Michelle Young Position: Head Coach Experience: 7th Year at Furman Alma Mater: Clemson (1998)

Michelle Young enters her seventh season at the helm of the Lady Paladin volleyball program eager to see the fruits of her recruiting labors and hungry for the school's first Southern Conference volleyball title since 1993.

One area in which progress is clear and unchallenged is that of athleticism. Young continues to brecruit student-athletes that are bigger, stronger, and faster. This year's team has the range and size to compete with anyone in the Southern Conference, and that is a direct result of Young's desire to have a more physical lineup wearing purple and white.

Already the Lady Paladins have grown accustomed to residing near the top of the Southern Conference standings. Now the team must believe and work with focus to become the team to beat in the league.

As an assistant coach and in six seasons as the head of the Lady Paladin program, Young has earned the respect of the Furman team for her volleyball knowledge, her teaching skills, and her own athletic background.

Young already has the third highest winning percentage of any Furman volleyball coach, and during her tenure, her athletes have tallied ten all-conference selections, five All-Southern Conference Tournament scrolls, nine Player of the Week plaques, 37 conference academic honor roll selections, and two Academic All-District III choices.

A 1998 graduate of Clemson University with a degree in industrial education, Young was a four year letterwinner at setter for the Tigers. She holds the Clemson record for single season assists, with 1,561, and the career mark, with 4,305. In addition, she was selected Most Valuable Player at the 1997 ACC Tournament after leading the Tigers to the league title and the second NCAA Tournament of her tenure. Young also was lauded as second team All-ACC in 1995 and was named to the 1995 AVCA All-District Team. In addition, in 2002 Young was named to the ACC's 50th anniversary volleyball squad.

In addition to her collegiate experience, Young coached volleyball, basketball, and track at Greer High School, where she taught industrial technology during the 1998-99 school year. Young has also worked Clemson volleyball camps, a number of camps in her home state of Minnesota, and for the last six summers she has gained valuable administrative experience by hosting her own volleyball camps on the campus of Furman University.

A native of Chatfield, Minn., Young, whose maiden name was Thieke, was married to Will Young on June 27, 1998. The couple has two children: Brody Thieke, born July 23, 2001, and Bailey Ann, born June 10, 2004.