Beth Launiere

Head Coach

Beth Launiere, one of the longest tenured head coaches in NCAA Volleyball, is in her 35th season at the helm of the Utah volleyball program in the fall of 2024.

After building the program from the ground up beginning in 1990, Launiere has put Utah on the map as a perennial top-25 program. Utah Volleyball has been ranked in the AVCA Coaches Top-25 poll 168 weeks, which includes a program-record 45 consecutive weeks ranked from 2000-2002. Most recently, Utah was ranked in the top-25 for 45 weeks in a row from 2019-2022 to tie the program record.

This past season, Launiere guided freshman Kamryn Gibadlo to All-Pac-12 Freshman team honors. Gibadlo ended her first season as a Ute in the top 30 in the Pac-12 with 2.61 kills per set. Off the court, Kamry Bailey, Viktoria Wahlgren, Allie Olsen and Emily Smith were named College Sports Communicators Academic All-District selections. It was the second year in a row that the Utes placed four student-athletes on the Academic All-District list. For Bailey, Olsen, and Smith it is their second year in a row to earn such distinction.

During the 2022 season, Launiere coached fifth-year senior standout Madelyn Robinson to her first AVCA All-American honors, as well as Pacific South Region and All-Pac-12 Conference honors in her final season as a Ute. Along with Robinson’s success, Launiere developed freshman KJ Burgess into the Pacific South’s Freshman of the Year to highlight awards from the season. Robinson earned honorable mention All-American honors, marking the seventh year in a row a Ute has landed All-American honors. Robinson finished 11th in the nation with 4.51 kills per set. Burgess became Utah’s third-ever region freshman of the year after leading all Pac-12 freshmen in hitting percentage and blocks per set, while ranking in the top-six nationally among freshmen in both categories.   

Launiere coached the 2021 team to a 22-9 overall record and saw her squad ranked in the top-25 the entire season, with the highest ranking of the year coming in at No. 10 in the nation. Utah placed third in the Pac-12 for the second-straight season in 2021 and reached the second round of the NCAA Tournament. The 14-6 record in Pac-12 play tied a program-best win mark since joining the conference. The Utes finished the season ranked eighth in the nation in kills per set (14.25), 18th in assists per set (12.87) and 30th in hitting percentage (.259).

She guided the most decorated player to wear a Utah volleyball jersey – Dani Drews – to an exceptional end of her career. Drews became Utah's all-time leader in kills with 2,268 kills. She also eclipsed the 1,000-dig mark and posted 1,104 career digs. Drews is the only Ute in history to post 2,000 kills and 1,000 digs in a career and just the sixth player in Pac-12 history to do so. She finished her career second all-time in Pac-12 history for career kills. Under Launiere’s tutelage, Drews finished her career as a four-time AVCA All-American, All-Region and All-Pac-12 selection.

In an unprecedented season the year prior, Launiere guided Utah volleyball to its highest ever AVCA ranking during the 2021 spring season after the canceled fall campaign due to COVID-19. In a conference-only schedule until the NCAA Tournament, Utah ranked as high as No. 7 in the nation and rolled to an 8-0 start in Pac-12 play. Utah finished the year third in the conference (13-4) before its Round of 32 exit at the NCAA Championships.

She led Drews to the program’s first ever Pac-12 Player of the Year selection and first ever Ute to be named the Pacific South region Player of the Year two years in a row. Additionally, Drews became the only player in program history to become a two-time first team All-American. The special season also saw Launiere collect her 600th career win as the program’s head coach after Utah swept Colorado on March 21.

Launiere was named the 2019 Pac-12 Coach of the Year after leading the Utes to a 24-10 record and the program’s fourth Sweet 16 in program history. Along with earning her first Pac-12 Coach of the Year honor, she also was named the AVCA West Region Coach of the Year for the fourth time (2001, ’06, ’08, 19). The coach of the year award was her first Pac-12 honor, but her fourth coach of the year award in her career after she was named the MWC Coach of the Year three times (2004, ’06, ’08).

Winning 24 matches matched the 2017 campaign and is the most since the 2008 team that had 26 wins in a season. The 14 Pac-12 victories is the most the Utes have had since joining the league in 2011. To cap off the stellar regular season, the Utes made the NCAA tournament for the 16th time and advanced to the Sweet 16 for the fourth time in program history in 2019 behind a program record four AVCA All-Americans.

With a chance to host in Salt Lake City for the first and second round of the NCAA Tournament, the Utes were instead sent to BYU to take on two of the 2018 Final Four teams in Illinois and then BYU. Utah battled back against Illinois, winning in a long five-set match setting up a match with BYU in the second round of the NCAA Tournament. The Utes jumped all over the hosts and routed the Cougars 3-0 to advance to their fourth Sweet 16 in program history. It was the first sweep BYU has suffered on their home court since early 2011.

In the Sweet 16, Utah drew eventual national champion Stanford. They pushed the Cardinal to five sets on their home court, and ended up being the only team to win a set off of Stanford in the entire tournament. The Utes finished the season ranked No. 9 in the final AVCA Coaches Poll, marking the program's best finish in the AVCA poll, surpassing the previous No. 11 ranking it recorded back in the final poll in 2017.

Not only did Utah have Drews on the first team, but also landed Berkeley Oblad and Kenzie Koerber as AVCA Second Team All-Americans. Oblad had a career year with 338 kills and hitting .317, and led the team with 159.0 blocks. She finished her career as one of four athletes in program history to have over 1,000 career kills and 500 career blocks.

