DIRECTORS AND MASTER COACHES

 

nicholas Behrens                                                                                                                     

Athletics Director

With over 30 years of playing and coaching experience Nick lives and breathes volleyball. Nick’s journey with volleyball started at a young age in middle school and it’s been in his daily life ever since. Nick along with his beach volleyball playing partner, is widely known as one of the premier youth volleyball coaches on the Suncoast. His teams are consistently in the top of USAV rankings for youth volleyball in a very competitive Florida region.

Nick has coaching experience in volleyball and multi-sport directing. Above all else, the best compliment Nick gets from parents is his connection to his players and ability to foster and cultivate talent to help players realize their full potential.

 

Tiago Campos

Associate Athletic Director

Volleyball is my passion and I love to give this to my athletes. I have been a player since 1998 and I have 20 years of experience as a volleyball coach. I have the ability to coach children from 7 years old to adults, beginner to advanced, including coaching beach volleyball as well. I was a professional volleyball player, representing both my city and my state.

I believe physical activity provides athletes with the opportunity to develop their own abilities within a controlled environment, improve their interpersonal and social skills, and in turn achieve their full potential in life. This hypothesis comes from my own personal experience of being involved in physical education, from being a member of a volleyball team during my childhood, studying sports at the collegiate level, and having my own Fitness Center. These experiences have provided me with opportunities to develop the strategy and characteristics needed for coaching athletes at various ages and levels.  I have played at some of the highest levels of volleyball in Brazil. I first met Coach Nick playing sand volleyball and this duo rocked the Suncoast with our play ever since.

 

 

 

 

 

Nancy Hopper

Associate Athletic Director - SRQ

Coach Hopper graduated from Florida Southern College with a Bachelor of Science Degree in Physical Education and Health and received a Master’s degree in School Counseling (K-12) from Marshall University. While in high school, Coach Hopper and her volleyball team won three State Championships. She was recruited by Indian River State College where she played for two years, and then she transferred to Florida Southern College on a full athletic scholarship. At Florida Southern. Coach Hopper was the MVP of the Sunshine State Conference in 1984, All Sunshine State Conference Team in 1984 and 1985 and Team Captain in 1983 and 1984. Coach Hopper started coaching volleyball in 1997. When she moved back to Florida, she was hired by her alma mater, John Carroll High School, to be the Head Coach and served from 2003-2017. While at John Carroll, Coach Hopper led her team to 5 District Titles, 4 Regional Quarter-Finals, 5 Regional Semi-Finals, and 1 Regional Final Runner-up. In 2006, her team won the Sunshine State Conference. During this time, Coach Hopper also served as the Director of Rampage Juniors and coached several age groups in both USAV and AAU. During her coaching career, she was named the 2006 Fort Pierce News Tribune Coach of the Year, FACA Coach of the year in 2014, 2015, 2016 and 2017. For her contributions to volleyball as a player and coach, she was Inducted into the Hall of Fame at Indian River State College in 2017.

 

Frank Caisane

Senior Director

Native of Puerto Rico. Married to Irmarie Casaine for 29 years. Father of 3 daughters (2 played volleyball and 1 at the collegiate level) ages 27, 24, & 20, grandfather to twin girls 3 mos old (future NCAA Volleyball All Americans).
Began interest in volleyball in middle school, continued to play through college at LeMoyne College (Class of ’91). During his college career, he began coaching volleyball at the Dewitt Jewish Community Center. This is where Frank found his love for coaching.
After college, Frank developed his career in Supply chain & international logistics. Frank help leadership and executive positions with UPS, TYCO, Target Corp, Pier 1 Imports, and Bealls Florida Corp. After 33 years in Global Logistics, Frank made a career shift to dedicate his time more to education and volleyball.
Frank has coached Volleyball since 1989 and has coached national level teams for various clubs. Most recent, he has coached for ClubSAV, OTVA, and Wave Volleyball Alliance. Frank has qualified several teams to the National tournament, lead teams to Gold medal semifinals at AAU Nationals, and has developed numerous players to play at the collegiate level.
Currently Frank is the Head Coach at Saint Stephen’s Episcopal School and is working with Elite Volleyball Prep Academy in coaching and other leadership functions.

 

Aaron shepardson

Master Coach

Shepardson joined the University South Florida Volleyball as Assistant Coach and Director of Player Development for the 2020-2022 seasons after previously serving as Head Coach of Beach Volleyball and Associate Head Coach of Volleyball at both San Jose State and CSU Bakersfield. Jolene Shepardson, Aaron’s wife, is current Head Volleyball Coach and a former standout student-athlete at USF.

As head coach of the beach program at San Jose State, Aaron Shepardson grew the program over the course of six seasons since its inception. Shepardson had several notable wins vs nationally ranked opponents Stanford and Cal and achieved a ranking as high as 15th in the US. 

In indoor volleyball, CSU Bakersfield went from a winless program prior to his arrival in 2010, to setting a school record for single-season victories with 21 in 2013. CSU Bakersfield reached the 2013 Western Athletic Conference championship match.

His other major college indoor volleyball experiences include serving as an Assistant Coach at Virginia Tech (2010), American University (2008 and 2009). Shepardson also was a volunteer assistant at the University of Florida in 2004. He began his coaching career as a student assistant at Baylor University in 1996 and held that position for two years. Shepardson was the head coach of the Front Range Volleyball Club - Mountain Division from 2006 to 2008. He also was the assistant coach for Front Range's 18-Open National Championship team in 2002. 

A native of Littleton, Colo., Shepardson graduated from Baylor in 1998 with a degree in psychology. He was president of the Baylor's men's volleyball club as an outside hitter and setter, and was a member of the USA Men's National Volleyball team in 2000 and 2001. Shepardson also played professionally in Indonesia and Belgium.

 

 

COACHES AND INSTRUCTORS

JULIO CRUZ

DALLAS ADAM

PERRY KENDRICK

ASHLEY COLLITT

DENA ROVITO

COLIN BURNS

ASHLEY BEASLEY

JOSH COTHRON

CASEY COTHRON

MADISEN TAYLOR

ADAM PHILLIPS

LORI BARTON