Charlie French - Volleyball Coach - Marshall University Athletics

Photo by: Adam Gue

Charlie French

Title:
Assistant Coach, 3rd season
Email:
FrenchC@marshall.edu
Phone:
4657

Charlie French was named a full-time assistant coach for the Marshall volleyball team following the 2020-21 season, when she served as a volunteer assistant after accepting the position in December 2020, after spending a year at Snow College as an assistant volleyball coach in 2019.

Under French's tutelage, Sarah Schank became one of the best liberos in Conference USA only switching to the position after the 2019 season. In her very first match as a libero in college, Schank broke a 21-year old program record with 40 digs in the season-opening win at Xavier. Schank went on to finish the shortened season averagin 4.81 digs per set, good for third all-time in a single season in team history. By the end of the year, Schank was named the Conference USA Libero of the Year. She went on to tally 473 digs, an average of 4.59 per set which tied for fourth all-time in Marshall annals, in the 2021 season. Schank also became the 14th member of the Marshall 1,000 Digs Club, reaching the career milestone on Sept. 25 at No. 22 WKU. The Herd also continued its dominance at the net as one of the best blocking teams in the nation.

"I am very excited to have this opportunity to continue working with Marshall volleyball," French said. "I had an amazing experience as a volunteer coach in the spring. I have enjoyed working with Ari and the girls, as well as the administration and the community. Ari has a vision that I believe is one of the best and we share a lot of the same values when it comes to character building and culture. I can't wait to continue learning something new from her each day. There is a special culture and history at Marshall and I am very thankful to be a part of it."

"Charlie joined my staff in the winter as a volunteer and quickly proved herself through her commitment to the program and work ethic," coach Aganus said. "She brings a wealth of winning experience from the international and collegiate level which will help Marshall volleyball continue to excel on the court, maintain our accolades in the classroom and find new and creative ways to give back to the community. Charlie is the perfect fit for this program and I am so excited to have her officially in this new role."

French's main concentrations with the Herd are coaching defense and serve receiving, among other duties. In her first season with Marshall, the Herd excelled on defense. Junior Sarah Schank was named Conference USA Libero of the Year in her first season at the position. Senior middleblocker Destiny Leon was also honored as the C-USA Defensive Player of the Year. Schank led the league in digs per set at 4.81 and also tallied a receiving percentage of .962. Leon ended the year among the tops in the conference again in blocks per set with 1.25. As a team, Marshall averaged 2.11 blocks per set, 15.58 digs per set and a receiving percentage of .942.

French helped lead the Badgers to a 32-4 season, a No. 5 ranking in the National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA) and a trip to the NJCAA National Championships as the No. 4 seed. Snow College has seen four players from the 2019 squad move on to Division I universities including NJCAA & AVCA All-American Lydia Montague who will be playing for the Herd in the fall of 2021.

French went to Snow College after spending the previous two and a half seasons with New Zealand Volleyball where she was an assistant coach and manager for the U23 and U18 Women’s National Development and Performance teams. As an assistant coach for the U18 Women’s Team in 2017 and 2018, she helped guide New Zealand to back-to-back top-10 finishes at the Asian Championships.

In addition, French worked as the Director of Volleyball for St. Andrews College in Christchurch, New Zealand and has served as the head volleyball coach of the Junior A team and an assistant coach for the Senior A teams at St. Andrews. French has also coached at the club level, working with various age groups at the Michigan Volleyball Academy in Grand Rapids, Mich.

A native of Howell, Mich., French was a three-sport All-Conference performer at Howell High School. In 2008, she helped lead her club team to a third-place finish at the AAU Nationals and received AAU All-America honors.

Following high school, she competed at Grand Rapids Community College where she earned First-Team All-Region, All-Conference, and All-Tournament honors. As the GRCC Female Athlete of the Year, French helped lead the Raiders to a ninth-place finish at Nationals during her sophomore season with a 35-3 overall record. During her sophomore season, French totaled 302 kills, 23 aces, 252 digs and 36 total blocks over 38 matches.

French finished her collegiate eligibility at Florida Tech where she helped lead the Panthers to their best record in eight seasons. During her senior year, French posted 12 double-doubles and led FIT with 313 kills, finished second on the roster with 313 digs, and had 36 blocks.

During the 2014-15 season, French played for G.S. Rinascita Volley Firenze A.S.D. in Italy. Since 2016, she has played for the Shirley Volleyball Club in New Zealand, leading the team to a first-place finish in the Southern Zone (South Island Champions) as well as back-to-back, second-place finishes at the New Zealand Club Nationals in both 2017 and 2018.

French earned her bachelor’s degree in civil engineering from Florida Institute of Technology in 2014, and holds an interior design certification from Style Design College. French is married to Gary Ogilvie who is from Hullbridge, Essex, England.