CARBONDALE, Ill. – Southern Illinois announced today that Brittany Harry has been named the 10th women’s volleyball head coach in program history. She replaces Ed Allen, who departed in December after six seasons at the helm of SIU.
In 16 seasons as a collegiate head coach, Harry has compiled a 310-178 record. In 2024, she led West Texas A&M to a 26-5 record and a Lone Star Conference championship, guided the team to the Division II national tournament and was named the league’s coach-of-the-year.
“I’m extremely excited to welcome Brittany to SIU,” said Tim Leonard, director of athletics. “We were looking for a proven head coach, a winner, and a leader with integrity and high character. That’s exactly what we found in Brittany.”
A native of Champaign, Illinois, Harry was just 23 years old when she was named head coach at Spartanburg Methodist College in 2007. In two seasons, she posted a 49-12 record, her teams made back-to-back appearances at the NJCAA Division I Championships, and she was named the district coach-of-the-year in 2007 and 2008.
Harry’s extensive head coaching portfolio also includes an 88-38 record in three seasons at Vincennes University (2011-13), an 11-9 mark at Cumberland University (2014), an 84-65 record in five seasons at Laredo College (2015-19), and a 52-49 record in four seasons at Texas A&M International (2020-23).
“I feel really grateful and blessed to have the opportunity to lead this program,” Harry said. “My conversations with Tim and (Senior Woman Administrator) Katie Gerlach gave me a good sense of the direction Saluki volleyball can go.”
Harry continued, “being from Champaign, it’s closer to family, and I have deep-rooted recruiting connections in Illinois. I’m excited to get started and build upon the progress of the previous staff.”
Harry has won coach-of-the-year honors four times during her career, and has mentored three All-Americans and 27 all-conference players. Her 2024 squad featured the conference defensive player-of-the-year and freshman-of-the-year. Harry’s teams have achieved outstanding academic success as well, earning AVCA All-Academic team honors in each of the last four seasons.
Harry was a member of the volleyball team at South Carolina Upstate from 2002-05 and graduated with a degree in communication-journalism. She has one daughter, Melia (14).
