Enterprise State hires volleyball coach

Enterprise State hires volleyball coach
Posted: Nov 18, 2021

By Josh Boutwell - Southeast Sun - November 18, 2021 

Enterprise State Community College (ESCC) announced the hiring of its new volleyball coach Vanessa Howell on Thursday, Nov. 18.

Howell will take over the newly restarted Enterprise State volleyball program. ESCC previously had a volleyball program in the 1990s. Current LBW volleyball coach – and longtime Enterprise High School coach – Janie Wiggins was the inaugural ESCC volleyball coach.

"We here at ESCC are so excited to announce Vanessa Howell as our new ESCC volleyball coach and assistant athletic director," ESCC President Matt Rodgers said. "Coach Howell has impeccable character and class. She has always won and been on and coached winning teams.

"We feel like she will fit in well at ESCC because she is joining a winning faculty and team. We love our students and want to continue to provide as many diferent opportunities for our students. Coach has high expectations for her players but hey are truly going to get some of the very best coaching in the Wiregrass. It's never about programs, it's about people. Coach Howell is a winner on and off the court and those are the people we are going to hire and surround our students with. I can't wait for the young ladies in the Wiregrass to meet Coach Howell. Go Weevils!"

Howell is a native of Brazil but moved to America when she received a volleyball scholarship to play at Independence Community College in Kansas. After earning Freshman of the Year, Howell earned a scholarship to the University of North Alabama. Howell was a three-year start at UNA as she helped guide the Lady Lions to the Division II National Championship in 2003. She also earned All-American honors and was twice the ASWA State Small College Athlete of the Year. She was inducted into the UNA Sports Hall of Fame in 2016.
 
Howell met Enterprise native, Wess, and eventually married him. Following her graduation from UNA – with a bachelor's degree in political science – she earned a master's degree in international relations at Troy. She played professionally with the Pro Volleyball League in Spain from 2006-2007 before becoming a graduate assistant at Troy in 2007.

Howell served as a teacher at Wiregrass Christian Academy from 2013 and 2016 and has been a teacher and head volleyball coach at Houston Academy in Dothan since 2015. Her 2020 squad made it to the Final Four of the Class 3A State Tournament. She was named the Dothan Eagle Coach of the Year in 2020.

More information on Howell, including comments from her, will be included in the Nov. 24 edition of The Southeast Sun.