Beth Launiere - Volleyball Coach - University of Utah Athletics

Beth Launiere

Title:
Women's Volleyball Head Coach
Phone:
801-581-4397

2025 Beth Launiere Bio
Beth Launiere, is the longest tenured head coach at Utah Athletics, and one of the longest tenured head coaches in NCAA Volleyball heading into her 36th season at the helm of the Utah volleyball program. She is also an accomplished author, having published a book with Utah volleyball donor and friend Leo Hopf called Stop Competing and Start Winning: The Business of Coaching.

Building the program from the ground up 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 177 weeks, including a program-record 45 consecutive weeks ranked from 2000-2002 that was repeated from 2019-2022.

Utah heads into the 2025 season fresh off their 19th NCAA Tournament appearance in 2024 where they hosted the first and second rounds, finishing the season ranked No. 23 in the country after falling to Marquette (2-3) in the second round. The Utes ranked as high as No. 17 in the country last season. Launiere's 2024 Utes finished third in their first season with the Big 12 Conference after being picked to finish ninth in the media preseason poll, securing a 25-6 overall record and going 14-4 in conference.

With Launiere by her side, sophomore Kamryn Gibadlo continued her impressive rise in the collegiate ranks becoming the 16th Ute in program history to earn AVCA All-American honors being named an honorable mention. Gibadlo was also a unanimous All-Big 12 First Team selection, and an AVCA All-Region (West) selection.

It wasn't just Gibadlo that turned heads for the 2024 Utes with the team securing five total All-Big 12 Selections that included Lauren Jardine (second team), Emerie Satuala (second team), Allie Olsen (first team), and Isabelle Marco (rookie team). Additionally, Jardine, Satuala, and Olsen also joined Gibadlo as AVCA All-Region (West) selections. It was the most all-conference honors for the program in a single season since 2006 when the Utes competed in the Mountain West Conference.

In 2023, Launiere guided then-freshman 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. Launiere and the Utes also saw success off the court with Kamry Bailey, Viktoria Wahlgren, Allie Olsen, and Emily Smith being named College Sports Communicators Academic All-District selections. This was the second year in a row the Utes placed four student-athletes on the Academic All-District list.

During the 2022 season, Launiere coached fifth-year senior standout Madelyn Robinson to her first AVCA All-American honors. Robinson also earned Pacific South Region and All-Pac-12 Conference honors in her final season as a Ute. Robinson earned honorable mention All-American honors, marking the seventh year in a row a Ute has landed an All-American honor. Additionally, Robinson finished 11th in the nation with 4.51 kills per set. On the other end of the spectrum, Launiere also had success developing freshman KJ Burgess into the Pacific South’s Freshman of the Year. 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 with her squad ranked in the top-25 the entire season, and a peak ranking 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 in 2011. The Utes finished 2021 ranked eighth in the nation in kills per set (14.25), 18th in assists per set (12.87) and 30th in hitting percentage (.259).

2021 proved to be an incredible season for the most decorated player to ever wear a Utah volleyball jersey in Dani Drews who had an exceptional end of her collegiate career. Drews, under Launiere's tutelage, became Utah's all-time leader in kills with 2,268 while also eclipsing the 1,000-dig mark with 1,104 career digs. Drews is the only Ute in program history to post 2,000 kills and 1,000 digs in a career and was just the sixth player in Pac-12 history. Drews finished her career as a Ute second all-time in Pac-12 history for career kills while earning four AVCA All-American nods, All-Region and All-Pac-12 selections.

Launiere guided Utah volleyball to its highest ever AVCA ranking during the 2021 spring season after a canceled 2020 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 (a program record), 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. The 2021 spring season also saw Launiere collect her 600th career win as the program’s head coach after Utah swept Colorado on March 21.

During that time, Drews became the program’s first Pac-12 Player of the Year selection and first 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.

Launiere was named the 2019 Pac-12 Coach of the Year after leading the Utes to a 24-10 record, their 16th appearance in the NCAA Tournament, and the program’s fourth Sweet 16 appearance in program history. This was Launiere's first Pac-12 Coach of the Year honor, but fourth conference coach of the year award for her career after earning the nod in the MWC previously in '04, '06, and '08. Additionally, Launiere was named the AVCA West Region Coach of the Year for the fourth time in 2019 during her storied career with previous nods coming in '01, ’06, and ’08.

