Julie Darty Dennis

Julie Darty Dennis has built Mississippi State volleyball into a championship caliber program and guided the Bulldogs to new heights heading into her fifth season as head coach.

After being introduced on January 10, 2018, Dennis has rolled up her sleeves using the core values of pride, authenticity, actions over words and finish as the building blocks to numerous program first over the last four seasons.

State has risen in the SEC standings during each season of the Dennis era headlined by an unprecedented 2021 season which saw a massive leap forward to second place and the most successful campaign in school history.

The Bulldogs rewrote the record books by posting a 25-6 record and a 16-2 mark. The 25 overall wins and 16 conference victories shattered program single-season records in both categories. Another first for the Maroon and White was an initial No. 24 ranking on November 15 and No. 23 ranking a week later to conclude the regular season in the American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA) poll.

State ended the regular season on a high note and amassed 13 straight wins, all against SEC opponents. The Bulldogs heard their name called on selection Sunday in route to capturing the program’s first NCAA Tournament appearance. The 13-game streak to end the regular season was the SEC’s longest and tied for sixth-longest run in the country.

Within the 31-game slate, the Bulldogs earned the program’s first win over No. 17 Florida coupled with a home sweep of No. 24 Tennessee, a reverse-sweep comeback victory at rival Ole Miss and table-setting triumphs over Big Ten (Indiana) and Big 12 (Oklahoma) opponents in the noncoference.

Following the record-setting 2021 season, Dennis was showered with AVCA Region and SEC Coach of the Year accolades. She was also awarded a contract extension through 2025 by Director of Athletics John Cohen.

A program single-season record four players tucked away AVCA All-South honors under Dennis’ guidance. Right-Side hitter Gabby Waden became the fourth player in program history to notch AVCA All-America Honorable Mention status and was the program’s first player to secure AVCA All-South Region selections in back-to-back seasons. The South Carolina native also was the second player in program history to dial up All-SEC honors for the second consecutive season.

Libero Lilly Gunter notched AVCA All-South Honorable Mention during the 2020-21 season and earned an AVCA All-South Region Team pick in 2021. Additionally, Shania Cromartie and Lauren Myrick eached picked up AVCA All-South Region Honorable Mention.

Mississippi State racked up a program single-season record of 10 SEC weekly awards by six Bulldogs during the 2021 season. Cromartie, Waden and Rebecca Walk each locked down at least a share of the SEC Player of the Week and the SEC Offensive Player of the Week selections, while Deja Robinson earned a SEC Co-Defensive Player nod, and Gabby Coulter registered SEC Co-Setter of the Week which marked State’s first time winning the league’s weekly setter award.

In total, Dennis has coached three players to five All-SEC selections during her tenure. Waden and Robinson have made their impact on State’s record book. Waden sits second in hitting percentage (.298) and eighth in kills (1,117), whereas Robinson has climbed to second in total blocks (404), first in block assits (335) and fifth in solo blocks (69).

State’s first three seasons with Dennis at the helm were highlighted by road wins at No. 7 Texas A&M in 2020-21 and an 11-1 start in 2019 which tied the best 12-match run to open a season in program history (1992, 2000).

Part of the 2019 team’s success came from anchoring performances courtesy of seniors Alleah Stamatis and Amarrah Cooks, two student-athletes that played under Dennis at her previous post at Jacksonville. The duo tailed all-conference honors for the Dolphins and their success translated immediately into the SEC as Stamatis became just the seventh State setter to collect 1,000 assists in a season. Cooks, a middle blocker, led all qualified attackers with a sparkling .303 hitting percentage during both of her seasons in Maroon and White.

Another staple of Dennis’ program has been exceptional academic success. In July 2020, the program worked its way to its first AVCA Team Academic Award since 2010 and fifth all-time. During all four seasons of her season at the helm, MSU has had at least nine SEC academic honor roll selections (fall academic honor roll plus first-year honor roll. In 2021, MSU boasted a program-record 12 SEC Fall Academic Honor Roll members eclipsing a program mark for the second straight year.

Prior to her arrival in Starkville, Dennis turned Jacksonville into one of the Atlantic Sun’s top programs. The 2013 and 2014 AVCA “Thirty under 30” award winner, she led the Dolphins to the 2014 Atlantic Sun Tournament championship and an NCAA tournament appearance during her first year as a collegiate head coach.

During her Jacksonville tenure (2014-17), Dennis coached 11 All-Atlantic Sun honorees, including five first-team selections, alongside five ASUN All-Tournamnet selections and three ASUN All-Academic Team members. In her final season in Jacksonville, she guided the Dolphins to an 18-10 overall record and a 9-2 mark, while overcoming adversity left in the wake of Hurricane Irma. Jacksonville’s Swisher Gymnasium was unplayable for much of the season, and the Dolphins were forced to practice and play in several area gymnasiums.

