Sam Crosson Hometown: Scotts Valley, CA Position: Assistant Coach Experience: Third Year Alma Mater: Pacific, 1997

Sam Crosson enters his third year as the top assistant volleyball coach at Saint Mary's. His primary responsibilities include being the programs' recruiting coordinator, assisting in the planning and execution of practices, offensive coordinator during matches, video exchange, video and statistical analysis, player development, and academic support.

"Sam has been a key aspect of the Gaels' success over the past two years,"Browning said. "He has an outstanding knowledge of the game, a familiarity with how we train, and he is very much in tune with the volleyball community at all levels, especially here in the Bay Area."

Crosson has already made a mark on the program, bringing in one of the top recruiting classes in program history. The 2006 freshman class was ranked as a "High Honorable Mention" by Prepvolleyball.com. He was also instrumental in the recruitment of Saint Mary's first ever AVCA All-American, who will be joining the Gaels as part of the 2007 class, which was also ranked as "High Honorable Mention" by Prepvolleyball.com.

In his first year with the Gaels, Crosson worked heavily with the middle blockers. As a result the 2005 team was second in the nation in blocks per game at 3.82. That trend continued this past season as the team finished 16th in the country with 3.25 blocks per game during the 2006 season. Freshman middle blocker Megan Burton was named to the All-Freshman team as a result, averaging 1.26 kills per game and 1.02 blocks per game. This is the second year in a row that a Saint Mary's middle blocker has been named to the All-Freshman team as Brittney Barker was named in 2005. Crosson also worked with middle and outside hitter Christina Kirk who was named to the 2006 WCC All-Conference First Team. Kirk finished the season averaging 3.4 kills, 1.16 blocks, and 0.31 aces per game.

Crosson spent the 2004 season as a volunteer assistant with the women's volleyball team at Santa Clara University. Prior to Santa Clara, Crosson spent 5 years as the top assistant coach for the University of the Pacific men's volleyball team. While at Pacific, Crosson's duties included recruiting, player development, video and statistical breakdown of opponents, and assisting in academic support.

As a player at UOP, Crosson has been a part of four of the Tigers' best seasons. Crosson was a four-year letterman who earned team co-MVP honors in 1997. He is ranked in the top 10 in every career statistical category for Pacific, holding the number two spots in career digs (689), digs in a single season (274), and service aces (86). Upon completion of his playing career at UOP, he played one season of professional volleyball in Belgium for the Herentals Volleyball Club. Crosson graduated from Pacific in May 1997 with a Bachelor's degree in sports medicine and a Master's degree in May 2005. A native of Santa Cruz, CA, Crosson married Courtney Miller in July, 2004.