Denise Van De Walle (2020) - Hall of Fame - Bowling Green State University Athletics

Denise Van De Walle

Induction:
2020

Denise Van De Walle, who grew up in South Bend, Indiana, was one of the most impeccable leaders and successful coaches in the history of Bowling Green State University Athletics. She amassed 527 career victories in 29 seasons as head volleyball coach of Bowling Green State University, was a four-time MAC Coach of the Year, and won three MAC regular season championships. Her teams won BGSU's Highest Team GPA award five times, had the highest team GPA in Division I volleyball in 2002 and earned the AVCA Team Academic Award 11 times.

"When I received the call from Athletic Director Bob Moosbrugger that I had been selected for the Hall of Fame, I was thrilled. I couldn't stop smiling," Van De Walle said. "It was so unexpected, which made it all the better!"

Van De Walle guided the Falcons to the 1991 regular season MAC title, the 1991 MAC Tournament championship, and a berth in the 1991 NCAA Tournament, the first NCAA tournament appearance in program history.

From 1989-1993, she won 20 or more games for five straight seasons. Van De Walle also won regular season MAC crowns as head coach in 1989 and 1992. The Falcons finished the 1989 regular season with a conference record of 8-0, the only time in program history a team went perfect in the Mid-American Conference. Her 1992 squad is still the only team in program history to win 30 games, and finished runners-up at the National Invitational Volleyball Championship. The 1992 runners-up finish at the NIVC is the highest ever in the MAC.

Van De Walle's leadership was best exemplified by her ability to get better as a coach and how it would reveal itself in the teams she coached. After a stretch of disappointing seasons capped by an 11-21 record in 1998, the Falcons went 21-12 in 1999. She then led the Falcons in 2000 and 2001 to back-to-back 21-win seasons and two MAC East Division championships.

In 2002, Van De Walle became the first coach in Mid-American Conference history to reach 350 career wins. She won her 450^th game in 2007, which made her the winningest coach in the history of Bowling Green State University Athletics at that time. In a three-year stretch from 2006-2008, Van De Walle's teams won 72 games while posting a 37-11 record in the MAC.

Van De Walle's leadership was on full display one last time during her final season as head coach for the Falcons. After finishing 8-24 the season prior, Van De Walle steered the Falcons into the brand-new Stroh Center and finished her career at BGSU by posting a 19-12 record in 2011.

"At the time of my retirement, I had spent exactly half of my life as the head volleyball coach at BGSU," Van De Walle said. "The years I spent there were the most formative, important years of my career. I truly grew up at BG. The success we achieved over my 29-year career came from the dozens of talented players who gave me all they could and a staff who was committed to our vision."

Van De Walle was a founder of the US National Sitting Team and served as an assistant coach from 2003-08 during her time at BGSU. Her teams won a bronze medal in the 2004 Paralympics in Athens, Greece and a silver medal in the Beijing, China in 2008. She was the Division I representative and President of the American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA). She also sat on the Board of Directors for USA Volleyball. In 2007, Van De Walle received the George J. Fisher Leader in Volleyball Award from USA Volleyball. She also ran the BGSU Fellowship of Christian Athletes chapter for 25 years and was the first female inducted into the FCA Hall of Champions in 2010.

Following her retirement as head volleyball coach from Bowling Green State University, Van De Walle spent three seasons as a volunteer assistant at Notre Dame from 2012-2014. She now serves as head volleyball coach at Division III Saint Mary's College in Notre Dame, Indiana, where she has been coaching since 2015. Besides her love for volleyball, Van De Walle is now a competitive tournament pickleball player. She played in her second US Open Pickleball Championships in April in Naples, Fla., earning a silver medal at the 4.0 skill level for her age group of 65+.