CLEMSON, S.C. – Quinn Lukens was elevated to the role of assistant coach with the Clemson volleyball program, announced by Head Coach Jackie Simpson Kirr on Wednesday. Lukens served as the graduate manager at Clemson in 2022-23, his first year as a member of the Tiger staff. In January, the NCAA Division I Council approved to add a fourth coach to Olympic sports, effective July 1. The approval gives Division I programs the ability to have three full-time paid assistant coaches.
“We are ecstatic that the NCAA made this change that allows us to elevate Quinn Lukens to an assistant coach role,” said Simpson Kirr. “Quinn will serve as our Director of Player Development. This new role will support the Defensive and Offensive Coordinators to raise the individual skill level of every student-athlete in our program. He will work closely with our Technical Coordinator, Sports Scientist and other performance areas to enhance all aspects of competitive performance for the program.”
Lukens joined Clemson after serving as the head coach and athletic performance coach at Madison College from March 2020-22. He was hired days before the COVID-19 pandemic and went 15-13 in his only competitive season with Madison College. During the 2021 season, the WolfPack overcame a 4-7 start to win 11 of the next 16 matches to become the No. 2 seed for the 2021 NJCAA Region 4 Division III Tournament.
Prior to Madison College, Lukens had a successful 12-year coaching career at the youth club level, which including two years with the Pacific Palisades Volleyball Club in California and ten years with Capital Volleyball Academy in Madison. While at Capital, Lukens led teams at the 16-18 age groups and has been to organizations top 17’s coach for seven years. The 17’s were the 2019 Badger Region Champions, the 2018 JVA World Challenge Champions, and finished in ninth place at the AAU National Championships in 2016. Also with Capital, Lukens served as the Skill and Technical Director for five years, featuring club-wide skill and technical training development and strength and conditioning programming. Lukens was named the Badger Region/AVCA Club Director of the Year for 2020-21 for his work with Capital.
Lukens also spent three years as a student manager for the Wisconsin Badgers from 2012-15, helping the program finish as the NCAA National Runner-Up in 2013 and win a Big Ten title in 2014. During his time with the program, he worked under head coaches Pete Waite and Kelly Sheffield.
Lukens played two years at Santa Monica College, where he guided the Corsairs to consecutive Western State Conference titles. A 6’7” middle blocker, he was a two-time All-WSC selection, was named to the 2009 California Community College Athletic Association (CCCAA) All-Tournament Team and was chosen as the 2009 Santa Monica College Student-Athlete of the Year. Following his time at SMC, Lukens transferred to the University of Wisconsin-Madison to finish his undergraduate work and eventually graduated with a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Psychology. In June 2020, he received his master’s degree in Sport and Performance Psychology from National University.
Prior to college, Lukens was a two-sport athlete at Aptos High School in Santa Cruz, California. He earned three varsity letters over four years of volleyball participation and claimed two All-SCCAL honors as a middle blocker and right side.
