Cheri Lindsay

Cheri Lindsay is the Head Volleyball Coach at Prairie View A&M University.

Cheri Lindsay is going into her second season as the head coach of the Lady Panthers Volleyball team.

In her first full season as head coach with the Lady Panthers, Lindsay changed the culture of the program. She created an environment where student-athletes and staff became a family and fell in love with the game of volleyball while still competing at a high level in the SWAC. At the helm of the Panther Volleyball program in 2023, Lindsay led the team to a 19-13 overall record and a 13-3 conference record. The Lady Panthers finished the regular season in second place and made it to the semifinals in the playoffs. Under Lindsay, the Panther offense saw six Lady Panthers finish the season with over 100 kills, including four with over 200. Among those with offensive success were, Kylee Owens who was named first team all-conference and Janyah Henderson, who was named first team as well as Freshman of the year. Junior, Leah Lawson, led the conference in assists with 1,055, earning her second team recognition in the SWAC.

The lady panther volleyball team saw vast improvements defensively after ranking at the bottom of the SWAC in 2022 in digs per set. In 2023, Lindsay and defensive Darcie Kaiser guided the defense to average 14.72 digs per set, the third-best mark in the SWAC. Leading the way was libero Jacky Nino, ranking sixth in the conference with her 3.75 digs per set.

Lindsay is no stranger to flipping programs. Prior to her return to her Prairie View, where Lindsay was a former PVAMU standout volleyball player, Lindsay served at the third head volleyball coach in program history at East Central University (Ada, OK). Her first year at East Central University, Lindsay inherited a program that was 2-29 and finished last in the Great American Conference with a 1-15 record the previous season. In the 2020 season, Lindsay led the team to their first playoff berth since 2013 while at East Central.

In 2021, there were more signs of the program turning around as the Tigers achieved their first winning season in school history, set the most wins in a single season, and went on a nine-match winning streak for the longest in program history, finishing with a 15-14 overall record. The previous record was 14 wins in 2009 and 2011. In the 2022 season, ECU volleyball tied their record for most wins in a season with 15 and claimed the No. 5 seed at the Great American Conference Championship tournament. Lindsay was named the Oklahoma Coaches Association "coach of the year" for the 2021-22 season. The Tigers had three players named All conference players Thalianette Garcia, Alejandra Delgado, and Emma Strickland. The Tigers also saw Thalianette Garcia claim All-GAC Second Team honors, the first for ECU since 2014 and just the second time an ECU player was named to the second team. The team also performed well in the classroom, with five earning a spot on the GAC All-Academic Team and four on the D2ADA All-Academic Team. Lindsay spent the last two seasons as the first assistant coach and recruiting coordinator at Seattle University, a NCAA Division I team in the Western Athletic Conference. During her time with the Redhawks, the team advanced to the WAC Tournament both years, saw one All-WAC Second Team pick, the 2018 WAC Setter of the Year, and nine, Academic All-GAC selections. Before Seattle, Lindsay was the head coach and assistant athletic director at Bethany College (Lindsborg, Kan.) for three seasons. She was also an adjunct professor in the school of Schools and Athletics at Bethany.

From 2012-14, Lindsay served as an assistant coach at Tiffin University in Ohio. Additional coaching experience includes serving as the head coach for the U15 and U17 Black Swamp Volleyball Club teams. Lindsay got her coaching start at Prairie View A&M University where she served as a student coach from 2011-12. She played volleyball for the Panthers from 2008-11. While at PVAMU Lindsay racked up a 1300 career kills and over 1000k digs earner her three First team all-conference honors. A Denver, Colo., native, Lindsay earned a bachelor’s degree in communications with a minor in psychology from Prairie View A&M University in 2011, and a Master's in Business Administration from Tiffin University in 2013. Lindsay is currently pursuing her PhD in Sports Psychology.