Volleyball

Ken Murczek was handed the reins of the North Texas volleyball program in January of 2010, and wasted no time in making the Mean Green a force nationwide.

In his three years at the helm, Murczek and the Mean Green have won a pair of Sun Belt West Division titles (2010 & 2012), notched two 20-win seasons and have advanced to at least the SBC Tournament semifinals each year. His 2012 squad racked up a school-record tying 26 wins en route to the program’s first trip to the Sun Belt finals.  

Murczek took over a program ranked No. 271 in the RPI and led them to a No. 105 finish in 2012, and not only owns the best win percentage in school history, but became the program’s fastest coach to reach 50 wins. NT recently picked up a signature 3-0 win over regional Big-12 rival Baylor – NT’s first win over the Bears since 1983 – a sign that his highly touted recruiting classes are paying dividends.

Carnae Dillard, NT’s first-ever signee with high school All-America credentials, was named Sun Belt Freshman of the Year, and joined Murczek signee Courtney Windham on the First-Team All-Sun Belt and All-Sun Belt Tournament teams. In all, five players have earned postseason league honors in three years under Murczek – equaling the previous seven seasons combined.

Even with all of his success on the court, academics are at the heart of Murczek’s vision for the Mean Green. NT was presented with the AVCA Team Academic Award for the first time in school history in 2011, and followed up with another in 2012. The award is given to teams nationally who maintained a 3.30 cumulative GPA for the academic year.

Since arriving at NT, Murczek has been a sought-after commodity in the regional volleyball circles. He was selected to lead USA Volleyball’s North Texas Region High Performance team, Team North Texas in the USA Premier Volleyball League, and has leant his skills to numerous camps and coaching clinics across the area.

Dedicated to improving volleyball in Denton County and the North Texas region, Murczek also founded the Mean Green Juniors program, and even coaches the U-12 squad. Proving his dedication to the Lone Star state, 12 of the players on the 2012 North Texas roster hail from Texas, and four of them call the DFW Metroplex home.

Prior to arriving at North Texas Murczek spent two seasons at Kansas, and despite playing 10 teams that advanced to the NCAA Tournament in 2009, the Jayhawks enjoyed their winningest campaign since 2004 (16-14), and even knocked off No. 21 Baylor. Their two-match sweep of in-state rival Kansas State was the program’s first since 1993.

While with the Jayhawks, Murczek had two players named to the ESPN the Magazine Academic All-District squad and a league-best eight Academic All-Big XII honorees in 2009 alone.

Prior to his arrival at Kansas, Murczek spent a year at Virginia where he helped the Cavaliers pile up 18 wins and a fourth place finish in the ACC. On top of his administrative and recruiting duties, he was responsible for training the outside hitters, and helped develop Sarah Kirkwood into a two-time AVCA All-American - a first in Virginia volleyball history.

Murczek, who earned his USA Volleyball Coaching Accreditation Program (CAP) Level III certification in 2012, also spent time at the Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs, Colo., where he assisted with skill development and on-court training of the United States Women’s National Volleyball Team.

From 2005-06, Murczek served as an assistant at Western Michigan, and was a volunteer assistant at Purdue in 2004. Over the two-year span at Western Michigan, Murczek helped guide six all-conference players and aided in the Broncos receiving the highest honorable mention award for the 2006 recruiting class according to prepvolleyball.com. In addition, Murczek was integral in the development of senior setter Jenifer Sulewski, who broke the school record for single-season assists.

In his stint at Purdue, he helped the Boilermakers to their first NCAA Tournament berth since 1990 and first-round upset over nationally-ranked host Colorado State.

A successful player at all levels, Murczek began his volleyball career at Marist High School in Chicago where he became an all-state selection in 1993. Murczek played collegiately at San Diego State, where he led his team to a top 15 ranking, and finished fifth in the country in digs per game. He then went on to the University of Arizona where his club volleyball team won back-to-back national championships.

After college, Murczek played four seasons of professional indoor volleyball in Gelterkinden, Switzerland; Biendenkopf, Germany; Niort, France and Bandung, Indonesia. He continues to compete in several beach volleyball tournaments during the summer months throughout the United States, and annually plays in the USA Volleyball Adult Open Nationals.

Murczek earned his B.S. in kinesiology from San Diego State University in 1998 before going on to earn a master’s in teaching and teacher education from the University of Arizona in 2000. Murczek also holds a secondary education teaching credential in physical education and science from the state of Indiana, and an M.S. in sport management from Western Michigan University (2007). Murczek and his wife, Jennifer, married in August 2007.