Norfolk State University Athletics

Dave Albaugh embarks on his third season as the head coach of the Norfolk State volleyball program in 2018. He led the Spartans back to the MEAC tournament in his first year in charge in 2016. Prior to that, he spent six seasons as an assistant coach with the program before being elevated to the head job.
 
Albaugh guided the Spartans to the MEAC tournament after missing out the previous two years. NSU finished 5-7 in the league in 2016 and defeated rival Hampton twice, including in the final match of the regular season to clinch a spot in the tournament and keep the Pirates out.
 
In addition, senior Jessica Johnson earned second-team All-MEAC honors and became just the second player ever in school history to top 1,000 career kills. The Spartans won five weekly MEAC honors during its bounce back year. NSU finished with more overall wins (7) than the previous two years combined (6).
 
In his second year in 2017, Albaugh coached Taylor Eichelberger to a pair of MEAC Rookie of the Week awards, including one after she set the school record with 28 kills in a match.
 
Albaugh’s coaching prowess and eye for recruiting have been instrumental in raising the level and expectations of the program over the course of his time with the Spartans.
 
The first four years of Albaugh’s tenure as assistant coach from 2010-13 under previous head coach Brandon Duvall marked the best stretch in NSU’s 18 years as a Division I program. All three of the program’s winning MEAC seasons, and the top three overall winningest seasons, came during that time.
 
After a successful debut with the NSU program in 2010, Albaugh was instrumental in its stellar 2012 campaign. The Spartans ended the year 14-20 overall, 9-3 in the MEAC Northern Division and in second place in the North. All three stand as the best achievements ever during the program’s D-I era. NSU also won a MEAC tournament match for the first time in 13 years.
 
In just his first season as an assistant coach with the Spartans in 2010, Albaugh helped turn the program into a more consistent winner than it had been since NSU’s D-II CIAA days. The Spartans finished with a 13-20 overall record and a 5-3 conference slate in 2010. It marked, at the time, the most overall and conference wins since the 1996 season, NSU’s last as a D-II program.
 
Despite injuries to several of the team’s top players, NSU still managed to finish the 2011 campaign with a 9-16 overall record, including 5-7 in MEAC Northern Division play. Only two other times since the turn of the century had NSU finished with more overall wins in a season.
 
A campaign that would have once been considered a success, though, was seen as a disappointment due to the increased expectations Albaugh helped put on the program.
 
In 2013, NSU finished 11-18 overall and 7-5 in conference play. The Spartans had two all-conference honorees that year for the first time in 18 years. Five of the program’s six all-time all-MEAC honorees have come during Albaugh’s stint as either an assistant or head coach.
 
He joined the Spartan volleyball program with numerous years of experience on his resume at the high school and junior Olympic levels in the Hampton Roads area. That came on the heels of a productive collegiate career at Shippensburg University.
 
He arrived at NSU after spending more than a decade at Great Bridge High School in Chesapeake. He first coached the girls’ varsity team, leading it to a district title and a fifth-place finish at the state championships in 1999 during his first season there. To this day, he still holds the school record for most wins in a season.
 
After three seasons with the girls’ team, Albaugh was named the head coach for the boys’ team in 2002. In his first season, he led Great Bridge to the district and regional titles while finishing as the state runner-up with a 21-1 overall record. That 2002 team also earned the Wachovia Sportsmanship Award for the state of Virginia.
 
During his eight years with the Great Bridge boys program, he won five Southeastern District Championships (both regular season and tournament) in 2002, ’04, ’05, ’08 and ’09 and was named the district Coach of the Year each of those five years.
 
He also won two Eastern Regional Championships in 2002 and ‘09 and was named regional coach of the year in 2008 and ’09 while posting an overall record of 168-28 during those eight seasons. Albaugh was named the Virginia State Coach of the Year in 2008.
 
Albaugh began his coaching career in North Carolina in 1996 at Currituck County High School but eventually made his way to Virginia Beach. While there, he led Kellam High School to its highest winning percentage in the school’s history prior to his departure after two seasons to head to Great Bridge.
 
In addition to his high school exploits, Albaugh has also been very active in the USA Junior Olympic program in the local area. He started his career with the Tidewater Volleyball Association (TVA), and is currently coaching for the Coastal Virginia U-18 Volleyball Club. He also served as the Director of Operations for the Coastal Virginia Volleyball Club from 2009-13 and then again in ’16.
 
In 2012, his girls’ Coastal Virginia U-18 team finished ninth overall at the AAU National Championship. The team then finished fifth in 2013 and again in ’16. Back in 2001, Albaugh’s squad became the first team in Virginia ever to win a national qualifier event, and it is still annually ranked among the best teams along the entire East coast.
 
Throughout his Junior Olympic coaching career, Albaugh has been instrumental in the promotion of local athletes to college programs. He has been directly involved in the recruiting process of nearly 100 players from the Hampton Roads area. He has also coached six players who went on to become AVCA All-Americans in college.
 
Following a successful high school career, Albaugh competed for Shippensburg University in Pennsylvania. He earned his bachelor’s degree in secondary education social studies in 1994.
 
Albaugh currently lives and teaches in Chesapeake as a European history teacher.