Mark Ridley - Head Coach
5th Season (2007-08)
Mark Ridley returns for his fifth season at the helm of the Notre Dame Volleyball program. In his short tenure, he has become the winningest head coach in NDC Volleyball history with 60 wins.
Since his arrival to College Road in 2003, the Falcon Volleyball corps has earned several notable awards and accomplishments. In his second season, Ridley was named the 2004 American Mideast Conference North Coach of the Year while four of his student-athletes also earned spots on All-AMC squads. In 2005, the Falcons made a leap from a seventh place finish in 2004 to a fourth place conference finish the following season with a winning record in conference play.
The 2006 season marked a new era for the Royal and Gold under Ridley’s guidance as they finished with an overall record of 15-18 and an outstanding 10-4 finish in conference competition, only one loss behind the first and second place teams in the AMC. He also helped guide Brittany Kelly (So/Warren, OH) to the first ever Falcon on the All-AMC First Team. Kelly was also named AMC North Freshman of the Year.
Prior to NDC, Ridley was at Oakland University in Michigan, where he served as the assistant coach in 2001 and was named Head Coach for the 2002-03 season. Before making the move to NCAA Division I, Ridley was the head coach at Oakland Community College in 2000 and the assistant coach at NCAA Division II Grand Valley State from 1995-2000. Before his arrival at Grand Valley State, he served as an assistant coach for Grand Rapids Community College for the 1994-05 season.
In addition to coaching at the collegiate level, Ridley has coached several high school teams in the Michigan area. In 2000, he was the head coach at Walled Lake Western High School (MI), and from 1996-2000 he coached for Orchard View High School in Muskegon.
Ridley has also coached several competitive junior Olympic club programs, where he compiled an overall record of 136-89-45. Most notably, in 1999, he was selected to coach at the United States Scholar Athlete Games in Rhode Island, which featured some of the top high school student athletes in the nation.
Ridley earned a Bachelor’s Degree in Music Education from Western Michigan University. He currently resides in Highland Heights with his wife, Kathy.
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