Kristen Kelsay is a Big Ten product through and through.
The former Spartan spent four years on Michigan State’s volleyball roster beginning in 2010 and was an assistant coach in East Lansing from 2015-2019. She spent three seasons as an assistant coach and recruiting coordinator at Northwestern alongside Tim Nollan and two as an associate head coach at Minnesota under Keegan Cook.
Now, she’s the one in charge.
“It's really been maybe one of my favorite parts of this process, that I get to stay in the conference that I know. I'm biased,” Kelsay said Tuesday at Big Ten Volleyball Media Days in Chicago. “The Big Ten is the best conference in the country and the only conference I've played or coached in. What a privilege that is for me.”
Despite the coaching change, the Spartans held on to key players like middle blockers Evie Doezema and Zuzanna Kulig. For Doezema, a Michigan native, Kelsay stepping into the head coaching role was a welcome full-circle moment.
“I love this school so much and this atmosphere and when I heard Kristen was coming in, it was a full-circle moment for both of us because I was doing camps when I was just a kid as a Michigan native with Cathy [George], and Kristen was there watching, recruiting me. So to have her back as my head coach, it's just really surreal,” Doezema said. “We are so lucky because she brings such a family atmosphere with her passion and her dedication to the school already, and she just brought that in with all the new players and the coaching staff and really just made everyone feel so at home right away with her love for this place.”
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The Spartans will play their first 2025 match against Cook and the Golden Gophers.
“We always say you have two teams when you're a coach. You have your players and you have your staff. Anytime one of your staff members gets to go on and do something professionally that they aspire to do, you feel a tremendous amount of pride and joy,” Cook said Monday. “Yeah, we're very happy to be her first Big Ten match and share that memory with her as well inside the path.”