The Dolphins also finished the season with a 12-2 mark against ASUN Conference opponents to earn the No. 2 seed in the leauge tournamnet. It was the first time since 2013 season that Jacksonville posted 10 or more wins in the ASUN and received higher than the third seed in the ASUN tournamnet. Six Dolphins earned All-ASUN accolades

and Mackenzie Swan was the second player under Dennis’s leadership to earn ASUN Defensive Player of the Year accolades.

Dennis posted 58 career wins in four seasons, and she earned her 50th career victory in 2017 - a 3-1 victory over Kennesaw State. Other notable victories during her tenure included a 3-1 triumph over Lipscomb, which crowned the Dolphins the 2014 ASUN Tournament Champions; a 3-2 defeat with Stephen F. Austin in 2015; a 3-0 sweep of Presbyterian in 2016; and a 3-2 conquest over Bethune-Cookman in 2017 to push a 51-0 all-time against the Wildcats.

In 2017, Dennis’s squad ranked first in overall digs in Atlantic Sun with 1,846. Jacksonville finished 38th in the NCAA and first in the conference with 16.94 digs per set. The Dolphins also finished thrid in the ASUN with 1,425 team kills and 211.5 total blocks.

In January 2017, Dennis also took on the role of director of volleyball over the university’s beach program. Under Dennis’s tutelage, the team captured back-to-back appearances in the ASUN Championship (2015-16), and the 2016 season also saw the Dolphins sweep South Carolina in the Gamecock Invitational.

In her first season with the Dolphins and her first year as head coach, Dennis led the indoor program to its third conference torunament championship. Jacksonville won four of its final five ASUN matches to earn the No. 3 seed in the league tournament. Defeating each opponent, 3-1, the Dolphins were crowned the 2014 ASUN Champions, earning an automatic berth to the NCAA tournament.

Year two saw an improved win mark in league play (8-6) and several league distinctions including All-Atlantic Sun Defensive Player of the Year, two All-Atlantic Sun First Team honors, an Academic All-Conference honor, and an All-Atlantic Sun Tournament honor.

Before Jacksonville, Dennis spent two seasons at the University of South Carolina (201213) where she was the associate head coach and recruiting coordinator for the Gamecocks. After the 2012 season, she was named to the AVCA’s “Thirty Under 30” list as one of the rising stars in the coaching world. In her time in Columbia, the Gamecocks won 30 games and posted just their second winning record in a decade during the 2012 season.

Prior to South Carolina, Dennis spent a pair of seasons at Villanova University, where the Wildcats posted back-to-back top-four finishes in the 15-team Big East in 2010 and 2011 seasons. She got her start as an assistant coach at Lake Mary (Fla.) High School. At the same time, she helped with two club teams in the Orlando area.

As a student-athlete Dennis was a standout at Mercer University from 2004-07. In all four seasons, she led the Bears in kills per set. As a sophomore in 2005, she complied a team-best .277 attacking percentage. In the Mercer record book, Dennis currently holds the second-place spot in career kills (1,264) and career kills per set (3.18), while having the third-most career total attacks (3,376) and the fourth-most blocking assists in a single season (92 in 2006). In 2004, Dennis earned A-SUN All-Freshman honors.

Dennis graduated from Mercer with a degree in communications. She married Bryan Dennis in May 2020, and the couple lives in Starkville.

Personal

Oviedo, Fla. January 5, 1986

Mississippi State Head Coach Jacksonville Head Coach South Carolina Assistant Coach Villanova Assistant Coach

Year 2014 2015 2016 2017

Year 2010 2011 2012 2013

School Jacksonville Jacksonville Jacksonville Record 19-5 12-16 9-19

Jacksonville 18-10

School Villanova Villanova Record 23-7 17-13

South Carolina 18-15

South Carolina

12-19

2021 AVCA South Region Coach of the Year, 2021 SEC Coach of the Year 2013, 2014 AVCA “Thirty Under Thirty” award winner

Mercer University, 2004-07

2nd - Kills (1,264) 2nd - Kills/Set (3.18) 3rd - Attacking Attempts (3,376)

4th - Blocking Assists (92 in 2006) 7th - Points/Set (3.85 in 2006) 9th - Kills (362 in 2006) 9th - Points (439.0 in 2006)

2004 Atlantic Sun All-Freshman Team 2004-07 - Led team in K/S each season 2005 - Led team in Attacking Percentage (.277)