NOTRE DAME, Ind. — Kindra Gillen has joined the University of Notre Dame volleyball program as an assistant coach, Irish head coach Mike Johnson announced Monday (Feb. 4).
“Kindra is someone I have long known and long respected,” said Johnson. “She is passionate, enthusiastic and carries herself with the highest degree of integrity. Kindra played for a coach whom I consider to be the best coach in the country and has a deep understanding of the intensity and demands of our gym. She is motivated towards becoming a great teacher and will be a wonderful representative of Notre Dame on the recruiting trail and in the community. We are thrilled to welcome Kindra and her husband Brett to South Bend.”
Gillen comes to Notre Dame after spending a season as an assistant coach at the University of Wyoming, where she helped the Cowgirls earn their second consecutive postseason berth — an accomplishment that hasn’t been done by a Wyoming volleyball team since 1989-90 — and first 20-win season since 2015.
“It’s a tremendous honor to be able to represent the University of Notre Dame,” Gillen said. “I believe it’s a place where student-athletes have an opportunity to receive an excellent education and compete at the highest level. Mike Johnson has a great vision of where he wants to take this program and I can’t wait to be a part of that journey.”
Before joining Wyoming, Gillen spent a season at Liberty University where she helped the Lady Flames to the Big South Volleyball Championship semifinals. Before her time at Liberty, she was an assistant coach during the 2016 season at Nicholls State for what was her first collegiate coaching experience.
Hailing from Eaton, Colo., Gillen was a two-time (2009, 2010) second team AVCA All-American at the University of Washington. She also earned back-to-back All-Pac 10 and All-Pacific Region honors as both a junior and senior. In her final year, Gillen recorded a team-high 471 kills to help Washington reach the NCAA Elite Eight. She also helped guide the Huskies to the Elite Eight and a No. 5 national ranking as a sophomore in 2008.
She left her mark on Washington’s career record book. She currently ranks fourth in career points (1,470), seventh in career points per set (4.22) and ninth in both career kills (1,251) and kills per set (3.59).
Gillen also played professionally in Puerto Rico, France, Greece and Germany. While in Germany, she was the fourth overall scorer during the 2014-15 German season and voted MVP in several matches.
Gillen also trained with the U.S. National Team in 2011 and 2013 and served as head coach of the T-Street Volleyball Club, where she led an under-16 team to a bronze division first-place finish in 2011 and guided a under-15 team to a bronze division third-place finish in 2013.
Gillen graduated from Washington in 2011 with a bachelor’s degree in comparative history of ideas. The former Kindra Carlson is married to Brett Gillen.
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