March 27, 2008
 
Montana State Billings Hires Dana Cordova as Volleyball Coach

BILLINGS, Mont. – Montana State Billings Director of Athletics, Dr. Gary Gray, announced Thursday that Dana Cordova has been hired as the school’s new head volleyball coach. Cordova becomes the program’s 12th head coach since the program was reinstated in 1984.

“I am very excited to see Dana Cordova join our Yellowjackets athletic staff as our new volleyball coach,” Gray said. “She is a proven winner and has become a nationally recognized volleyball coach at Otero Junior College in Colorado.”

Cordova has spent the last eight years as the head volleyball coach at Otero Junior College in La Junta, Colo. While at Otero, she guided the Lady Rattlers to a 174-155 record and six seasons winning 20 or more matches. In addition, she went 29-13 in 2005-06 finishing third in the region IX tournament and third in the south sub region. The 29 wins were the most in the last 17 years, topping the 2004-05 campaign with 28 wins.
Along with an outstanding performance on the court, Cordova’s student-athletes also excelled in the classroom as she has a 97.4% graduation rate. During her career at Otero, Cordova has had 13 Academic All-Americans, 52 Academic All-Region selections and the team has been ranked as high as 12th nationally in team grade-point average.

“Virtually all of her student-athletes have graduated over her past 8 years at Otero, and that is an important factor to MSUB,” Gray said.

Originally from Trinidad, Colo., Cordova attended Hoehne High School where she was a standout athlete receiving all-state honors in both volleyball and basketball and was a four-time state qualifier in track. Cordova then attended Otero Junior College on a basketball scholarship where she was coached by Fred Boettcher and Tim Moser, who now is the head women’s basketball coach at Alaska Anchorage.

After earning all-region honors her freshman and sophomore years, she was named to the NJCAA All-American Team. She earned her associates of arts degree and transferred to McPherson College in McPherson, Kan. There, she received all-conference honors as well as leading the conference in rebounding. While at McPherson, she completed her bachelor of arts degree and was an assistant volleyball coach for one year, before moving onto Otero.

“I am very honored to be accepted into the MSUB family,” Cordova said. “I have great anticipation and excitement for the upcoming volleyball season. I hope to continue and build upon the great athletic and academic traditions at MSUB. With the returning core group and the incoming class I am excited about the possibilities this upcoming season holds.”  

Cordova replaces Sara Schaub who took the head coaching position at Montana State just under two months ago. Schaub guided the Yellowjackets to an 18-10 record and a 10-8 mark in their first year in the Great Northwest Athletic Conference. The Yellowjackets return all but two players from last season.

“I know coach Cordova will continue the successful growth and development of our MSUB volleyball program in the highly competitive GNAC,” Gray added.  “It’s great for us to be able to attract a proven head coach with so much successful college coaching experience.  This is a great step forward for our volleyball program.”