Kuhn brings impressive coaching record with Texas A&M, University of Kansas & University of Miami
Omaha, Neb. – Today, the Omaha Supernovas, Nebraska’s professional volleyball team in the Professional Volleyball Federation (PVF), announced Laura ‘Bird’ Kuhn as an assistant coach for the 2024 inaugural season. Kuhn brings a wealth of collegiate coaching experience to the Omaha Supernovas, having been the head coach at Texas A&M, and an assistant coach at the University of Kansas and the University of Miami (Florida), and is highly respected in the volleyball community.
“I am beyond ecstatic about this opportunity to coach in the first women’s professional ‘major league’ in the United States with the Omaha Supernovas,” said Kuhn. “It’s an exciting time for professional women’s volleyball in the U.S. I’m honored to be part of this groundbreaking season in a sport that has given all of us so much.”
Omaha Supernovas’ President, Diane Mendenhall, said, “We are thrilled to welcome Bird to our coaching staff and Supernovas team. This is a tremendous and historic moment for sports and for women, and to have someone so respected and of her coaching caliber join our mission speaks to the world class organization we’re building here in Nebraska.”
Kuhn will serve as an assistant to Supernovas’ head coach, Shelton Collier. As a collegiate player, Collier recruited Kuhn to Georgia Tech and coached her for a portion of her highly decorated career there. Kuhn is the first addition to the Omaha coaching staff, with the Omaha Supernovas scheduled to hire two other Assistant Coaches and a Technical Coordinator later this year.
Kuhn added, “Working alongside Coach Collier, who had recruited me to play at Georgia Tech, and now getting to build the first-ever pro volleyball team in Nebraska together is something special. I’m thankful to be able to learn and navigate new endeavors with him and this group of exceptional women.”
“I’m very excited about Bird joining our coaching staff,” said Collier. “I have great respect for her as a person and as a coach, and she’s highly regarded among players and other coaches across the country. I am confident that she will add value to the Omaha franchise in many ways as we continue to build our program and when we start our season in January. I anticipate that she will serve many roles with us both on and off the court, and that she will also connect well with the players.”
A native of Tiffin, Ohio, Kuhn was named SEC Coach of the Year in 2019 and has been the head coach of Texas A&M for the past five seasons. She led the Aggies to the regional semifinals of the NCAA Tournament and to their highest ever national ranking, sixth, in the American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA) national poll.
In the final six of her seven seasons as an assistant coach at Kansas, the Jayhawks constructed a combined record of 152 wins with 38 losses (.800 winning percentage), surpassing the 20-win milestone every year. Over that span, the Jayhawks made six consecutive NCAA tournament appearances, serving as host of first and second round matches four times. The Jayhawks were ranked in the final AVCA Top 25 poll in four seasons with Kuhn, including an all-time high No. 3 final ranking in 2015.
In 2015, Kuhn was promoted to associate head coach, and she was honored by her coaching peers and selected the AVCA National Assistant Coach of the Year following KU’s historic Final Four run that year in which the Jayhawks upset No. 1 Southern California in the regional finals while finishing the season with a school-record .299 hitting percentage.
Kuhn was an assistant coach and recruiting coordinator at the University of Miami (Florida) for three years (2008-10) before joining the Jayhawks staff. In her first season with the Hurricanes, head coach Nicole Lantagne-Welch was named AVCA Region Coach of the Year and ACC Coach of the Year as Miami went 26-6 overall and finished with an all-time best 14-6 record in ACC matches. Kuhn helped the Hurricanes reach the NCAA tournament in each of her final two seasons, and outside hitter Lane Carico became the program’s first AVCA All-American in 2010.
She began her college coaching career in 2007 at Appalachian State, where Matt Ginipro was named the Southern Conference Coach of the Year and Brittany Zahn collected SoCon Player of the Year honors.
Kuhn was recruited by Collier at Georgia Tech in 2001, where she was a four-year letterwinner and three-year starting right side hitter from 2001-04. During her playing career, the Yellow Jackets went a combined 113-25 (.819), won three Atlantic Coast Conference regular season championships and one ACC tournament title and advanced to the NCAA Tournament every year. Both the 2002 and 2004 teams reached the Sweet 16, and in 2003 the Yellow Jackets advanced to the Elite Eight for the first time in school history and also became the first ACC team to reach a regional final. Kuhn earned a Bachelor of Science degree in business management from Georgia Tech in 2005.
ABOUT OMAHA SUPERNOVAS
The Omaha Supernovas aims to be the premier home of professional volleyball throughout the world. The team is owned by global music sensation Jason Derulo and entrepreneurs Danny White and Chris Erickson, Co-Founders of City+Ventures, an investment and business acceleration organization headquartered in Omaha.
The Omaha Supernovas will begin competition in the Pro Volleyball Federation’s 2024 inaugural season with 24 total matches (12 home and 12 away) over a 16-week regular season. The supernovas will begin competing in early 2024 and play into mid-May when they will be chasing the PVF National Championship title. Supernovas season tickets for CHI Center home matches are on sale now through the team’s website www.supernovas.com.
ABOUT PRO VOLLEYBALL FEDERATION
Pro Volleyball Federation is REAL pro volleyball and the premier women’s professional volleyball league in North America. Pro Volleyball Federation will begin play in early 2024 with world class athletes and coaches, including some of America’s greatest volleyball players and elite players from around the world. Our entire focus is on ensuring that our level and quality of play, our treatment of players, the quality of our event presentations, and our day-to-day fan experience is world class and the very best offered in North America.
