Davenport University announced the hiring of Brian Netzler as the head coach of the women's volleyball program in late March of 2019. Netzler became the third coach in the program's history and his first season at the helm saw the Panthers finish with an overall record of 11-16 (6-10 in GLIAC play) and just missed out on playing in the league's postseason tournament. Davenport finished as the best serving team in the league as it led the conference in total service aces with 173 and service aces per set with 1.77. Netzler also coached a pair of all-conference performers in First-Team recipient, Hayley Kreiger, and Honorable Mention honoree, Sami White.
Netzler came to Davenport from Miami University where he served as the first assistant coach since March 2017. His primary duties included running of skill specific drills and team drills, scouting of future opponents, creating and managing the operating budget, and in charge of travel administration. He also was the recruiting coordinator for the program.
Prior to working for the Red Hawks, Netzler was the first assistant coach at Austin Peay State University from July 2014-March 2017. Before that, he spent one year as a volunteer assistant coach with the University of Mississippi. His other coaching roles included a four-year stint as an assistant coach at Grand Valley State and one year as the assistant coach at Grand Rapids Community College.
In addition to his college coaching experience, Netzler spent nearly seven years as the master coach and national level coach for the Michigan Volleyball Academy. He ran practices for 40 teams and over 400 athletes each year.
Netzler graduated from Grand Valley State with a bachelor of science in movement science, with an emphasis in coaching. He also minored in history.
