The Wendy Schaenen '79 Head Coach of Women's Volleyball
Deitre Collins-Parker, a two-time national collegiate player of the year, has led the Big Red to three Ivy League titles and two NCAA tournament appearances in just four years. She was named the eighth head volleyball coach at Cornell on June 1, 2004 by The Meakem•Smith Director of Athletics and Physical Education Andy Noel. Collins-Parker is Cornell’s second Wendy Schaenen ’79 Head Coach of Volleyball since the position was endowed in March 2002.
Cornell’s high-flying ways have led to great success in four years under Collins-Parker, as her teams have posted the top three season marks in kills and assists per game. Last season Collins-Parker helped the Big Red to begin rebuilding after losing 10 starters from the 2005 and 2006 teams. Under her mentorship, sophomore Megan Mushovic earned her inaugural first-team All-Ivy honor and led the nation in digs in a match with a school-record 50 against Harvard. Junior Emily Borman joined Mushovic on the All-Ivy team, earning second-team honors.
Her 2006 squad tops the record books in block assists and was second in attacking percentage. Collins-Parker led Cornell to its second NCAA tournament appearance in her tenure, narrowly dropping a 3-2 contest to Hofstra in the first round. The Big Red won its third-straight Ivy title with a 12-2 Ancient Eight record and was 18-9 overall. Elizabeth Bishop ‘07 earned her second-straight Ivy League Player of the Year honor and was honorable mention All-America. Joanna Weiss ‘07 joined her on the first-team All-Ivy squad, while freshman libero Megan Mushovic earned second-team honors.
Collins-Parker directed Cornell to one of its greatest seasons in its storied volleyball history in 2005, going 19-6 and winning the Ivy title outright with a 12-2 mark. The Big Red earned its second NCAA tournament appearance in the program’s history, dropping a 3-0 decision to Northeast Conference champion Long Island. Bishop earned Ivy League Player of the Year honors after setting the school record for career kills, while Weiss developed into a first-team all-league selection.
In her first season at the helm, the Big Red finished with an overall record of 17-9 and a 10-4 mark in Ivy League play. That record was good for a four-way tie for the league title, Cornell’s first since 1995. The team fell just two points short in game five of the Ivy League playoff final which determined the league’s automatic berth in the NCAA tournament. Along the way, the Big Red set numerous team and individual records. The nine straight matches won between Sept. 17 and Oct. 18 are tied for the second-longest streak since the NCAA went to the best-of-five game format in 1989. Hidden within that run is the school’s longest string of consecutive games won (22) over that same span.
Collins-Parker spent the previous eight seasons as head coach at the University of Nevada-Las Vegas, earning Western Athletic Conference Coach of the Year in 1998 after taking a dormant volleyball program and leading the Lady Rebels to a 23-8 record and a WAC tournament semifinal appearance.
Prior to her stint at UNLV, Collins-Parker served as an assistant coach at South Alabama, Northern Arizona and Houston for one year each.
Collins-Parker has plenty of international coaching experience as well. She served as head coach of the 1998 U.S. junior national team, directing her squad to a gold medal in the national qualifier. She served in the same capacity during the summer of 2000 (silver medal) and 2001 (bronze medal). A former member of the U.S. national team and a three-time AVCA All-American at the University of Hawaii, Collins-Parker was the starting middle blocker for the 1988 Olympic Team in Seoul, South Korea, and was an alternate for the 1992 team in Barcelona, Spain. She played in over 130 international matches and earned bronze medals at the 1986 Goodwill Games and the 1987 Pan-Am Games.
As a collegian, Collins-Parker was a two-time Broderick Award honoree as the national player of the year (1983, 1984) after leading the Rainbow Wahine to consecutive national titles and a 110-5 record in her final three seasons. Collins capped off her career as the Broderick Cup recipient, given to the nation’s best collegiate athlete in all sports. She was twice named to the NCAA all-tournament team and still holds the record for solo blocks in one NCAA tournament (15 in 1982). She was one of six players named to the NCAA Division I Women’s Volleyball 25th Anniversary Team in October 2005.
Collins-Parker spent three years playing professionally in Europe before entering the coaching ranks, playing one season for Conad Fano Volleyball Club in Italy (1988-89) and two years for the French Champion Racing Club of France (1989-91).
A 1995 graduate of Hawaii with a bachelor of arts in broadcast communications, Collins-Parker is a member of the USA Volleyball Coaching Accreditation Program and is a CAP level III accredited coach. She is also a member of the American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA) and the Black Coaches Association.
Collins-Parker and her husband, Dale, an assistant coach for the women’s basketball team, reside in Ithaca.
