Chris Hertel

Chris Hertel is the Assistant Volleyball Coach at New Mexico State University.

Chris Hertel joins the New Mexico State volleyball program in 2019. Hertel comes to NM State following an eight-year stint at Radford.

While at Radford, Hertel served as the Highlander's assistant coach from 2011-2018. His team posted a 167-82 record during that time and went 83-35 during Big South conference play. The Highlanders reached six championship matches during the Big South tournament under his guidance and came away with a pair of titles and NCAA tournament appearances. In 2018 alone, Hertel's assistance helped Radford reach the National Invitational Volleyball Championship (NIVC) for the first time in program history, where the squad came away with an opening-round victory.

Hertel guided over 30 athletes to all-conference status in the Big South while at Radford. He helped Maddie Palmer reach new heights as the two-time Big South Player of the Year, just the third player to win the conference's top award during back-to-back season. Palmer was also named an American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA) Southeast Region Honorable Mention.

Not only have Hertel's teams shown success on the court, his squads were named AVCA Team Academic Award winners from 2012-2017. In 2016, his team's grade-point average ranked in the top-25 nationally across all division one volleyball programs.

No stranger to the Aggie program, Hertel worked as a volunteer assistant at NM State and assisted in practice and scouting opponents for six seasons, beginning in 2005. A 2011 graduate of New Mexico State, also played an essential role in the Aggies success from 2006-08 when the team made three-straight NCAA Tournament appearances. Hertel was a part of the NM State coaching staff in 2007, when the program reached 13th nationally, the highest ranking ever for New Mexico State in the AVCA poll. He also assisted in the team's NCAA run in 2008, when the Aggies reached the second round of the postseason tournament.