SOUTH BEND, Ind. – The University of Notre Dame head volleyball coach Salima Rockwell announced that Paul Koncir has been promoted to an assistant coach for the Fighting Irish volleyball program ahead of the 2023 season.
Koncir joined the Irish in March of 2022 as the technical coordinator for the program. He will continue to use his experience as technical coordinator while also serving as an assistant coach for the Irish this season.
“I am beyond excited to announce that we will be promoting Paul Koncir to assistant coach this season,” said Rockwell. “In addition to his expertise as a technical coordinator, Paul has a wealth of knowledge and experience as a coach in his 23 years in the profession. He is not only one of the best at breaking down film, generating statistics and analyzing the data for scouting and preparation purposes, but he is also one of the few coaches in the country that possess the technical and biomechanics knowledge as it relates to sports and more specifically, volleyball. We are extremely lucky that he will now be able to work with our student athletes and enhance our level of training in the gym.”
A seasoned coach and veteran tactician, Koncir continues to bring a wealth of experience to the Irish staff.
“I am very grateful for this opportunity and for the chance to be a part of the program for the last year,” said Koncir. “The staff here are truly great people and are one of the most experienced and accomplished in the nation. The character, effort, and personalities of our players are outstanding and have made the work towards improvement over the last year so enjoyable.”
Prior to joining Notre Dame, Koncir spent the past two seasons with the Michigan State Spartans as an associate head coach. Koncir joined the Spartans from the University of Texas at San Antonio (UTSA), where he was the Associate Head Coach for the Roadrunners for two seasons. UTSA earned its first-ever bid to the National Invitational Volleyball Championship (NIVC) in 2019 after finishing with a 19-8 with a second-place finish in Conference USA in 2018.
Koncir spent from 2010-17 on the staff at Indiana as an Assistant and Associate Head Coach. During his time on staff in Bloomington, he helped the Hoosiers to an NCAA Sweet 16 appearance in 2010, its finest season in program history. Over his eight seasons he not only developed the all-time leaders in digs, blocks, and hitting percentage and the rally scoring leaders in assists and service aces at Indiana, but also mentored 49 Academic All-Big Ten selections.
Gaining head coaching experience, Koncir guided Towson University as its head coach before joining the Hoosier staff. In his four seasons guiding the Tigers, Koncir gathered two trips to the Colonial Athletic Association (CAA) Championships, a top-100 recruiting class (2009), seven All-CAA selections, and a CAA Rookie of the Year.
Before taking over at Towson, Koncir spent four years as an assistant coach for both the men’s and women’s teams at George Mason University (2004-06) and three years at Georgetown as an assistant women’s coach (2001-03). Additionally, Koncir has had extensive coaching experience in men’s volleyball, serving as an assistant at George Mason and as the head coach of the Georgetown men’s team.
Koncir’s coaching experience also extends to the youth level. In 2005, he coached at both the boys and girls USA Youth Development Camp and worked in the USA High Performance Tryouts in 2006. From 2000-02, he was the head coach for the Girls 19U Northern Virginia Juniors, guiding the team to a Chesapeake Region Championship.
A 1999 graduate and volleyball letterwinner at George Mason, Koncir started every match his senior season and was second on the team in kills. Upon graduation, Koncir was a member of the USA Volleyball Chesapeake Region Championship team in 1998 and 1999.
“There is something special about the Notre Dame community and what is being built in this program, and I look forward to contributing in every way I can,” said Koncir.