Harper Creek grad Charley Andrews is new head volleyball coach at Davenport University

GRAND RAPIDS - As an athlete at Harper Creek and beyond, Charley Andrews knew she wanted to have a future in sports. But she didn't think it was going to be in coaching.

Now, just a few years after her collegiate playing career has come to an end, Andrews was recently named as the next head coach of the women's volleyball program at Davenport University.

Andrews was announced Friday as the fourth head coach in program history at Davenport University. Andrews served as an assistant coach for the school in 2023.

"I always thought about coaching, but didn't think that was the way it was going to go," Andrews said. "I was at the end of my senior year playing and applying for internships in, like, strength and conditioning jobs. I was telling my roommate, I wasn't too excited about what I was looking at. Then, literally 30 minutes later, I get a call out of nowhere with an offer to be an assistant coach at Hope College. And, it has all kind of gone on from there."

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Andrews said she is eager to make the big step from assistant coach to being a head coach for the first time.

"I'm excited for it," Andrews said. "Excited to start to make my way through to being a head coach. I know it's different when you are in the head chair. Eager to find out what that's all about."

Brian Netzler, the former head volleyball coach at Davenport, stepped down in April after five seasons, guiding the squad to four straight Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference tourney appearances.

Prior to her arrival at Davenport, ahead of the 2023 season, Andrews was an assistant coach at Hope College. Andrews helped guide the Flying Dutch to a 24-8 overall record, finishing 7-1 in conference action, while advancing to NCAA Division III quarterfinals in postseason play.

“Charley provides a dynamic and passionate approach to leading and building trust with her student-athletes, which will provide a successful platform to propel them to grow on and off the court,” Davenport University Executive Director of Intercollegiate Athletics Paul Lowden said in a release. “She was able to communicate her readiness to empower our student-athletes and elevate our program to the next level. In addition, Charley's diverse involvement working in many facets of playing and coaching in high-level competitive volleyball experiences provides her with a strong background of skills to continue the volleyball tradition at Davenport.”

Andrews is a 2017 graduate of Harper Creek, where she was named Battle Creek Enquirer Athlete of the Year as a multiple-sport standout in volleyball, basketball and track. Andrews first competed under scholarship in track at Michigan State University. After fighting through injuries, Andrews decided to retire from track and looked into playing volleyball at Western Michigan University, where she initially committed to play that sport before deciding on MSU. Andrews hit the ground running at WMU, becoming a starter for the Broncos volleyball program in her first year.

Andrews says her experience in all of those sports, as well as her former coaches, has brought her to this moment.

"It has helped to have good people around me this entire time. I still talk to Coach (Terra) King from Harper, talk to my coaches from Western, Becky (Schmidt) from Hope. There have been so many people and mentors around me that have helped me in this process," Andrews said.

"The reason I love what I do in terms of coaching and the reason I am in this situation, are all the coaches I've had and all of my colleagues, learning so much from them. I'm just so thankful to all of them."

Contact Bill Broderick at bbroderi@battlecreekenquirer.com. Follow him on X/Twitter @billbroderick.

This article originally appeared on Battle Creek Enquirer: Battle Creek's Andrews named volleyball coach at Davenport University