Retired volleyball coach and senior associate athletics director Dr. Linda Herman is one of 23 members of the American Volleyball Coaches Associations inaugural induction class into the groups AVCA Hall of Fame.
Herman, who retired in 2002, had a 267-112 record as Illinois State volleyball coach from 1975 to 1981, taking the Redbirds to a pair of national finishes in the Association of Intercollegiate Athletics for Women (AIAW) Tournament.
For the next 20 years, Herman continued her work as a pioneering leader for women in intercollegiate sports as associate athletics director and senior womens administrator at Illinois State. Her work on conference and national committees brought about helped womens sports grow and develop, creating more opportunities for student-athletes, coaches and administrators along the way.
Among the significant awards and recognition Herman received for her work is the AVCA Founders Award and the National Association of Collegiate Women Athletics Administrators (NACWAA) award as district administrator of the year, both in 1995. A year later, she won the ATALANTA Award from Athletics Management magazine for her dedicated service and leadership in college athletics.
Herman served seven years on the NCAA Volleyball Committee and two more on the NCAA Nominating Committee while helping to build, develop and lead Illinois State University athletics program which has won 114 team conference titles and 16 conference all-sports championships since 1982. During her administrative career at Illinois State, she served as interim director of athletics three times.
Although retired, Herman still stays close to the Illinois State program. This spring, she will serve as color commentator for the Missouri Valley Conferences coverage of its league softball tournament on Fox Sports. She is one of three AVCA Hall of Famers with ties to the Missouri Valley Conference. Retired Northern Iowa coach Iradge Ahrabi-Fard and Southwest Missouri State coach and administrator Linda Dollar are among the first group of inductees. The induction will take place Dec. 18 in Dallas as part of the NCAA Volleyball Championship Finals.
Current Redbird volleyball coach Sharon Dingman competed for Purdue against Hermans teams at Illinois State and served under Hermans administrative leadership after becoming Illinois State coach in 2000.
Linda was one of the women in the forefront of leading the growth of volleyball, particularly in the Midwest, said Dingman. Her coaching, her administrative work and her leadership have meant a lot to volleyball and to the people who play it and coach it. When I played at Purdue, we had a great deal of respect for Illinois States program and for Linda. Then, to have an opportunity to work with Linda, it is truly an honor. She represents so many great things about volleyball and about sports.
A native of Valparaiso, Ind., (where she was one of the first girls to play Little League baseball), Herman earned a bachelors degree from Indiana State, plus a masters and doctorate from Illinois State.
