Floyd Deaton is entering his 18th season as head coach of the Xavier volleyball team. Over the previous 17 years, Deaton, the winningest coach in Xavier volleyball history, has led the program to 351 victories and has coached 38 All-Conference selections. Deaton has also lead the team to its only NCAA Tournament appearance in 2001 as well as two Atlantic 10 regular season titles (1998, 2004). In 2006, Deaton's squad posted a 10-3 conference mark, the third consecutive year Xavier has won 10 or more A-10 matches in a season, and the Musketeers made their ninth straight A-10 Championship appearance.

Deaton has been named the Atlantic 10 Coach of the Year three times during his tenure at Xavier, including back-to-back years in 2003 and 2004. He won his first honor in 1998 after leading the Musketeers to an A-10 Regular Season Championship. Deaton was honored again in 2003 after he turned around a Xavier squad that began 2-6 in conference play and engineered a six-match winning streak to earn XU's sixth consecutive berth in the Atlantic 10 Tournament. In 2004, he led the Musketeers to the most conference wins in school history at 12-2 and claimed a share of the A-10 Regular Season Title, while advancing to the Championship Match of the A-10 Tournament.

Over the past several seasons, Deaton has also created an exciting atmosphere for volleyball at Xavier as the Musketeers have consistently been ranked near the top of the Atlantic 10 Conference and in the state of Ohio in attendance. In 2006, over 400 fans per game helped cheer on the Musketeers to seven wins and only one loss in Cintas Center, enhancing XU's home court record to 60-12 since the opening of Cintas Center in 2000.

Building Tradition

Deaton turned around the Xavier program when he arrived for his first season in 1990. Xavier's five previous losing seasons was all but forgotten as Deaton as he led his first Xavier team to a 19-17 record. In the six consecutive years following his inaugural season, the Musketeers produced winning seasons under Deaton's guidance.

In fact, the Musketeers have produced 16 seasons of .500 or better during Deaton's 17-year tenure. The 1997 season was the only blemish on Deaton's otherwise perfect stretch of winning seasons as the Musketeers tallied a 13-17 record.

The Musketeers did not let this affect them as they bounced back in 1998 and were the Atlantic 10 Regular Season Champions before falling to Temple in the semifinals of the conference tournament.

In 2000, the Musketeers moved up the hill from Schmidt Fieldhouse to the new 10,250-seat Cintas Center. Xavier tied for second in the conference and advanced to the Atlantic 10 Championship Match where they fell in a heartbreaker to George Washington in five games.

Xavier returned to the A-10 Championship Match in 2001 and capped the most successful season in school history with a 3-0 sweep of Temple to secure its first ever A-10 Title. The Musketeers then made their first-ever trip to the NCAA Tournament before concluding their season with a 25-6 overall record.

The 2001 season also saw XU receive its first-ever votes in the AVCA/USA Today Coaches Top 25 Poll as well as players being named A-10 Player of the Year, Setter of the Year and Rookie of the Year.

During the 2004 campaign, Deaton led Xavier to its best record in conference action since the 2001 season. The Musketeers also advanced to the A-10 Tournament championship match for the third time in the last five seasons.

Going to Work

Prior to Deaton's arrival in 1990, fans did not expect much from Xavier volleyball. Deaton took over a struggling program that only managed a 46-111 record in the previous five years. Deaton was not deterred and led his inaugural team to a 19-17 record. Since hiring Deaton, Xavier volleyball has averaged 21 wins a season.

His second year saw the Musketeers put together some of the best results ever at XU. The Musketeers finished the 1991 season with a 28-10 record that included a 14-match winning streak. The 28 wins fell one victory short of tying the school record of 29 wins set in 1980. A 23-win season followed in 1994.

Adding to the list of Deaton's accomplishments, Xavier made the transition from the Midwestern Collegiate Conference to the Atlantic 10 Conference in 1995 with an 18-15 record despite facing the stiffest competition in school history. In 1996, only the second year participating in the Atlantic 10, Xavier produced a 21-win season.

In his 17 years, Deaton has coached two AVCA All-Northeast Region players, 38 All-Conference selections (1 MCC and 37 A-10), 10 A-10 All-Rookie team selections, 10 A-10 Academic All-Conference selections and has had a player named A-10 Player or Rookie of the Week 47 times. He has also produced the 2000 and 2001 A-10 Player of the Year, the 2001 and 2004 A-10 Setter of the Year, the 2001 and 2005 A-10 Rookie of the Year, the 2004, 2005 and 2006 A-10 Student-Athlete of the Year, a 2004 Third Team ESPN The Magazine Academic All-American and the 2005 ESPN The Magazine Academic All-America of the Year and five Academic All-America All-District selections.