Pleased with the program's progress, but far from con­tent, Bob Weiner has high hopes for his 2008 Keene State women's volleyball team. "We did some great things last season, but this team can take it much farther," he said.

Resurrecting the Owl program, Weiner has already led the team into uncharted territory in his brief three-year tenure. Directing the Owls to a first-ever appearance in the 2005 LEC championship match, he then coached KSC to back-to-back, program-record 25-victory seasons and ECAC tournament ap­pearances as well as a first-ever LEC regular season title last fall.

After garnering his 300th career victory last season, Weiner said the Owl pro­gram has tremendous potential. "This is a great place to coach," said Weiner, who has posted a respectable 67-38 (15-5 LEC) record at Keene State. "Once we started to build the program and win, athletes wanted to come here and play."

Set to begin his 21st season of collegiate coaching, Weiner came to Keene State after serving as the sports information director at Pine Manor College. He brought stability and a much-needed winning attitude to the KSC program. He held the position of head women's volleyball coach at Iona (N.Y.) College, As­sumption College, Montana State-Northern University, Macalester (Minn.) Col­lege, and Franklin Pierce College. During his four-year stint at Iona, his teams compiled a 74-51 record. He was named the 2002 Metro Atlantic Coach of the Year after leading the Gaels to a first-place finish in the conference. At Macal­ester, Weiner turned around a team that went 3-72 two years before his arrival, to 33-31 in his last two seasons. His 1992 and 1993 teams at Franklin Pierce participated in the ECAC tournament.

Weiner, co-founder of the Hardrock Junior Olympic Volleyball Club in New Hampshire, holds a bachelor's degree in theatre from UCLA and a master's from the University of California-Irvine.

One of the top high school coaches in New Hampshire, Chuck Roberson enters his third season as an Owl assis­tant coach. In addition to his position at KSC, Roberson will continue as head coach at Milford High, where he has led the program for the past 19 years. A three-time Class I coach of the year, Roberson coached Milford to back-to-back state titles in 2001 and 2002.

It's not the first time Roberson will be working with Coach Weiner. They both helped to form the first junior Olympic program in the state and have served as occasional advisor with each other's team. "Bob and I have a mutual trust that we've developed over the years," he said. "We both have the same defensive and passing philosophy."

Roberson, a Western Connecticut grad, is originally from Greenwich, N.Y.

Kristine Howell begins her second season as a member of the Keene State women's volleyball coaching staff.

The Concord native brings a wealth of playing and coach­ing experience to the program. A member of the Masce­nic (N.H.) Regional High volleyball team from 1994-98, Howell was named the school's female athlete of the year in 1997. During her four-year career at St. Anselm College, she served as team captain as a senior and twice earned All-NE-10 second-team honors.

After coaching area Junior Olympic programs in the Capitol and Lakes region, Howell moved into the high school coaching ranks. She spent two seasons as the junior varsity coach at Interlakes High School and one season was the ju­nior varsity coach at Concord High School.

After working with the program on a volunteer basis, Lloyd Sheehan moved into an assistant coaching position with the Keene State women's volleyball team last year.

Sheehan has coached at a variety of levels in addition to his work with the Owls. After leading the Mascenic (N.H.) High School to several volleyball and softball champion­ships, Sheehan resurrected the St. Anselm women's vol­leyball program, posting 20- and 19-win seasons in his final two years at the helm.

The Cranston, R.I., native returned to the N.H. high school ranks as an assistant at Souhegan High, where he helped lead the team to the finals in 2003 and the Class I championship in 2004. A former NHIAA Coach of the Year in both vol­leyball and softball, Sheehan founded the NHIAA boy's volleyball program and co-founded the N.H. Volleyball Coaches association. Since 1990, he has been the director of the HardRock Juniors, a highly recruited volleyball cub that has developed several scholarship collegiate players.

Bre Redding begins her first season as a student assistant coach with the Owls this fall.  Redding, a defensive specialist with the team the past two seasons,  will be a valuable asset on the bench and practice court, passing on her knowledge and love of the game to the players.

Looking to coach at the college level, Redding has worked for two years with Coach Weiner and the Hard Rock Club team and last season with the Central Massachusetts Junior Olympic program.

Prior to joining the KSC program, Redding played at Medway (Mass.) High where she was twice named the team's top defender and earned league all-star honors as a senior.

Redding is working toward her degree in health science.