Jan. 22, 2008

LARAMIE, Wyo. -

University of Wyoming Athletics Director Tom Burman announced on Tuesday that Carrie Yerty has been hired as the new women's volleyball coach at Wyoming.

Yerty comes to Wyoming after serving as the head volleyball coach at the University of Memphis for the past 13 seasons.

"It is truly exciting to be in a position to hire a veteran coach who has had great success as an NCAA Division I head coach," said Burman. "As we spoke with numerous coaches in the college volleyball community during this search, it became very apparent that Carrie is highly respected by her peers.

Carrie Yerty

"In addition to being an outstanding coach, she is also a proven recruiter and was one of the greatest players in Pacific-10 Conference history during her career at Washington State. I believe she will be an outstanding role model for the young women in our program."

While at Memphis, Yerty posted the best record among all Conference USA head volleyball coaches from 2001 to the present, accumulating a 162-75 (.684) record during that timespan. She also is the winningest volleyball coach in University of Memphis history, posting a career head-coaching record of 232-174 (.572). That included a school best season of 30-6 in 2003. In 2006, Yerty also led Memphis to a 27-8 mark. Twice during her time as coach of the Tigers, Memphis advanced to the Conference USA Tournament Championship Match -- in 2003 and 2006.

Among the outstanding individuals Yerty coached while at Memphis were: setter Heather Watts, who in 2004 became the only Memphis and Conference USA volleyball player to ever earn American Volleyball Coaches' Association (AVCA) All-America honors, First Team Academic All-America accolades and an NCAA Postgraduate Scholarship. Her 2006 squad included two AVCA Honorable Mention All-Americans in setter Laura Cote and middle blocker Shelby Burton. Burton went on to earn the honor again in 2007.

In addition to serving as the head coach at Memphis, Yerty was an assistant coach and recruiting coordinator at the University of Arizona from 1994-96, and served in the same roles at Eastern Washington from 1992-94.

As a college student-athlete at Washington State from 1988-91, the former Carrie Couturier (Yerty) earned Pacific-10 All-Conference honors three times as a middle blocker and was an All-West Region and Honorable Mention All-America selection. In 2000, she was named to the Pacific-10 Conference All-Decade Team for the 1990s.

"I'm really grateful to be given the opportunity to be part of the Laramie community and join such an enthusiastic and family-oriented athletic department as the University of Wyoming," said Yerty. "I want to thank Tom Burman and Barbara Burke (UW Deputy Athletics Director) for this opportunity.

"I can't express how excited I am to coach the current young women who are in the program, and I look forward to building on the great tradition that Wyoming Volleyball has enjoyed in the past with such great coaches as the late Mike English, who guided Wyoming to NCAA Tournaments in the 80s and 90s.

"I hope to create the same sense of family in the volleyball program at Wyoming that I've tried to instill in all my past teams. The Mountain West Conference is one of the premier volleyball conferences in the nation. Because of that I expect to be able to attract top players to our program at Wyoming, and I look forward to returning the Cowgirls to a competitive position within the Mountain West.

"My time at Memphis was a special time, and I can't say enough good things about the administrators, fans and student-athletes I worked with there. I feel like I grew a lot as a coach during my years there, and I feel like we were able to grow as a program."

Yerty is married to Lee Yerty. They have two sons, Wes (8) and Jace (5).