Christa Cooper

Christa Cooper is the Head Women's Volleyball Coach at the University of New Haven.

An American Volleyball Coaches Association ‘Top 30 Under 30’ honoree Christa Cooper was named the fourth head coach in program history in February 2019. Cooper, who has experience at all three levels of the NCAA, comes to New Haven following a five-year stint as the assistant volleyball coach at Ferris State University, a perennial NCAA Division II Championship qualifier.

In her two seasons strolling the sidelines for the Blue and Gold, Cooper has helped maintain a legacy of success in the New Haven volleyball programs, leading the Chargers to back-to-back appearances in the NCAA Championship field, with the current streak at and 15 straight seasons, and 35 overall appearances in program history.

Through her first two years, Cooper has led the Chargers to a 38-21 overall record, including a 22-win season in 2021, the fourth 20+ win season in the last five years and sixth in the last eight. Additionally, she led outside hitter Jessica Akiona to Honorable Mention All-American accolades by the American Volleyball Coaches Association, the first such accolade since the 2014 campaign.

Combined, Cooper has led a five players to All-Region honors and has had seven players earn All-Conference distinction, including three first team honorees. Additionally, she has had three players earn All-Rookie merit, extending a streak of now five-straight years with at least one Chargers earning the award.

Cooper is experienced in working with a program steeped in Championship history as she helped lead the Ferris State Bulldogs to five straight Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (GLIAC) regular season and tournament championships and five appearances in the NCAA Division II Midwest Regional, including advancing to the championship game in back-to-back seasons.

Overall during her tenure at Ferris State, the Bulldogs collected a record of 138-28 (.831), including a mark of 79-6 (.929) in the GLIAC. Among the highlights while at Ferris State was a 2015 campaign where she helped lead the Bulldogs to a No. 1 ranking for the first time in school history. That season, Ferris State finished with a 33-3 overall record, boasting the nation’s highest winning percentage. After claiming both the GLIAC regular-season and tournament championships, the Bulldogs made their first of two appearances in the Midwest Regional Championship match during her tenure.

This past season, she helped lead Ferris State to its fifth-straight GLIAC regular-season and tournament championship and fifth-straight appearance in the NCAA Division II Midwest Regional as the Bulldogs closed out the regular season with an undefeated conference record for the first time in 28 seasons. While at Ferris State, Cooper helped coach nine All-American honorees and 27 All-GLIAC Conference award winners, including the GLIAC Player of the Year (2017 & 2018), the Libero of the Year (2018), Setter of the Year (2015 & 2016) and the Attacker of the Year (2015).

Prior to her appointment at Ferris State in 2014, Cooper spent a short time as a volunteer assistant coach at Division I Montana State. In her short tenure at Montana State, she gained experience coaching at the NCAA's highest level, assisting with practice planning, skill development, travel arrangements and more during the spring campaign.

An Andover, Minn., native, Cooper joined the Montana State staff after three years as a Division II assistant coach at the University of Mary (N.D.). Originally joining the staff at Mary as a graduate assistant, Cooper was involved with nearly all phases of the program in her three seasons, including scouting, recruiting, film breakdown, practice planning, skill development, budget, travel and equipment. Additionally, she gained experienced as the school's Student-Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC) advisor for two years.

While also serving as the Marauders' assistant coach, Cooper created the North Dakota Premier Volleyball club, serving as the club director from 2011-13. As the director, she managed tryouts, budgeting, tournament organization and oversaw coaches along with serving as a head coach.

She began her collegiate coaching career as an assistant coach on the Division III level at St. Catherine (Minn.) University in 2010 where she worked primarily with blockers and assisted in the recruiting duties as the Wildcats qualified for the conference tournament for the first time in over 16 years. Also, she was a coach with the Minnesota Premier and Minnesota Select club teams with her Select team finishing in the top 20 at the AAU National Tournament.

Cooper graduated Magna Cum Laude from Michigan Tech in 2009 with a bachelor's degree in Psychology and a minor in coaching. A two-time team captain and four-year letterwinner, she led the Huskies to two NCAA Division II Regional Tournament appearances and three GLIAC Tournament bids. Additionally, the right side helped Michigan Tech lead the nation in blocks during her senior campaign, finishing the season second on the team with 92.