Keylor Chan Position: Head Coach Experience: Eighth

Keylor Chan, who just completed his eighth season as Northwestern's head volleyball coach, has proven to be one of the nation's most talented young coaches. Chan inherited a team in 2000 that had won just four matches in 1999, and in three short years he turned the program around and led the Wildcats back to the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 1984. Northwestern now has made the Tournament in three of the last six seasons and boasts a program record of 97-91 since 2002.

Chan currently is the second-winningest coach in Northwestern history with 114 wins as a Wildcat. He is 132-146 overall in his head coaching career after spending the 1999 season at Furman. Prior to his arrival in 2000, the Wildcat volleyball program had not experienced a winning season since 1990. Now, Northwestern has finished above .500 in four of the last six years under Chan.

In just his third year at the helm of the volleyball program, Chan led an experienced group that made an NCAA Tournament appearance for the first time in almost 20 years. The team finished the season with an overall record of 17-16 and completed Big Ten play at 10-10. The conference record of 10-10 was enough for Northwestern to finish in a sixth-place tie with Michigan and Indiana.

In 2003, Chan's squad produced an 18-15 record -- its best since 1988 -- en route to its second-consecutive postseason appearance. In addition, middle blocker Erika Lange earned her third-consecutive All-Big Ten honor to become the second Wildcat in program history to accomplish that feat.

With the graduation of a large group of talented players from that 2003 squad, Chan proved to be not only a top-flight coach, but one of the best recruiters in the country. His 2004 recruiting class was ranked No. 20 in the nation by PrepVolleyball.com, while his 2006 class reached No. 14 and the 2007 freshmen again notched the No. 20 slot.

In 2005, the Wildcats won 20 matches for the first time since 1988, had their best record (20-12) since 1987 and advanced to the second round of the NCAA Tournament for the first time in school history.

Northwestern's first-round NCAA Tournament victory came against perennial power Texas A&M, which had not lost in the first round in 13-consecutive appearances. The win also gave Chan 100 for his career.

Following a 14-15 record in 2006 against a brutally tough schedule featuring ranked nonconference foes Stanford, Hawaii and Arizona, Northwestern rebounded with an 18-13 mark in 2007. The 18 wins tied for the second-most for NU during the Chan era. Despite an 8-4 record over the final 12 matches of the year including wins over No. 13 Minnesota and No. 20 Michigan, the NCAA committee left Northwestern out of the NCAA Tournament, making the Wildcats the first Big Ten school in seven years to finish at least five matches over .500 and not receive a bid into the field of 64.

In his first season as head coach, Chan was faced with the challenge of playing one of the nation's toughest schedules with a young team. His starting lineup consisted of one senior, two sophomores and three freshmen. Over the span of the 2000 season, the Wildcats faced 12 nationally ranked teams, including eventual national champion Nebraska, which was one of the three 2000 NCAA Tournament semifinalists on Northwestern's schedule.

Without a senior on the 2001 roster, the Wildcats recorded their best Big Ten Conference finish in more than a decade and reached double digits in victories for the first time since 1998. Northwestern won more conference matches in 2001 (six) than it had since the 1993 season.

Before taking over the coaching reins at Northwestern, Chan spent one season at Furman University as head coach. He guided the Paladins to an 18-15 overall mark, including a 13-7 conference mark. While under Chan,s direction, Furman climbed 22 positions from 167th to 145th in the Sagarin Power Rating.

Chan was an assistant coach for the Wildcats under head coach Kevin Renshler for two years prior to his tenure at Furman. As an assistant at Northwestern, Chan was responsible for the development and implementation of drills and conditioning work, scouting and statistical analysis of opponents, scheduling and team travel. During his two-year term, the Wildcats, Sagarin Power Rating improved from 175th to 38th.

Prior to joining the staff at Northwestern in 1997, Chan spent one year as an assistant coach at Kent State. The Golden Flashes experienced an impressive season under his guidance, as they notched a 20-12 overall record and had their first winning record in the Mid-American Conference at 10-7.

During his time as a student at Florida, Chan also served as an undergraduate assistant coach for Florida,s Lady Gator varsity program, which won four SEC titles and advanced to one Sweet 16, one Elite Eight and two Final Fours.

Chan also is an accomplished athlete, having played on the University of Florida men's club team from 1991-95. During his time as a Gator, Florida won four-consecutive conference titles and made back-to-back appearances in the National Collegiate Club Final Four. In his senior season, Chan earned conference Player of the Year honors, All North/South Region accolades, and was a National Intramural-Recreational Sports Association (NIRSA) second-team All-American. In addition, he was named to the NIRSA All-Tournament team after leading Florida to the national championship match and a 30-6 season record. He closed out his career second in career kills (1,104) and digs (435), and first in aces (103). Chan's name also appears 21 times in the Florida record books for various match, season and career superlatives.

Chan graduated from Florida in 1995, with a bachelor of science degree in microbiology and cell science, with an emphasis in chemistry. He currently resides in Evanston, Ill., and is married to the former Maren Witzel.