Humber’s Wayne Wilkins Named CCAA National Men’s Volleyball Coach of the Year
FREDERICTON – After the Hawks won the OCAA gold medal in Peterborough last week, the team gathered around head coach Wayne Wilkins, dancing and celebrating. The Humber men's volleyball program is a tight-knit group, groomed into a family by Coach Wilkins who has engrained values in his team that stretch well-beyond the volleyball lines.
With the entire program built around ensuring the success of the team and not the individual, it was not surprising to see the Hawks erupt Wednesday night in Fredericton when Coach Wilkins was awarded the CCAA Coach of the Year Award during the athletics banquet at the 2020 Men's Volleyball Championship.
It's the second time that Coach Wilkins has been the national coach of the year, the first one coming 15 years ago in 2005. It was another addition to the Hawks' growing list of men's volleyball accolades this season, which also included setter Jake Gomes receiving his All-Canadian award Wednesday evening, as well.
In his 25th season at the helm, Coach Wilkins and the Hawks currently own a 22-0 record and captured the program's first OCAA title since 2012. Humber has only dropped two sets all season and led the league in kills-per-set (11.70), assists-per-set (10.84), points-per-set (16.3) and hitting percentage (.370).
Wilkins – who was named the OCAA Coach of the Year last week – and the Hawks have been the top-ranked program in the country since Nov. 26 and reached number one for the first time since 2012.
The Hawks open the Final Eight tournament against the Holland Hurricanes on Thursday, March 12 at the Harvey-Grant Centre. First serve is set for noon ET. The livestream can be found here.