Considered one of the top young volleyball coaches in the country, Jill Stephens is in her seventh season as the Moccasins’ head coach. Last season she guided her team to a 31-5 record and a share of the Sunshine State Conference title, as well as an NCAA Tournament bid for the fifth straight season. The Moccasins finished with a Sunshine State Conference mark of 15-1, handing eventual Division II champion Tampa its only loss of the season. The 2006 campaign marked the third straight season of better than 30 wins for the Moccasins. The SSC title was FSC’s first since 1990. Stephens’ six-year record at FSC is 146-66. Her .688 winning percentage ranks 28th among active NCAA Division II coaches. For head coaches with just six seasons of experience, however, her winning percentage is third-best in Division II.

In 2005 she earned the SSC Coach of the Year award, as she led the Moccasins to a 33-4 record and a 14-2 SSC mark. She also recorded her 100th career coaching win with a 30-26, 30-20, 30-23 win at Saint Leo on Oct. 5, 2005.

Her appointment in 2001 as FSC’s head volleyball coach came after she had served two years as an assistant coach at Division I Florida Atlantic University (1995-96) and four years (1997-2000) as an assistant to longtime FSC head coach Lois Webb, who now is FSC’s director of athletics.

A 1995 graduate of Florida Southern, Stephens earned her bachelor’s degree in sports management and earned her master’s degree (also in sports management) from the U.S. Sports Academy in 2001.

Stephens played at Florida Southern College from 1991 to 1994, twice earning AVCA All-America recognition, in 1994 as a first-team honoree and in 1993 as a member of the second team. As a senior, Stephens was named the Florida Southern Female Scholar-Athlete of the Year. As a freshman, she helped guide her team to a fourth place finish at the NCAA Division II Championship. In 1992, her sophomore season, Stephens was named the Mocs’ most valuable player and led her team to an NCAA South Regional appearance. She ranks in the top three in the FSC record book in four career categories: (kills-2nd, 1691; digs-2nd, 1475; attack attempts-2nd, 3731; aces-3rd, 217). She served on the NCAA South Region Advisory Committee for Volleyball for three seasons. In addition, she represents the Sunshine State Conference on the NCAA Division II Volleyball Head Coaches Committee and is chair of the AVCA All-South Region Selection Committee, as well as a member of the AVCA All-America Selection Committee.

This summer Stephens was head coach for Team Florida’s Red Youth team, which competed in the USAV High Performance Championships. She also helps out with the Fellowship of Christian Athletes chapter at Florida Southern.