On April 15, Portland Pilot’s head volleyball coach Jeff Baxter was announced as a new assistant coach for Volleyball Canada, the country’s women’s national volleyball team.
With this new position, Baxter will still coach for the Pilots, continuing into his fourth season on The Bluff and second season as Pilot volleyball head coach this coming fall.
"I am very honored and excited for the opportunity to assist Team Canada," Baxter said in a Portland Pilots press release. "I am eager to get to work with the athletes and staff we have in place. I would like to thank Scott Leykam, Karen Peters, and our team here at the University of Portland for allowing me to take on this new role, alongside my role here at UP, and continue to grow."
Baxter will join head coach Tom Black, senior team assistant coach Ben Josephson and NextGen coach and senior team assistant Shannon Winzer to lead the team’s upcoming international season to prepare for the 2020 Tokyo Summer Olympics.
Black is head coach for the women’s program at University of Georgia and was hired in February to lead the Canadian team. Josephson is head coach for the men’s team at Trinity Western in British Columbia. Winzer is leaving her coaching position at the Helloworld Travel Volleyroos in Australia to coach the team.
The Federation Internationale de Volleyball (FIVB) Olympic qualifying tournaments will be held Aug. 2 to 4 with Canada in Pool E alongside Korea, Mexico and host Russia. Pool winner will go on to compete in the Olympics.
Baxter is coming off the hottest season of Pilot volleyball, after setting records as the best season in history and first ever postseason tournament, making it all the way to the quarterfinals.
Morgan Wahler is a sports reporter for The Beacon. She can be reached at wahler20@up.edu.
