After the women’s vol­ley­ball vic­tory on Oct. 24, head coach Tia Brandel-Wilhelm has reached the mile­stone of her 300^th win as a Bulldog.

Brandel-Wilhelm cur­rently has a 302–159 record in her 15 years at Ferris State and is only 29 vic­to­ries away from being the win­ningest vol­ley­ball coach in school his­tory. After her 300^th vic­tory she was not even aware at first that she had crossed the milestone.

“After the game, peo­ple were telling me con­grat­u­la­tions and I didn’t know why, I didn’t even have any knowl­edge of it,” said Brandel-Wilhelm.

The Michigan native was first hired as head coach in 1996 after spend­ing three years coach­ing at West Virginia Wesleyan. When apply­ing for the Bulldog posi­tion, Brandel-Wilhelm was very impressed with the uni­ver­sity and also with the vol­ley­ball pro­gram which had a his­tory of being successful.

“I really liked Michigan, the com­mu­nity, and the loca­tion,” said Brandel-Wilhelm, “I knew it was a place I’d want to be at for a while.”

In the past 14 sea­sons, Brandel-Wilhelm has led the lady Bulldogs to 13 win­ning sea­sons and six appearences in the NCAA Division II Tournament. In 2004, she guided Ferris to a 24–7 record as they went on to win the GLIAC cham­pi­onship. She has also twice been voted as GLIAC coach of the year in 1998 and 2002.

“I have had great play­ers and great assis­tant coaches, which has been the key to my suc­cess,” said Brandel-Wilhelm.

For the moment, she is focused on mak­ing the Bulldogs one of the best pro­grams in the country.

“To be one of the best, you have to con­stantly be think­ing about what it takes to win a cham­pi­onship,” said Brandel-Wilhelm.

She also appre­ci­ates the oppor­tu­nity to be able to take part in her play­ers’ lives as she is able to watch and help them grow both on and off the court.

“It is an honor for me being a part of their lives,” said Brandel-Wilhelm.

The women’s vol­ley­ball team is cur­rently 14–9 and well on their way to another win­ning sea­son under the direc­tion of Brandel-Wilhelm. Not even she can say how many more years she will be bless­ing Ferris with her presence.

“I will prob­a­bly be here ‘til they tell me to leave,” said Brandel-Wilhelm. n