• Staff

• Brady Starkey
• George Padjen
• Megan Roesler

Brady Starkey enters his sixth season on the bench for Concordia University in 2008, having brought the Golden Bears to the highest of national prominence in his first five seasons.  Starkey is the school's all-time winningest coach with a record of 166-19.  This mark sets him atop all active NCAA Division II coaches with a win percentage of .897 (min. 5 years head coach experience at DII level).  He has appeared in the national championship match twice, donning CU with the school’s first-ever NCAA national title in 2007 as the squad went 36-4 overall.

The record setting campaign of 2007 started with the Golden Bears ranked #6 nationally in the preseason poll.  They never fell below this mark in 40 matches played.  On their way to the title, Concordia knocked off then-No. 1 ranked Minnesota Duluth 3-1 on the Bulldog’s home court to earn their third NCAA quarterfinal appearance in the past five years.  After downing California (Pa.) in three straight games, the Golden Bears completed the journey to the trophy with 3-1 wins over West Texas A&M and Western Washington.  The 36 season victories ties the 2006 mark for most wins in a season.

The 2007 season also closed out a record winning streak for Concordia.  From Oct. 31, 2004 to Sept. 21, 2007, Starkey led the Golden Bears through 69 consecutive conference matches without a loss.  This is the fourth longest such streak in NCAA DII volleyball history.  The stretch included all matches played against Northern Sun opponents, including NSIC and NCAA Tournament matches.  The two losses surrounding the streak came against the fourth and sixth ranked teams in the nation.

Starkey’s squads have posted consecutive 30+ win seasons in all five years of his tenure.  The Golden Bears have won the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference (NSIC) title for the past five seasons, and have garnered three NSIC tournament titles and three NCAA North Central Region titles.  Starkey was declared the 2007 Division II AVCA National Coach of the Year following the championship season.

Starkey's squads include 16  AVCA All-Americans, all of which were named to the North Central Region First Team.  Athletes have made the NSIC All-Conference First Team 27 times under Starkey, including the 2004 NSIC Player of the Year, Joy Wubben and the 2005 and 2006 NSIC Player of the Year, Jessica Lucia.  He has had six AVCA First Team All-Americans in Maggie McNamara, Joy Wubben, Jessica Lucia (2), Kelsey Kyro and Cailin Terhaar.

The Bears’ success on the court is equaled by their success in the classroom.  Concordia has been recognized in four of Starkey’s five head coaching seasons by earning the AVCA Team Academic Award for maintaining a team grade point average of 3.3 or better.  The 2006 squad boasted a 3.70 team gpa.  He has had four ESPN The Magazine Academic All-Americans and 40 NSIC All-Academic winners.

Starkey was named AVCA North Central Region Coach of the Year in 2007, 2005 and 2003.  He has earned three NSIC Coach of the Year honors, going 78-2 in NSIC regular-season play.

Prior to becoming head coach, Starkey served as assistant coach for the Bears for three seasons and played an instrumental role in rebuilding the program.  In 1999, the Golden Bears were a dismal 0-18, but things turned around to the tune of a 24-9 record in 2002, including the school's first-ever national ranking.
   Before coming to Concordia, Starkey spent five seasons as an assistant coach at St. Thomas University.  While at St. Thomas, the Tommies finished in the top four in the MIAC and won the conference title in 1999.  During the 1998 season, Starkey had co-head coaching responsibilities with his wife, Penny.

Starkey began his coaching career in 1992 as an assistant coach at Minnetonka High School, where he worked with the b-squad and junior varsity teams.  Starkey has worked coaching the 17-Open team of the Minnesota One Junior Olympics club since 2002.  Currently, he coaches the 18’s team at Minnesota Select.

Starkey earned his undergraduate degree in History from Metropolitan State University in 2002.  He is married to Penny Starkey and they are the parents of two daughters, Teagan Shea and Kayli Jade.