Cassidy Baird, who spent four seasons playing professionally, joined the Eastern Kentucky University volleyball staff as an assistant coach in February of 2023.
In the past two seasons, Baird has helped the Colonels to a 42-19 record and back-to-back 20-win campaigns for the first time since 2004 and 2005.
In 2024, Baird was part of a staff that led the team to 21 wins and a trip to the Atlantic Sun Conference Tournament semifinals. Middle blocker Carson Ledford, outside hitter Sarah Mitchell and right side AG Vandagriff earned all-conference honors following the season.
In addition, Mitchell became the first player since 2013 to record more than 1,000 career kills and 1,000 career digs. Ledford’s .379 attack percentage is the second-best single season hitting percentage in program history.
In 2023, Baird helped the team to: 21 wins (tied for the most since the 2005 season), a 13-match winning streak (tied for the longest in program history), the first national postseason tournament appearance since 2004 (the 2023 NIVC), the first top three conference finish since 2014 and a program record seven straight shutout victories.
Individually, Ledford, Mitchell and Vandagriff earned All-ASUN recognition. Ledford and Mitchell were picked as the ASUN Players of the Week two times each.
The offense fired on all cylinders in 2023 as EKU led the conference in points, hitting percentage, assists and kills. The Colonels were 11th in the nation in assists per set, 13th in kills per set and 29th in aces per set.
“I’m very excited that Cassie is part our staff,” EKU Head Coach Johnna Bazzani said. “Her experiences and success as a player, collegiately and professionally, are helping develop our players and elevate our play in the ASUN.”
Following her collegiate career at the University of Denver, Baird played professionally from 2018 to 2022 in Switzerland, Portugal, the Czech Republic and Finland. In 2021-22, she was chosen as the match MVP seven times and was a two-time players of the month selection while playing for LP Vampula in Huittinen, Finland.
“I am thankful to coach Bazzani for giving me the opportunity to join the program, and help continue to build upon the incredible culture and promise of EKU volleyball,” said Baird. “The passion and vision she has for the program excited me.”
Baird spent the 2022 season as the director of volleyball operations and technical coordinator at the University of North Dakota. She was responsible for logistics and planning of camps, coordinated all travel arrangements, maintained compliance forms, and managed male practice players and student managers. As an interim assistant coach during the spring, she aided in the development of practice plans and assisted in recruiting.
In 2022, UND had 11 more wins than the season before and nine more conference victories.
In four seasons (2014-2017) as an outside hitter at Denver, Baird helped the team win four Summit League Regular Season Championships, four Summit Tournament Championships and make four NCAA Tournament appearances.
Baird earned honorable mention All-Summit League recognition in 2015 and 2017. She led the team in aces both of those seasons and ranked among the top 100 nationally. As a senior in 2017, Baird was third on the team in kills, digs and points, and fifth in total blocks.
Baird has also gained coaching experience on the club and camp level. She was a camp coach for Denver in 2015, 2016 and 2017. She was an assistant coach for the 18-1s club team in 2016-17, helping the team to a first place finish in the 18 USA Division at the Colorado Crossroads Qualifier in 2017. In 2019 Baird served as a camp coach at Stanford University. During the summers of 2019, 2020 and 2021 she served as a coach for the All-American Volleyball Camps.
The 2017 Summit League Academic All-League selection earned a bachelor’s of science in business administration/international business in June of 2018.