Utah's 24 won matches in 2019 tied the 2017 campaign, and was the most since the 2008 team that notched 26 wins. Their 14 Pac-12 victories were the most the Utes have had since joining the league in 2011. Utah accomplished all of this behind a program record four AVCA All-Americans.

Utah had a chance to host the first and second round of the NCAA Tournament in Salt Lake City in 2019, but instead were sent 45 minutes down the road to Provo to take on two of the 2018 Final Four teams in Illinois and BYU. Utah battled back against Illinois, winning in a long five-set match setting up an NCAA rivalry showdown with BYU in the second round of the tournament. The Utes ended up sweeping the Cougars on their home court 3-0 for the first time since 2011 to advance to the Sweet 16 for the fourth time in program history. The Utes fell to eventual national champion Stanford in that round, finishing the year with their highest AVCA Coaches Poll ranking (No. 9).

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, but only recorded 13 conference wins to 2019's 14.

Utah received an at-large bid into the NCAA Tournament in 2017 earning the 11th seed which was the Utes' highest seeding in school history and allowed them to host the first two rounds at home. The Utes defeated Cleveland State in straight sets during the first round of the tournament, before propelling their way to their third Sweet 16 (first since 2008) with a 3-1 win over Purdue in the second round.

Adora Anae rewrote the school record books in 2017 breaking her own single-season mark for kills in a single-season by racking up 592 kills while becoming the first AVCA First-Team All American in program history (until Drews later broke the record in 2021). Additionally, 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.

Going back a few years, the 2008 team went 26-6 overall to win their sixth MWC title in school history after starting the MWC season 0-2. Utah went on to take 14 consecutive 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 which still stands today), set the school and conference record for league wins (16) and became only the second MWC school to go undefeated in conference play. The team won a school-record 25 straight during the season and were ranked as high as ninth in the AVCA poll. The Utes were led that year by Emillie Toone, who finished second in the country in blocking, while Utah as a team led the nation in blocks with 3.71 per match. Launiere was voted both the MWC and AVCA West Region Coach of the Year for the second time in her career.

2000 proved to be another breakout year with Launiere and Utah, achieving its first national ranking as a program after defeating No. 1 Stanford, 3-2, on Sept. 5. The next week, the Utes appeared in the Sept. 18 AVCA Top 25 poll, coming in at No. 18. A few years later, Utah would earn its highest ranking (at the time) in school history on Sept. 2, 2002, when it came in at No. 8. That record stood till 2021 when the Utes reached No. 7 on Feb. 8.

Utah earned its first postseason berth in 1993, placing third in the NIVC, just four years after Launiere arrived in Salt Lake City. The Utes led the nation in blocks that year, while Mikki Kane-Barton was the top individual blocker in the country. This was the first time any Western Athletic Conference team earned the nation’s top rank in blocking.

Launiere began her reign at Utah in 1990, taking over a team that had compiled a 1-32 record the previous year. In just her third year as head coach (1992), Launiere recorded Utah’s first winning season in seven years going 18-15. 36 years later, Launiere has registered a total of 673 career victories, 324 conference wins, and an all-time winning percentage of .63. All of these marks rank first among Utah volleyball’s coaching records.

The Utes have currently reached the NCAA Tournament 19 times with regional semifinal appearances in 2001, 2008, 2017, and 2019.

Along the way, Launiere has spent time coaching USA Volleyball during the summer from 2009 through 2011; serving on the USA/BIP Team at the 2011 European Global Challenge in Belgrade, Serbia and Pula, Croatia, and as 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. Launiere went back to the sidelines one more time with USA Volleyball in the summer of 2019 as an assistant for the U.S. Women’s Collegiate National Team University Games in Napoli, Italy.

Launiere has been equally impactful off the volleyball court serving as the AVCA President-Elect in 2008 before stepping fully into the President role through the 2009 calendar year. She has 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 Utah, the Grand Rapids, Mich., native was as an assistant coach at Illinois (1988-89), where the Illini went 57-12 during Launiere’s stay and made two NCAA Tournaments that included a 1988 Final Four showing. As an assistant at Ferris State (Mich.) from 1985-87, Launiere helped the Bulldogs win three postseason bids that included an appearance in the 1987 NCAA Division II Final Four.

