TRUMAN STATE UNIVERSITY TRUMAN STATE UNIVERSITY Nationally Ranked, Affordable, Personal

Jason Skoch
Head Volleyball Coach

Jason Skoch became the eighth head coach in Truman volleyball history when he was named to the position in May of 2005.

During his first three seasons as a Bulldog, Skoch has kept the program amongst the nation’s elite, having posted a career 104-14 record and three consecutive trips to the NCAA Tournament. Entering 2008, Truman has spent 71 consecutive weeks in the top-10 of the CBS College Sports Network/AVCA Division II Coaches poll – dating all the way back to November 2002.

Last season, Skoch’s squad set season records in kills, hitting attempts, assists, digs and blocks en route to a 36-6 overall record, an MIAA tournament title, a No. 1 seed in the South Central Regional, and a trip to the National Sweet 16. The 36 wins were the second-most in program history, as the team won the MIAA East division for the second-straight season.

Truman went 13-4 in 2007 against teams ranked in the top-25, including a 6-3 mark against teams in the top-10 at the time of the match. The Bulldogs went 5-3 in matches that went five-games and were swept just once – at the hands of eventual national champion Concordia-St. Paul in the first weekend of the season.

Skoch also reached a milestone of his own in 2007 as he picked up his 100th career win, a 3-0 victory against Missouri Southern, on Nov. 6, 2007.

Skoch has demonstrated success from the outset of his Truman tenure, as in his first season at the helm, Truman finished second in MIAA play and won the MIAA postseason tournament. After opening the season ranked second in the preseason national poll, the squad jumped up to No. 1 one week later for the first time in school history. They held the top spot for six weeks in 2005.

He capped off his first season with a South Central regional title before falling in the Elite Eight against host and national-No. 1 Nebraska-Kearney.

The Bulldogs rolled through the MIAA in 2006, going undefeated and once again capturing the MIAA tournament championship. The squad spent five more weeks atop the national poll late in the season, and, after being recognized as the MIAA coach of the year for the first time, Skoch’s squad was again selected to host the South Central Regional.

Skoch has coached five different players – Sarah Shearman (05/06), Kelsey Wackerman (05/06), Micaela Walter (05), Allie Cherven (06/07) and Melissa Keck (07) – who have been named AVCA all-Americans. His players have demonstrated success in the classroom also, as evidenced by 19 players being listed to the MIAA Commissioner’s Academic Honor Roll in three seasons.

Skoch came to Truman after spending one season as an assistant coach at Mississippi State University. He was part of a first-year coaching staff which led Mississippi State to an improvement of 11 wins overall and tied a school record for the most wins in Southeastern Conference (SEC) play.

His responsibilities there included recruiting, logistics, game/practice planning and opponent scouting.

Skoch also had previous NCAA Division II experience as he was an assistant coach at Central Oklahoma in 2003. That season, Central Oklahoma went 23-7 and advanced to the tournament finals in the Lone Star Conference.

Other coaching experience for Skoch includes spending one season as head coach with the Stillwater Volleyball Club and the Kaeppa Oklahoma Charge Volleyball Club. He is a former player with club teams at Penn State University, the University of Memphis and Oklahoma State University.

Skoch earned a Bachelor of Science degree from Oklahoma State in 1998 with a major in statistics and a minor in mathematics. He earned a Master of Science in Statistics from Penn State in 2001.

Skoch and his wife, Karen, reside in Kirksville, and they are expecting their first child this fall.