Don Flora
	Position: Head Coach Experience: 1st Season Alma Mater: Univ. of La Verne '90

Getting to Know Coach Flora| Red Raider Weekly with Don Flora

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Through 11 years as a head coach, Don Flora has become one of the winningest coaches in NCAA history. He hopes to continue that tradition in his first season at Texas Tech after being named the eighth volleyball coach in school history on Jan. 7, 2011.

One of the top coaching prospects in the country following the 2010 season, Flora arrives at Tech with a 269-59 career record during his 11 seasons as the head coach at the University of La Verne in California.

Entering the 2011 season, Flora currently ranks as the 12th winningest coach all-time among those with 10 years of experience at any level of NCAA play. His .820 career winning percentage is 15th among active coaches with five years of experience and third all-time at the Division III level.

The California native comes to Tech following a two-year stint as an assistant coach at New Mexico State where the Aggies, consistently one of the top programs nationally, compiled a 38-22 record. Flora was responsible for recruiting activities, practice instruction and game strategy and was involved in the daily development of the overall program under head coach Mike Jordan.

The desire to eventually become a head coach at the Division I level was enticing enough for Flora to leave his alma mater at La Verne following the 2008 season. Already the winningest coach in school history, Flora established a winning culture unmatched by many as the Leopards recorded only one losing season during his tenure - his first season in 1998.

La Verne posted at least 20 wins in nine-straight seasons beginning in 2000 as the Leopards claimed nine-straight Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference titles. During Flora's tenure, the Leopards were 140-10 in SCIAC matches, boasting an impressive .933 winning percentage. La Verne posted undefeated 14-0 campaigns in league play five times in 2002, 2003, 2004, 2007, and 2008.

As the success kept building early in Flora's tenure, so did the achievements at the national level. In only Flora's fourth season, the Leopards wrapped a near-perfect 27-1 season with the 2001 NCAA Division III National Title, the second in school history.

The title run earned Flora the Division III National Coach of the Year honor by both the American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA) and Volleyball Magazine. He was also named the AVCA West Region Coach of the Year, an award he was presented three more times in his tenure following the 2003, 2005, and 2008 seasons.

The Leopards posted 27 wins in each of Flora's final three seasons at the school, which culminated in another national title match appearance in 2008. Unlike 2001, however, La Verne was topped in the championship, falling to Emory in four sets.

The match ended up to being Flora's final one with the Leopards, wrapping a successful tenure that included a 25-8 mark in NCAA Tournament matches. La Verne wrapped the year ranked in the top 10 nationally for the ninth-consecutive season which had only been done by two other programs during that span.

During his tenure, Flora coached two national players of the year in Ryan Winn (2001) and Amy Smith (2003) along with seven SCIAC Players of the Year and numerous AVCA All-America selections.

Flora actually got his start in coaching with the La Verne men's program in 1993, leading the squad for five seasons while also assisting with the women's program that was under renowned coach Jim Paschal at that time. He would take over as the head coach of the women's team prior to the 1998 season.

As if coaching was not enough, Flora was also involved with another significant arm of the athletics department - fundraising. He was named the Assistant Athletics Director in charge of Development in 1994, a position he would hold until 2007.

Flora graduated with a degree in social sciences from La Verne in 1990 before later returning to the classroom to earn his masters in the Leadership and Management curriculum.

While volleyball is his main focus now, Flora chose to be a three-sport athlete while in school, competing on the football, tennis and volleyball squads where he was a two-time all-conference setter.

In his spare time, Flora is heavily involved the USA High Performance along with various club circuits and junior development programs in the southwest region and across the nation. His multi-faceted summer camps are among the nation's finest youth programs and have become a popular event in Lubbock since his arrival.

Flora, a native of Covina, Calif., and his wife, Jeanne, currently reside in Lubbock with their two daughters, Annika and Alexis.