-Region and All-American status, while embarking on her 1000th career kills and digs.
The 2021 campaign was another for the record books. Following the shortest offseason in program history due to the 2020 season being played in spring 2021, the Hilltoppers produced a 28-2 overall record with a third-straight NCAA Tournament Second Round appearance. The Tops secured their 13th and 14th championships of a possible 16 during their time in Conference USA, winning the East Division and Tournament once again. WKU spent two weeks ranked at No. 15 in the AVCA Coaches Poll - the best ranking in program history - and would close the season at No. 20 in the final poll. Lauren Matthews was named the first-ever Conference USA Alyssa Cavanaugh Player of the Year and doubled it up with the league's Defensive Player of the Year honor. Postseason awards rolled in with Matthews being tabbed the AVCA South Player of the Year and AVCA Third Team All-American after leading the nation in hitting percentage with a program-record mark of .480. Matthews, along with Paige Briggs and Nadia Dieudonne each landed All-Region accolades for the third-straight season while Kayland Jackson earned the first All-Region honor of her career. Katie Isenbarger landed Honorable Mention All-Region as well. The Hilltoppers' team mark of .341 ranked second in the country as well. WKU carried the biggest roster in program history with 18 players and would have six graduate following the season.
Despite an on-going global pandemic, WKU Volleyball achieved its best season yet in 2020-21. Going 23-1 overall, WKU’s lone loss on the season came to the eventual national champions in the Sweet 16 of the NCAA Tournament. The Red and White earned the No. 16 rank in the final AVCA poll, which tied the team’s best-ever ranking. Lauren Matthews (2nd Team) joined Alyssa Cavanaugh (3rd Team) as the only players in WKU Volleyball history to be recognized on one of the AVCA’s three All-American lists. Nadia Dieudonne earned Senior CLASS Award All-American status as well.
During the 2019 campaign, the Hilltoppers posted a 32-2 overall record which included a perfect 14-0 mark in Conference USA, the league's regular season and tournament titles, and the team's first-ever NCAA Tournament national seed at No. 15. The Tops became one of just five programs in the nation to produce 20 or more consecutive 20-win seasons.
Hilltopper Nation showed up by the masses to support the Hilltoppers inside Diddle Arena with record-setting crowds on back-to-back nights for the NCAA Tournament. Thursday night, 4,514 were in attendance to watch the Tops win their fourth-ever NCAA Tournament match. One night later, 5,023 people came through the arena doors to watch the rematch between WKU and Louisville. While the Tops bowed out of the tournament, a statement was made that Diddle Arena was near the top of the list of volleyball atmospheres across the country. The two-day attendance of 9,537 ranked fourth of the 16 host sites behind only the three national attendance leaders across the NCAA Volleyball season, Nebraska, Hawai’i and Wisconsin. Friday night’s attendance alone topped the two-day total of eight of the other sites.
Bere helped guide Paige Briggs (Freshman of the Year) and Lauren Matthews (Player of the Year) to earn AVCA Region superlatives and Conference USA superlatives. Matthews also added AVCA Honorable Mention All-American honors and C-USA Tournament MVP status. Nadia Dieudonne collected C-USA Setter of the Year honors and AVCA All-Region recognition in her first year on The Hill.
After graduating five seniors - including two four-time All-Americans - the WKU staff was faced with a tall task during the 2018 campaign. The squad returned just two upperclassman front row players and only one that had seen significant court time. Despite an uphill battle to conquer, the WKU staff led the squad to its 19th-straight 20-win season and secured the No. 2 seed in the C-USA Tournament for the second-consecutive season finishing with a 20-10 record. Individually, Rachel Anderson earned All-American honors for the third time of her career and was named a Senior CLASS Award candidate. Additionally, the senior collected Conference USA's coveted Jim Castañeda Postgraduate Scholarship.
Returning an experienced core, the 2017 WKU Volleyball squad continued finding new records to break. On Oct. 6, 2017, Bere helped lead the unit to its 30th-straight win over a C-USA opponent for the league record. That streak would stretch to 38 matches before a setback at North Texas. After tying the Mean Green for the C-USA Regular Season Championship, WKU hit the ground running come postseason time, getting to play all five postseason matches in the Bluegrass State.
Hosting the C-USA Tournament for the first time, the Red and White put on a show for the Diddle Arena crowd, as the squad clinched its fourth-straight trip to The Dance. The Lady Toppers would end up heading to Lexington, Ky., for the NCAA Tournament and sweep defensive-power Notre Dame to advance to the second round for the second time in Bere's three seasons on staff. The next night, the Lady Toppers took a 2-0 lead on host and No. 6 Kentucky before the Wildcats fought back and ultimately claimed the five-set match.
For the seventh-consecutive season, the Lady Toppers found themselves ranked in the AVCA Coaches Poll, spending two weeks ranked and the remainder of the season receiving votes.
Throughout the 2017 campaign, the Lady Toppers received numerous honors. Both Alyssa Cavanaugh and Jessica Lucas were named Senior CLASS Award candidates before Lucas became a finalist and brought home First-Team All-American status. Lucas ultimately three-peated as the C-USA Setter of the Year while Cavanaugh repeated as the league's Player of the Year and went on to earn AVCA Third-Team All-American status. Cavanaugh was named the C-USA Female Athlete of the Year for her remarkable senior season on The Hill.