First-year starting setter Saige Ka’aha’aina-Torres earned AVCA All-American honorable mention honors after she set a Utah single-season record with 1,518 assists. Ka'aha'aina-Torres had 10 matches with at least 50 assists and two matches with 67 assists. It marked the most assists a Utah setter has had in a single match since 2010.

After the incredible season and free time on her hands after the world was shutdown by Covid-19, Launiere stayed busy by writing a book called Stop Competing and Start Winning: The Business of Coaching with Utah volleyball donor and good friend Leo Hopf.

Similar to the 2019 team, the 2017 season collected 24 victories that were the most in a single season since Utah tallied 26 victories back in 2008, while the 13 conference wins was the most since joining the Pac-12 in 2011 until the 2019 team won 14 conference matches.

Utah earned an at-large bid into the NCAA Tournament and was named the No. 11 overall seed in the tournament – Utah’s highest seeding in school history – and earning the right to host the first two rounds of the championship tournament. The Utes would defeat Cleveland State in straight sets in the first round of the tournament and then propelled its way to the Sweet 16 with a 3-1 win over Purdue in the second round. Utah made its third appearance in the Sweet 16 overall, and the team’s first since 2008.

Under Launiere’s Tutelage, Adora Anae rewrote the school record books - breaking her own single-season mark for kills in a single-season - collecting 592 kills during the 2017 campaign while becoming the first AVCA First-Team All American in program history (until Drews later broke the record). Anae became the first player in school history to register 500-plus kills in multiple seasons, while earning back-to-back All-Pac-12 First Team honors.

Launiere arrived at Utah in 1990 and took over a team that had compiled a 1-32 record the previous year. Inspiring a turnaround in the program, she recorded Utah’s first winning season in seven years (18-15) in 1992, just her third year. She has now registered a total of 638 career victories, 310 conference wins and an all-time winning percentage of .615, and all of these marks rank first among Utah volleyball’s coaching records.

On the court, Launiere has helped Utah volleyball reach new heights on both the conference and national levels. In 11 years of MWC play, Utah won three tournament championships (2001, `02, `05) and three regular-season titles (2004, `06, `08), while qualifying for the NCAA Tournament 12 times.

The Utes have reached the second round of the NCAA Tournament 14 times with regional semifinal appearances in 2001, 2008, 2017 and 2019.

The 2008 team went 26-6 overall and won their sixth overall MWC title in school history after starting the MWC season 0-2. Utah went on to take 14 consecutive conference victories against conference foes. Lori Baird was the MWC Player of the Year, while Launiere earned the third MWC Coach of the Year honor of her career.

In 2006, Utah set the school record for wins in a season (28), set the school and conference record for league wins (16) and became only the second MWC school ever to go undefeated in conference play. The team won a school-record 25 straight during the season and was ranked as high as ninth in the AVCA poll. Led by Emillie Toone, who finished second in the country in blocking, Utah led the nation in blocks (3.71). Launiere was voted both the MWC and AVCA West Region Coach of the Year for the second time in her career.

Launiere led Utah to its first national ranking in 2000 after defeating No. 1 Stanford, 3-2, on Sept. 5, 2000. The next week, the Utes appeared in the Sept. 18 AVCA Top 25 poll, coming in at No. 18. Utah earned its highest ranking in school history on Sept. 2, 2002, when it was ranked eighth.

Utah earned its first postseason berth in 1993, placing third in the NIVC. The Utes led the nation in blocks that year, while Mikki Kane-Barton was the top individual blocker in the country. It was the first time any Western Athletic Conference team earned the nation’s top rank in blocking.

Seventeen of Launiere’s players earned 21 different All-MWC honors and 13 have been named all-region. Kim Turner (2002-03), Airial Salvo (2006) and Lori Baird (2008) were each named MWC Player of the Year. Launiere’s recruits have also rewritten the record book, holding career records in kills, attempts, assists, aces, digs, total blocks and hitting efficiency.

Along the way, Launiere also coached for USA Volleyball during each summer from 2009 through 2011. She coached the USA/BIP Team at the 2011 European Global Challenge in Belgrade, Serbia and Pula, Croatia and was head coach of the USA National A2 Program in May of 2010 at the Open Division of the USA Open National Championships in Phoenix, Ariz. Launiere was also on the sidelines as an assistant coach for the U.S. Women’s National Team at the 2009 FIVB World Grand Prix in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Li Miao, Chinese Taipei and Bangkok, Thailand. She got back on the sidelines with USA Volleyball in the summer of 2019 as she was an assistant for the U.S. Women’s Collegiate National Team University Games in Napoli, Italy.

Launiere’s impact on the sport goes well beyond the court. She has guided volleyball on the national stage as the AVCA President during the 2009 calendar year and as the President-Elect in 2008. She has also been a member of the AVCA Board of Directors since 2004 and served a three-year term as the Division I Volleyball Coaches Representative from 2005 to 2007 after being a part of the AVCA’s All-America Committee for six years.

Prior to coming to Utah, the Grand Rapids, Mich., native was as an assistant coach at Illinois (1988-89). The Illini went 57-12 during Launiere’s stay and made it to two NCAA Tournaments, including a 1988 Final Four showing.

An assistant at Ferris State (Mich.) from 1985-87, Launiere helped the Bulldogs win three postseason bids, including an appearance in the 1987 NCAA Division II Final Four.

Launiere graduated in 1985 from Aquinas College (Mich.). She earned a bachelor’s degree in business administration and economics and has a master’s in sports administration from Illinois.