Jordan Willis has been named as the new head volleyball coach for Otero Junior College. He will step into his role on campus on June 1.
Willis has served as assistant coach at Colorado State University – Pueblo since 2011. In this role he ran the offense and was recruiting coordinator, among other duties. Prior to CSU-P, Willis was an assistant coach at Texas A&M-Kingsville.
Growing up in Sacramento, Calif., Willis played volleyball throughout high school. He played four years at the collegiate level as starting setter at St. Mary’s College in California. While there, he earned a Bachelor of Arts degree with emphasis in history.
After a year off for an AmeriCorps volunteer opportunity, Willis returned to St. Mary’s College to earn a Master of Arts degree in kinesiology.
“I missed sports,” said Willis. “I knew I wanted to do something related to sports again.”
While completing his master’s degree, he began coaching the Men’s and Women’s Club Volleyball teams at St. Mary’s as well as coaching a high school team and he was hooked.
Willis stated that he is grateful to have the opportunity to move into the head coaching position with OJC Volleyball. “The Athletic Department here is great and very supportive. The nurturing environment will give me a great opportunity to grow as a coach,” said Willis.
“My goal is to make OJC Volleyball relevant in Region IX,” Willis added. “I want to make some noise and put OJC on the map in terms of volleyball. This is a great opportunity to grow a team into the strong athletic tradition OJC sports are known for.”
Willis invites the community to come out this fall to see the team in action.
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