Year two on The Hill with Bere on staff saw the Lady Toppers repeat as outright C-USA regular season champions after sharing the crown in 2014. Additionally, the Red and White won their third-straight C-USA Tournament Championship to secure the program's 10th NCAA Tournament appearance. WKU sported a clean 14-0 mark in regular-season league play and posted an overall 21-match win streak. The 2016 WKU squad proved to be on of the elite teams in the nation both on and off the court. After posting a cumulative team GPA of 3.61 for the 2016-17 school year to earn a spot on the AVCA Academic Honor Roll, WKU was the only DI program to earn top-25 academic honors and finish in the top-25 (or receive votes) in the final AVCA Coaches Poll in 2016.
Bere helped WKU to perhaps its best season in program history in 2015 as the Lady Toppers finished with a 32-4 record and repeated as C-USA regular season and tournament champions. A season highlight came when WKU opened the year by defeating No. 5 Wisconsin in Madison. The win marks the fifth time in the last four seasons that WKU knocked out a top-25 opponent. The Lady Toppers ended the season in style as WKU advanced to the second round of the NCAA Tournament for just the second time in program history and finished the year nationally ranked for the second time with a final ranking of No. 22 in the AVCA Coaches Poll.
Five Lady Toppers earned All-Conference honors as voted by the C-USA Coaches, including Alyssa Cavanaugh, Noelle Langenkamp, Jessica Lucas, Haley Bodway and Sydney Engle. Rachel Anderson became the second straight Lady Topper to be named Freshman of the Year and Lucas earned Setter of the Year honors. Lucas and Cavanaugh repeated as AVCA All-America selections.
Bere's coaching resume includes assistant coaching stints at Louisville, LSU, Mississippi State, Georgia Tech and most recently Notre Dame while he was a head coach at Southern Indiana from 2002-03. The Kentucky native has been a part of five NCAA Tournament teams, including four in Division I, while coaching numerous All-Conference selections and All-Americans.
After spending the 2014 season in South Bend, Ind., Bere helped the Irish through its second year of Atlantic Coast Conference action. Notre Dame faced a tough league schedule, as the Irish collected wins against Louisville, Syracuse and Boston College. Bere helped Notre Dame newcomer Sam Fry to a spot on the All-ACC Freshman Team after the Ohio native led the team in each blocking category while second in aces and hitting percentage.
Prior to Notre Dame, Bere spent time at Georgia Tech (2008-13), where he instantly made an impact with the Yellow Jackets in 2009 by helping them qualify for their first NCAA Tournament in five years.
Working primarily with the setters, Bere helped coach standout Mary Ashley Tippins as she was named First-Team All-ACC and AVCA Honorable Mention All-American in 2009 and 2010. In addition to in-match duties, Bere assisted with scheduling, recruiting, academics and program special projects as well as other duties. He helped recruit the No. 25 signing class in the country according to PrepVolleyball.com in 2011 and challenged his student-athletes in the classroom as the program maintained a cumulative GPA that exceeded 3.0 each of his last four years.
Bere served two seasons on the Louisville (2007-08) staff before heading down to Atlanta. In his final season at Louisville, the Cardinals received an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament by capturing the 2008 BIG EAST tournament title a year after finishing as runner-up.
An assistant coach at LSU for three seasons (2004-06), Bere was responsible for game strategy, recruiting and practice planning. He helped guide the Tigers back to the NCAA Tournament in 2005 following a 13-year hiatus as LSU captured a share of its first Southeastern Conference Western Division title in school history. The following year, LSU repeated as SEC Western Division champions and made a return trip to the NCAA Tournament.
Under his tutelage, setters Daniela Romero and Heather Fierce both ranked in the top 10 in the league in assists per game, while LSU posted the fourth-best hitting percentage in the SEC in 2005.
Bere returned to Division I volleyball at LSU following a successful stint as the head coach at Southern Indiana, where he posted a 47-17 record in two seasons. He guided the Screaming Eagles to their first bid in the NCAA Division II Tournament after capturing the Great Lakes Valley Conference tournament crown in 2002, and came within three points of a repeat GLVC title and tournament berth the following season. His .734 winning percentage at Southern Indiana still ranks as one of the best winning percentages in school history.
During his two years, Southern Indiana setter Kim Boehmer became the first Screaming Eagle to receive All-America honors when she was named to the honorable mention squad in 2002. She also received first-team All-GLVC honors in 2002 and 2003, while Kristi Kavanaugh (Griffin) earned First-Team CoSIDA Academic All-America honors.
While earning a Bachelor of Arts in health education with a minor in coaching (1990-95) and a Master of Arts in physical education (1995-97) from Morehead State, Bere began his coaching career by serving as a student assistant in 1993 before being promoted to full-time assistant coach for the 1994 season. While on staff with the Eagles, Morehead State captured the 1993 Ohio Valley Conference Tournament title and finished as the regular season runner-up in 1994. The Eagles also returned to the title match of the 1995 OVC Tournament, taking runner-up honors.
Following graduation, Bere accepted his first job out of college as an assistant coach with Mississippi State (1997-2001). There he was responsible for coordinating the Bulldog defense and working closely with the outside hitters. Bere also headed up the team's recruiting efforts while performing additional administrative duties off the court.
A native of Louisville, Ky., Bere was a three-year letterwinner on the Morehead State football team and a six-year member of the men's volleyball club squad, serving as head coach while earning his Master's degree.
Bere is married to the former Shannon Krebs, and the couple has one son, Blake.
Last updated January 2023