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

The Launiere Files

Awards
AVCA West Region Coach of the Year: 2001, 2006, 2008, 2019
Pac-12 Coach of the Year: 2019
Mountain West Conference Coach of the Year: 2004, 2006, 2008
Don Reddish Award: 1998, 2001, 2002, 2004, 2005

Milestone Victories
600th: 3-0 vs. Colorado | March 21, 2021
500th: 3-1 vs. Oregon State | Nov. 1, 2015
400th: 3-2 vs. BYU | Sept. 25, 2009
300th: 3-0 vs. Idaho State | Aug. 26, 2005
200th: 3-1 vs. UNLV | Nov. 16, 2000
100th: 3-0 vs. Utah State | Sept. 20, 1996

Team Accomplishments
19 NCAA Tournament appearances: 1998-2006, 2008, 2013-14, 2016-21, 2024
NCAA Tournament Regional Semifinal appearances: 2001, 2008, 2017, 2019
MWC Tournament Championships: 2001, 2002, 2005
MWC Regular-Season Titles: 2004, 2006, 2008
AVCA All-Americans: Kim Turner (Third Team, 2003), Lyndsey Henderson (Honorable Mention, 2004), Shelly Sommerfeldt (Honorable Mention, 2005), Arial Salvo (Second Team, 2006), Whitney Webb (Third Team, 2006), Emillie Toone (Honorable Mention, 2006, 2008), Lori Baird (Third Team, 2008), Shelby Dalton (Honorable Mention, 2013), Adora Anae (Second Team, 2016; First Team, 2017), Tawnee Luafalemana (Honorable Mention, 2017), Berkeley Oblad (Honorable Mention, 2017; Second Team, 2019), Dani Drews (Second Team, 2018; First Team, 2019, 2020, 2021), Kenzie Koerber (Honorable Mention, 2018; Second Team, 2019, 2020), Saige Ka’aha’aina-Torres (Honorable Mention, 2019), Madelyn Robinson (Honorable Mention, 2022), Kamryn Gibadlo (Honorable Mention, 2024)

Under Launiere, Utah has ...
- Become the first school in the MWC to win 16 matches in conference play, and just the second to go undefeated (16-0, 2006).
- Won a school-record 28 matches in a season in 2006, including a school-record 25 straight.
- Led the nation in blocks twice (1993 and 2006).
- Recorded 20, 20-win seasons.
- Gone undefeated on Crimson Court twice (2001, 2006).
- Received its first national ranking in the AVCA poll, coming in at No. 18 in September, 2000. Its highest national ranking was No. 7 on Feb. 8, 2021.
- Defeated the No. 1 team in the nation for the first time, downing Stanford, 3-2, on Sept. 5, 2000.
- Made its first postseason appearance in the National Invitational Volleyball Championship (NIVC), finishing in third place (1993).

Year-by-Year Record
Year	Overall Record	Conference Record
1990	7-21	0-10
1991	15-20	3-9
1992	18-15	3-11
1993	25-11	7-7
1994	16-13	7-7
1995	14-17	7-7
1996	20-12	10-6
1997	22-9	9-5
1998	21-10	9-5
1999	22-10	10-4
2000	23-8	10-4
2001	25-7	11-3
2002	25-9	10-4
2003	22-9	12-2
2004	24-7	13-1
2005	23-9	11-5
2006	28-4	16-0
2007	15-15	9-7
2008	26-6	14-2
2009	17-12	10-6
2010	17-14	11-5
2011	11-20	6-16
2012	14-19	5-15
2013	21-13	9-11
2014	20-13	9-11
2015	10-21	4-16
2016	20-12	11-9
2017	24-10	13-7
2018	19-14	10-10
2019	24-10	14-6
2020 (2021 spring)	13-5	13-4
2021	22-9	14-6
2022	15-16	8-12
2023	11-19	6-14
TOTAL	649-419	316-247

