Chicago, Ill. - Mike Oswald has been named head coach for the Illinois Tech men's volleyball team.
Oswald, who had been an assistant coach for the men's team the past three seasons, takes over the reins of the men's program from Mark Johnston, who is focusing his head coaching efforts on the women's volleyball team.
"Mike has been a long time assistant coach for our volleyball teams" said Assistant Vice President - Director of Athletics Usha Gilmore. "His dedication and passion for the success of our student athletes made it an easy decision to promote him to become our next Head Men's Volleyball Coach. We are extremely happy to have him on our team" Gilmore said.
"I'm very grateful and proud to have this opportunity to work with such great people surrounding me" said Oswald. "I'd like to thank Illinois Tech Athletics for the chance to work more closely with so many driven and capable student athletes! As our assistant coach for the last three seasons, I've been fortunate to see the development of every returning member of this team. Along with our incoming freshmen, who are going to contribute a lot to our future, I'm excited about the growth I've seen at Illinois Tech and I'm thrilled to continue the trend!"
Prior to coming to Illinois Tech, Oswald spent the previous six years in various roles at the club and high school level as a coach and program director, leading several programs to strong city-wide league and tournament championships.
He's led club programs in the Great Lakes Region and volunteered at Chicago State University for three seasons prior to joining the Scarlet Hawks. As Surge Program Director at Energy Volleyball Club, three of his teams won their division in the Cross-Town Series in 2016. In 2018, his junior varsity program at Resurrection College Prep finished seventh in the Girls' Catholic Athletic Conference Upper Division, dropping just four non-conference matches. The current varsity roster includes ten players from last year's JV team.
Prior to coaching, Oswald played four years of volleyball, primarily as an outside hitter, with several libero and serving opportunities, at East Stroudsburg University of Pennsylvania. The Warriors won the Hay Division of the Eastern Intercollegiate Volleyball Association (EIVA) in 2006 and climbed into the top five in the conference with teams like Penn State and George Mason. He was appointed team captain and won the team's senior award in 2008.
Earning a bachelor of science and a master of science in sport management from East Stroudsburg, he interned with Bob Bertucci Volleyball Camps and served as his graduate extern of volleyball at Temple University during the 2008 season. Oswald grew up in Central New York and attended Oswego High School.