Darcy Thompson

    Defensive-minded Darcy Thompson is in her second season as an assistant coach at Youngstown State.
    Thompson, a two-time all-conference pick as a student-athlete, helped a young group of back-row players mature into a promising unit for the future.
    Under Thompson's guidance, Amanda Gray ranked second among Horizon League freshmen with 245 digs and 2.72 digs per set. Laurie Shives registered 248 digs as a sophomore, and she showed enormous progression throughout the spring season.
    Thompson came to Youngstown State with experience coaching at Villanova, Dayton and Robert Morris.
    In 2007, Thompson helped guide Villanova to a 17-12 overall record and a 9-5 mark in the Big East. She also coached Villanova’s first AVCA Honorable Mention All-American Alona Cherkez.
    With Thompson as a volunteer assistant at Dayton in 2006, the Flyers posted a 22-11 record for the season and advanced to the championship match of the Atlantic 10 Tournament.
    In addition, Faye Barhorst earned honorable mention All-America honors from the AVCA, and Amanda Robbe was cited for her academic success on the Atlantic 10 Commissioner’s Honor Roll.
    Prior to joining the Dayton staff, Thompson was a standout player at Robert Morris University before spending the 2005 season as an assistant coach at RMU. The Colonials went 16-13 in 2005 and reached the Northeast Conference championship match.
    During her playing career at Robert Morris, Thompson was a two-time All-Northeast Conference first team selection, and she owns the top two Robert Morris single-season digs records with 718 (2004) and 576 (2003). In the summer after her graduation, she was chosen to play on the Bringit Promotion USA Select volleyball team.
    Thompson was ranked nationally in digs per game during her junior and senior seasons and rates second in school history with 1,583 digs.
    Thompson graduated from Robert Morris with a bachelor’s degree in marketing in the spring of 2005 and a master’s degree in communications information systems in the winter of 2005.