Year-by-Year Home Record
Year	Record
1990	4-8
1991	7-8
1992	7-7
1993	11-3
1994	11-3
1995	8-6
1996	8-5
1997	9-3
1998	8-2
1999	8-4
2000	10-2
2001	15-0
2002	14-2
2003	11-2
2004	12-3
2005	12-2
2006	12-0
2007	7-5
2008	12-1
2009	11-3
2010	8-4
2011	6-11
2012	7-6
2013	8-6
2014	12-2
2015	5-9
2016	7-7
2017	12-4
2018	9-5
2019	11-3
2020 (2021 spring)	8-0
2021	12-3
2022	8-7
2023	8-7
TOTAL	318-143

Year-by-Year Road Record
Year	Record
1990	0-11
1991	5-8
1992	6-7
1993	5-6
1994	3-8
1995	2-9
1996	8-4
1997	10-3
1998	7-7
1999	8-4
2000	7-5
2001	7-5
2002	5-5
2003	6-5
2004	8-3
2005	7-5
2006	11-3
2007	5-7
2008	10-4
2009	5-7
2010	8-5
2011	4-8
2012	3-10
2013	7-7
2014	4-11
2015	3-10
2016	10-3
2017	8-5
2018	5-9
2019	10-5
2020 (2021 spring)	5-4
2021	9-6
2022	3-9
2023	2-12
TOTAL	205-220

Year-by-Year Neutral-Site Record
Year	Record
1990	3-2
1991	3-4
1992	5-1
1993	9-2
1994	2-2
1995	4-2
1996	4-3
1997	3-3
1998	6-1
1999	7-2
2000	6-1
2001	3-2
2002	6-2
2003	5-2
2004	4-1
2005	4-2
2006	5-1
2007	3-3
2008	4-1
2009	1-2
2010	1-5
2011	1-1
2012	4-3
2013	6-0
2014	4-0
2015	2-2
2016	3-2
2017	4-1
2018	5-0
2019	3-2
2020 (2021 spring)	0-1
2021	1-0
2022	4-0
2023	1-0
TOTAL	126-56

Record vs. All Opponents
Air Force	27-0
Akron	1-0
Arizona	13-17
Arizona State	18-9
Arkansas	1-1
Arkansas State	2-0
Boise State	4-2
Boston College	0-1
Bowling Green	1-0
Bradley	1-0
Brown	1-0
Butler	1-0
BYU	24-39
Cal Poly	7-3
CSU Bakersfield	1-0
CSU Northridge	2-1
California	17-8
Central Florida	1-0
Central Michigan	1-0
Cincinnati	2-0
Clemson	1-0
Cleveland State	1-0
Colgate	1-0
Colorado	17-12
Colorado State	15-30
Connecticut	3-1
Dayton	0-1
Denver	3-0
DePaul	1-1
Drake	1-0
East Tennessee State	1-0
Eastern Illinois	1-0
Eastern Michigan	2-1
Eastern Washington	1-1
Fairfield	2-0
Florida	0-3
Florida Gulf Coast	1-0
Fresno-Pacific	1-0
Fresno State	5-7
Furman	1-0
George Mason	1-0
George Washington	2-0
Georgia	0-2
Georgia Tech	2-0
Gonzaga	6-2
Hawaii	2-10
High Point	1-0
Hofstra	1-0
Houston	1-0
Idaho	3-1
Idaho State	20-2
Illinois	2-1
Illinois State	1-2
Iowa State	3-1
Kansas	1-1
Kansas State	1-0
Kentucky	1-1
Liberty	1-0
Lipscomb	1-1
Long Beach State	0-4
LSU	0-1
Louisville	1-2
Loyola Marymount	3-0
Maryland	1-0
Massachusetts	2-0
Michigan	0-2
Michigan State	1-1
Milwaukee	1-0
Mississippi	1-0
Missouri	3-1
Missouri State	4-1
Missouri-Kansas City	1-0
Montana	2-3
Montana State	6-1
Morehead State	1-1
Murray State	1-0
Nebraska	1-2
Nevada	3-1
New Hampshire	3-0
New Mexico	27-18
New Mexico State	5-1
North Carolina	2-1
North Carolina State	3-0
North Dakota State	0-1
North Texas	1-0
Northern Arizona	1-2
Northern Colorado	1-0
Northern Illinois	1-0
Northern Iowa	1-2
Northwestern	1-1
Northwestern State	1-0
Notre Dame	2-3
Ohio	1-1
Oklahoma	1-1
Oregon	8-18
Oregon State	16-9
Pacific	2-1
Penn State	0-1
Pepperdine	1-1
Pittsburgh	0-3
Portland	3-0
Portland State	1-2
Prairie View A&M	1-0
Purdue	3-2
Rhode Island	1-0
Rice	5-0
Sacramento State	1-0
Saint Louis	1-1
San Diego	3-5
San Diego State	23-17
San Francisco	4-2
San Jose State	4-0
Santa Clara	4-2
Seton Hall	1-0
South Carolina	1-0
South Dakota	1-0
South Florida	0-1
Southern Illinois	1-0
Southern Methodist	7-0
Southern Utah	1-0
St. Mary's	4-1
Stanford	4-24
Stephen F. Austin	1-0
TCU	13-3
Temple	3-0
Tennessee	0-3
Tennessee State	1-0
Texas	0-2
Texas A&M	0-2
Texas State	3-0
Texas Tech	4-0
Texas-Arlington	1-0
Tulsa	2-0
UC Davis	3-0
UC Irvine	3-1
UC Riverside	2-0
UC Santa Barbara	0-1
UCLA	9-19
UNLV	29-5
USC	11-19
Utah State	31-7
Utah Valley	17-2
UTEP	15-1
Valparaiso	1-0
Villanova	0-1
Washington	7-20
Washington State	13-17
Weber State	27-5
Western Carolina	1-0
Western Michigan	1-0
Wisconsin-Green Bay	2-0
Wright State	1-0
Wyoming	32-11
Yale	2-0
TOTAL	649-419

