Young Harris College Athletics

Jenny Michael begins her fourth season as head coach of the Young Harris College women's volleyball program.

Michael directed the Mountain Lions through their inaugural season in the spring of 2020. She led Young Harris to the first-ever victory in program history on Sept. 11, 2021, when they defeated Lees-McRae College in five sets. 

The Mountain Lions have won the Peach Belt Conference Volleyball Team Sportsmanship Award in 2020, 2021 and 2022, while Young Harris earned the 2020-21 and 2022-23 United States Marine Corps/American Volleyball Coaches Association Team Academic Awards. Alex Boydstone became the program's first-ever PBC Elite 16 Award winner in 2022.

Michael came to the Enchanted Valley after spending nine seasons as head coach of the Lincoln Memorial University in Harrogate, Tennessee.

During her stay at LMU, she led the Railsplitters to a 162-117 (.581 winning percentage) record with four 20-plus win seasons and four trips (2011, 2012, 2016 and 2018) to the NCAA Division II Volleyball Tournament.

The 2016 South Atlantic Conference Coach of the Year has had players named to the All-SAC team 26 times and to the AVCA Division II All-Southeast Region squad seven times. The Railsplitters received five consecutive AVCA Team Academic Awards and she coached Erica Whiteaker, who was named the 2017 and 2018 CoSIDA Academic All-America® Team Member of the Year for Division II volleyball.

While at Lincoln Memorial, Michael also guided the fledgling beach volleyball program for four years.

Michael came to LMU in December of 2010 after a five-year stint as the assistant volleyball coach at Division I Troy University in Alabama. Prior to joining Troy, Michael was a high school coach in Kent, Washington.

Michael is no stranger to the Peach Belt. She served three seasons as an assistant coach at then Armstrong Atlantic State University in Savannah, Georgia. She served as a graduate assistant for two seasons and another as the top assistant when the Pirates captured the 2005 PBC regular-season title.

A native of northern Ohio, Michael played collegiate volleyball at Francis Marion University in Florence, South Carolina. While with the Patriots, she helped FMU capture the 1998 PBC regular-season and tournament crowns and earn a trip to the NCAA Division II Tournament.

Michael, who played in 120 matches (394 games) for the Patriots with 985 assists, 880 digs, 228 kills and 135 service aces, was named the team MVP and captain during the 2000 campaign.

She earned her bachelor's degree in mathematics with a minor in physics from Francis Marion in 2002 and her master's degree in mathematics from AASU in 2004.

updated 07.24.23