Lady Lancers introduces new volleyball coach

Andrew Towne
Posted 2/8/19

TORRINGTON – Eastern Wyoming College announced the appointment of Dante Geoffrey as the new head volleyball coach, becoming only the third coach in program history.

He comes to EWC after serving as the head volleyball coach at Lamar Community College in Lamar, Colo.

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Lady Lancers introduces new volleyball coach

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TORRINGTON – Eastern Wyoming College announced the appointment of Dante Geoffrey as the new head volleyball coach, becoming only the third coach in program history.

He comes to EWC after serving as the head volleyball coach at Lamar Community College in Lamar, Colo.

While at Lamar, his teams accomplished many milestones despite playing the role of underdog for three seasons. In 2018, Lamar earned its first victory over a nationally ranked opponent, and in 2017, Lamar’s third-place finish at the regional tournament was the program’s best on record.

The 2017 squad also produced its first-ever NJCAA National Player of the Week award-winner. Before becoming a head coach at Lamar, Geoffrey served as the assistant coach for Northwest College in Powell in 2014 and 2015. While at Northwest, the team had back-to-back NJCAA Final Four appearances, and won two Region IX-North titles.

“EWC has great resources, programs and people. When this opportunity presented itself, it was a no-brainer to apply,” Geoffrey said. “There is a great opportunity to do special things here at EWC, in a very competitive region that I’m familiar with.

I’m very thankful to coach (Tom) Andersen and President (Lesley) Travers for trusting me with this opportunity to join their team.”

Geoffrey has a B.A. in Journalism from Sacramento State University. Following college, he began a career as a sports reporter for the Powell Tribune. Within two years, he became friends with Shaun Pohlman who, at the time, was the head coach for Northwest College. Pohlman asked him to join his staff as an assistant coach, which began his coaching career.

“I’m very excited to have coach Geoffrey join our staff and look forward to working with him in rebuilding the Lancer volleyball program,” Andersen said. “I am also looking forward to how we can utilize his journalism background to help promote Lancer athletics.”

When asked about future plans for the EWC Lancer program, Geoffrey said, “I want to learn what is important to the EWC tradition and in what areas can we identify needs for change and growth. I want to begin recruiting talent that will turn heads and elevate our status in Region IX. I’m confident that we can mine the same regions that have led to success at my previous schools. There is also a necessity for international student-athletes to compete in this region.”

Academics are an important part of developing student-athletes for Geoffrey. Lamar’s 2017-18 team earned NJCAA Academic Team honors with a 3.19 team GPA and the 2018-19 team is on pace to best that with a 3.3 team GPA in the fall semester.

“We will have team study halls, and academic-monitoring, and in general hold student-athletes accountable for their academic success so we can maximize their experience here and generate transfer opportunities,” Geoffrey said.

Travers said, “Dante brings a fresh, young perspective to EWC volleyball. We are very excited to have him join the Lancers and look forward to a competitive season with Dante at the helm. He is already thinking about how to empower his players in assessing team dynamics and bringing out the best in our current players. We have great expectations of Dante and his talent.”   

Geoffrey will begin his official tenure at EWC in March, but has already begun to recruit future Lancers and prepare for the future.

“I get great fulfillment in seeing players move on to higher levels,” Geoffrey said. “EWC has the right resources to maximize opportunities for our student-athletes, in both sports and academics. We may only have two years together, but we want to set up Lancers for full, successful lives.”