Crimson Corner with Bill Riley - Ron McBride

Wednesday, September 03

Utah Volleyball's Head Coach Beth Launiere begins her 36th season at the helm! - ESPN+ Feature

Saturday, August 30

Crimson Corner with Bill Riley - Debut

Tuesday, August 26

Fan Fest 2025 Coaches and Players Interviews: Women's Volleyball

Sunday, August 17

No. 21 Utes Battle Hard, Come Up Short Against No. 10 Texas A&M

Thursday, September 04

No. 21 Utes Eye Top 25 Matchup, In-State Rivalry

Tuesday, September 02

Utes Wrap Up Utah Classic with Sweep of Washington State

Sunday, August 31

Utah Sweeps Lafayette Day Two of Utah Classic

Saturday, August 30

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Upcoming Event: Volleyball at Utah State on September 6, 2025 at 7:00 PM

Upcoming Event: Volleyball versus UVU on September 9, 2025 at 7:00 PM

Upcoming Event: Volleyball at Nebraska on September 12, 2025 at 6:00 PM

Upcoming Event: Volleyball versus Drake on September 13, 2025 at 1:00 P.M.

Upcoming Event: Volleyball versus California Baptist on September 18, 2025 at 1:30 PM

Upcoming Event: Volleyball at Cal Poly on September 19, 2025 at 6:00 PM

Upcoming Event: Volleyball versus Saint Mary's on September 20, 2025 at 11:00 AM

Upcoming Event: Volleyball versus Iowa State on September 25, 2025 at 7:00 PM

Upcoming Event: Volleyball versus Colorado on September 27, 2025 at 1:00 P.M.

Completed Event: Volleyball versus #10 Texas A&M on September 4, 2025 , Loss , 0, to, 3

Completed Event: Volleyball versus Washington State on August 31, 2025 , Win , 3, to, 0

Completed Event: Volleyball versus Lafayette College on August 30, 2025 , Win , 3, to, 0

Completed Event: Volleyball versus #24 Dayton on August 29, 2025 , Win , 3, to, 1

Completed Event: Volleyball versus Marquette on December 6, 2024 , Loss , 2, to, 3

Completed Event: Volleyball versus College of Charleston on December 5, 2024 , Win , 3, to, 0

Completed Event: Volleyball at Iowa State on November 27, 2024 , Win , 3, to, 2

Completed Event: Volleyball versus Cincinnati on November 24, 2024 , Win , 3, to, 0

Completed Event: Volleyball versus West Virginia on November 21, 2024 , Win , 3, to, 0

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