Geoff Carlston Named Ohio State Women’s Volleyball Head Coach – Ohio State Buckeyes
2/4/2008 12:00:00 AM | Women's Volleyball
Carlston comes to the Buckeyes after five successful seasons at Ohio University
COLUMBUS, Ohio – Geoff Carlston has been named the head coach of the Ohio State women’s volleyball program. He will be the fifth head coach of the Buckeyes in the 36-year history of the program, replacing Jim Stone who retired after 26 years as the head coach.
“I am extremely happy and honored to be named the next leader of the Ohio State Volleyball program,” Carlston said. “In his 26 years, Coach Stone developed a tremendous foundation for the program. I am excited and passionate about beginning the next chapter of Ohio State Volleyball.”
“We are proud to announce Geoff Carlston as our next head women’s volleyball coach at The Ohio State University,” said Heather Lyke, associate athletic director in charge of women’s volleyball. “Geoff brings remarkable energy and passion to our women’s volleyball program. He has tremendous knowledge of the game and is an excellent teacher who is focused on building positive relationships with the student-athletes and community. Geoff articulated an exceptional vision on building a program that wins championships and develops young people as leaders in both the competitive and academic arenas. In addition, I would like to thank the hard work of the committees that assisted with this search, and I look forward to watching our student-athletes grow into national competitors and leaders under coach Carlston’s tutelage.”
Carlston comes to Ohio State after spending five years as head coach of Ohio University where he built an outstanding program. His squads played in five NCAA tournaments, reaching regional play in 2005. At Ohio, Carlston guided the Bobcats to five consecutive Mid American Conference championships with an overall record of 144-22. He had a MAC conference record of 78-2 and was 14-1 in the conference tournament, winning four of five. In 2007, Ohio was 26-6 overall and had a conference record of 15-1.
Under Carlston, four Bobcats have received AVCA All-America Honorable Mention honors. Four have been named the MAC Player of the Year, two were the MAC Freshman of the Year and 25 have been named MAC All-Conference.
He has been named the MAC Coach of the Year four times and was twice named the Mideast Region Coach of the Year.
“I can’t wait to meet the entire team to see what they are all about, get to know them beyond volleyball and to begin setting goals for what we want to accomplish as a team,” Carlston said. “I plan to be in the gym this week with them so we can begin moving forward immediately.”
Prior to Ohio, Carlston posted a 49-42 record in three seasons at the helm of the Concordia University-St. Paul (Minn.) program. He took the Golden Bears from a 0-18 mark in the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference the season before his arrival to a serious run at the league title in 2002.
CUSP finished the 2002 campaign with a 24-9 record – its best-ever in Division II competition – and earned its first national ranking during the season. He recruited three consecutive NSIC Freshman of the Year selections to play for the Golden Bears and had five players named all-conference (three first-team, two second-team) in 2002.
In the summer of 2002, Carlston served as coach of a Division II all-star team that played in a tournament in Holland. Competing against the top Dutch college and professional league teams, the group won gold and bronze medals.
Before Concordia, Carlston served two seasons as a student assistant coach at Minnesota while completing a master’s degree in social work. During that year, the Gophers compiled a 27-9 record and advanced to the “Sweet Sixteen” of the NCAA tournament.
Carlston began his coaching career in 1994 as head coach at Hopkins High School. In his two-year tenure, his teams went 41-17 and captured the Classic Lake Conference title both seasons. He left the high school ranks for two years of service in Belize as a Peace Corps volunteer but stayed close to the sport, serving as head coach of the Belize women’s national team and as an assistant for the men’s national team. He helped develop a year-round training program and the team finished fourth at the 1997 Central America championship, earning the country’s first international victories.
Upon his return to the United States, Carlston became head coach of the 17’s team of the Minnesota One Junior Olympics club, which competed in the 17 Open Division at USA Nationals three consecutive years under his direction.
In June 1993, Carlston earned his undergraduate degree in speech communication from the University of Minnesota, where he played on the club team for the Gophers. The Plymouth, Minn., native is married to the former Sara Tibesar of St. Paul, Minn.
