Phil McDaniel enters his first season with the Wolves in the fall of 2016, after being hired in mid-February. McDaniel joins the Wolves after making head coaching stops at Drake University and South Dakota State University.
In four seasons with South Dakota State, two Jackrabbits earned first team All-Summit League, two were named to the Summit League All-Freshman Team and eight garnered Summit League Players of the Week accolades. McDaniel posted a 40-82 record at SDSU with two 10-plus wins in his first two seasons at the helm.
Prior to his work at SDSU, McDaniel rebuilt the Drake University volleyball program which had tallied only seven wins in 2007. From 2008-10 the Bulldogs notched a 57-43 record with McDaniel at the helm and reached numerous program milestones. Under McDaniel, Drake qualified for the Missouri Valley Tournament in 2009 and 2010, while posting a 45-23 record. A total of four players received All-Conference honors, with the programs first First-Team honoree in over a decade.
McDaniel began his coaching career at J.H. Rose High School in Greenville, N.C., leading the program to a 42-7 recorded and earning Big East Conference 4A Coach of the Year for two consecutive seasons (2000, 2001).
He went on to work as an assistant coach at New Mexico State and South Dakota State University from 2002-07. With the Aggies, McDaniel aided the team with an 86-15 record and three straight Sun Belt Conference Championships. New Mexico also made two appearances in the NCAA Tournament in 2003 and 2004.
During his first tenure with the Jacks, he spearheaded recruiting efforts for the SDSU program and monitored academic progress for the Jackrabbits, who earned the AVCA with Game Plan/AVCA Team Academic Awards in 2005 and 2006. An assistant coach at South Dakota State from 2005-07, McDaniel helped the Jackrabbits to a 63-42 overall record, the 2007 Summit League title and the school’s first-ever Division I NCAA Tournament appearance. He has also spent time with numerous club and junior Olympic volleyball programs.
McDaniel earned a bachelor's degree in criminal justice from Culver-Stockton College in 1996 and a master's degree in counselor education from the University of Wisconsin-Platteville in 1998. He competed on both the soccer and tennis teams while at Culver-Stockton.
