Bedford, Ohio, native also to serve as Senior Woman Administrator

RINDGE, N.H. (May 20, 2009) - Franklin Pierce University has named Stephanie Dragan as head coach of volleyball and senior woman administrator. The announcement was made today by Bruce Kirsh, Vice President and Director of Athletics at the University, and confirmed by President Dr. George J. Hagerty.

"I am very pleased to name Stephanie Dragan as the new head volleyball coach and senior woman administrator at Franklin Pierce," said Kirsh. "She has a history of coaching success at a variety of intercollegiate levels, most specifically at Centre College a small institution similar to ours. Stephanie will also be a positive addition to our staff as senior woman administrator."

Dragan takes over at Franklin Pierce for Sharon Bonaventure, who resigned after three years as head volleyball coach/SWA at the University in April to accept the head coaching position at Augusta State University in Georgia. The Ravens are coming off a 17-18 campaign in 2008, posting an 8-6 clip in the Northeast-10 Conference to earn their fourth-straight NE-10 Tournament appearance.

"I am very honored to be chosen as the next head volleyball coach at Franklin Pierce," said Dragan. "I would like to thank Bruce Kirsh and the University for giving me the opportunity to lead the program. I am really excited to learn the area and get the ball rolling this fall working with the student-athletes."

Dragan brings 13 years of head coaching experience with her to Franklin Pierce, the last four at the Division I level for Western Carolina University. She has posted a career record of 221-236 (.484), which includes seven very successful seasons at NCAA Division III Centre College, in Danville, Ky., where she compiled an overall record of 159-107 (.597). Prior to Centre, she posted a 30-30 (.500) record in two years during her first head coaching position at Agnes Scott College in Decatur, Ga., from 1996-97.

While at Centre, Dragan enjoyed five 20-plus win seasons including a 28-victory campaign and unblemished home record in her final year at the Colonels' helm in 2004. She produced the lone All-American in program history, two All-Region players and 15 All-Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference (SCAC) selections. She also coached the 2003 and 2004 SCAC Freshman of the Year as well as one AVCA South Region Freshman of the Year. In her third season in 2000, she led Centre to a 26-8 record and was named the SCAC Coach of the Year.

Dragan's eye for talent continued to show at Western Carolina, recruiting a Collegiate Volleyball Update (CVU) "Rising Star", a prepvolleyball.com "Defensive Dandy" and two prepvolleyball.com Top 250 recruits. Carrie Minogue set a Catamounts program-record with 770 digs during her freshman season in 2008, which placed her 15^th nationally in Division I. Dragan led WCU to its first Southern Conference (SoCon) Tournament win since 2000 with a three-game sweep of the University of North Carolina-Greensboro in 2005. The program also produced no less than six TIAA-CREF SoCon fall All-Academic honorees under her tutelage.

Dragan has also performed a variety of tasks at the collegiate level in addition to her volleyball coaching duties. She served as assistant strength coach and assistant sports information director at Centre, while also working with the College's Student-Athlete Advisory Committee. She was also the head softball coach over four years at Centre and Agnes Scott. Dragan had returned to her native Ohio following her stint at Western Carolina and was coaching the Mavericks Volleyball Club in Parma.

Dragan is a 1994 graduate of Shawnee State University, in Portsmouth, Ohio, where she earned a Bachelor of Arts Degree in social science and was a standout setter on the Bears volleyball team. Dragan earned her Masters of Sport Science from the United States Sports Academy in 2008. She is an active member of the American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA), is IMPACT certified and is a graduate of the NCAA Women's Coaches Academy. She has also served as an assistant coach for the USA Developmental Team as part of the 2008 Global Challenge held in Puola, Croatia.  

Dragan will assume her duties at Franklin Pierce on June 15.