May 4, 1998
LEXINGTON, Kty. – Jona Braden, a former head volleyball coach who for the past year has served as Senior Associate Athletics Director at Butler University, has been named head volleyball coach at the University of Kentucky, Athletics Director C.M. Newton announced today. In accepting the position at Kentucky, Braden returns to the school where she served as associate volleyball coach under Kathy DeBoer from 1991-93. “As soon as this position came open, I immediately thought of Jona,” Newton said. “She did a tremendous job while she was here and everyone thought a lot of her. She has made this a very easy decision for us.”
Braden reunites not only with DeBoer, who is now Associate Athletics Director at UK, but with many others whom Braden says “have grown in their positions since I left here five years ago.”
In her most recent position at Butler, Braden oversaw the operation of 11 varsity sports, including men’s and women’s swimming, volleyball, baseball, men’s and women’s track and cross country, men’s soccer, softball and men’s tennis. During her first four years at Butler, Braden was responsible for rules compliance, eligibility and academic counseling, as well as handling a variety of NCAA-related duties as Butler’s senior women’s administrator, a position she retained after her promotion to Associate AD. Prior to her administrative position, Braden was head volleyball coach at Butler from 1983 to 1990 before taking the associate coaching position at UK in 1991.
As Butler’s head volleyball coach, Braden guided the Bulldogs to a 160-114 record, two Midwestern Collegiate Conference championships, and four conference runner-up finishes. She was named MCC “Coach of the Year” in 1986 and 1987, and was picked as the North Star Conference “Coach of the Year” in 1985. During Braden’s two seasons at Kentucky, the Wildcats were 49-22 and won the NIT Championship in 1991 and made the NCAA Final 16 in 1992. But, Braden says, coaching never left her blood. “When I became an administrator, I spent much of my time mentoring coaches and student-athletes, and that kept my coaching juices flowing,” she said. “I must say that the experience I had during my five years away from coaching will definitely enhance the coach that I was before.” Braden, a native of Greencastle, Ind., earned a B. S. degree in education in 1978 from Ball State University, where she was a standout volleyball player.
