After leading Lander University to a 28-7 record in 2023, including a first-round victory in the NCAA Tournament-the team’s second year in a row to make an appearance in the national tournament-head coach Jeff Reynolds will enter his fourth season at the helm of the Bearcat volleyball program.
Last season, Lander found great success in the Peach Belt Conference, finishing second with a 10-2 record. Playing in their first PBC championship game since 2007, Reynolds guided the Bearcats to a runner-up finish in the PBC Tournament title game.
In addition to the team’s success last season, the Bearcats also received recognition for their individual contributions. Patricia Pantoja was named the Peach Belt Conference Libero/Defensive Specialist of the Year, Lauren Dow was named the Freshman of the Year for both the PBC and the AVCA, and each earned AVCA All-American honors. Katie Miller broke the record for kills in a season, becoming the first player in program history to reach 500 kills in a season. Miller also earned an AVCA All-American honor. Pantoja, Dow, and Miller all earned All-Conference and All-Region honors.
In eight seasons as a head coach, Reynolds has compiled a 193-58 (.769) record, averaging 23.6 wins per season. Throughout his career, he has helped produce seven different conference players of the year, eight All-Americans, and has led his teams to a total of four conference championships, and five National Tournament appearances.
In his first season at Lander, Reynolds helped lead the Bearcats to a 13-13 record, marking a 10-win improvement over the team’s previous season. The Bearcats finished fourth overall in the Peach Belt Conference and went on to defeat Georgia College in the opening round of the PBC Tournament. In the semifinals, the Bearcats took NCAA Tournament-bound Flagler to five sets before falling, 3-2, to the regular-season Peach Belt Conference champions.
Prior to arriving in Greenwood, Reynolds served for five seasons as the head coach for Snow College in Utah. In the spring of 2021, he helped guide the Badgers to the highest winning percentage in program history with a 26-3 mark as the Badgers finished as national runner-up at the NJCAA National Championship Tournament. In his tenure at Snow College, Reynolds' compiled a 131-28 record, averaging 26.2 wins per season, and coached three Region XVIII Players of the Year and four NJCAA All-Americans.
Reynolds helped lead the Badgers to three Scenic West Athletic Conference titles (2017, 2019 and 2020-21) and back-to-back Region XVIII and Rocky Mountain District titles in 2019 and 2020-21. In 2019, the Badgers posted a 10-0 conference record to win their first outright Scenic West Athletic Conference title since 1986. They followed that up with a 9-1 conference record in 2020-21 to mark their second-straight, outright conference title, marking the first back-to-back conference championship in school history.
Following both the 2019 and 2020-21 seasons, Reynolds was named the NJCAA Region XVIII Coach of the Year. He was also named the Rocky Mountain District Coach of the Year in back-to-back seasons. Following the 2020-2021 season, he was named the AVCA West Region Coach of the Year.
During the Reynolds era, the Badgers spent a total of 49 consecutive weeks over five seasons ranked among the nation's top-20 programs, including 45 of the 49 weeks ranked in the top 10, dating back to Sept. 7, 2016. Snow College finished the past five years ranked among the top-10 in each of the year-end national polls, including a school record No. 2 finish in 2020-21. All totaled, Snow finished No. 8 or higher in each of Reynolds' five seasons.
Prior to entering the coaching ranks, Reynolds worked in athletic administration as a media relations professional for nearly 15 years, including stints at Utah State University, Western Kentucky University, the Sun Belt Conference, the Mid-Continent Conference, and Brigham Young University where he was the director of media relations for the BYU football, track & field, and men’s volleyball programs. During his time at BYU, Reynolds also served as an adjunct faculty member in the Marriott School of Management.
Reynolds will begin his second year as an adjunct faculty member at Lander University, teaching Sports Media and Society in the Media and Communications Department at LU, marking his 14th year as an instructor in higher education. He has previously served as a member of the Strategic Planning Task Force at Snow College and now serves as a member of the Lander University Staff Senate.
Reynolds has six children, including five daughters and one son. He also has six grandchildren. Originally from Washington State, Reynolds graduated from Utah State University in 1996 and holds a master’s degree in sports administration from Arkansas State University. Reynolds is a member of the American Volleyball Coaches Association and has previously served on the AVCA Division II Top-25 voting committee.
