Kara Hellmann joined Urbana University as head women's volleyball coach on April 4, 2018.

Hellmann comes to UU after compiling 10 years of coaching experience at the NCAA Division I level. Most recently, she spent five years at Wright State as associate head coach for the Raiders. Prior to that, Hellmann worked five years as an assistant at Niagara.

"I'm excited to announce Kara Hellman as our next women's volleyball coach," UU executive director of athletics Larry Cox said. "During her campus visit everyone was impressed with her passion, drive and commitment not only to the sport of volleyball, but also to the development of student-athletes.

I fully expect that with the positive momentum building here at Urbana, Kara will be able to build upon our current success and bring even greater prominence to the Blue Knight women's volleyball program."

Hellmann, who is a native of Louisville, graduated from Georgetown College (Ky.) where she produced an All-American playing career for the Tigers.

"I want to thank Dr. Washington, Larry Cox and Nikki Pluger for this opportunity to be a part of Urbana University," Hellmann said. "I'm excited and looking forward to helping these young women reach their goals competing within the MEC, succeeding in the classroom and being leaders in the community."

In her role at Wright State, Hellmann assisted in all aspects of day-to-day operations of the women's volleyball program. She recruited, trained and mentored multiple student-athletes to all-conference awards including freshman of the year, setter of the year, libero of the year and player of the year. Notably, Hellmann helped establish an academic standard which led to award recognition from the American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA) in five of the last six years.

At Niagara, Hellmann was responsible for training setters and middle blockers for a program that made three NCAA Tournament appearances and claimed three conference tournament championships. In addition, she handled day-to-day operations and established summer camp programs that grew each year. Numerous NU student-athletes garnered all-conference awards under Hellmann's watch.

Hellmann was an assistant for one season at her alma mater. There, Hellmann helped the Tigers earn a NAIA tournament berth, a Region IX title and the Mid-South Conference (MSC) Tournament title.

A 2006 Georgetown graduate and 2015 Athletics Hall of Fame inductee, Hellmann had a standout career for the Tigers. She held the NAIA national career record for assists with 7,527, was a two-time NAIA Second Team All-American and was selected as the 2005 NAIA Region XI Player of the Year by the American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA).  Hellmann was also the MSC Player of the Year each of her final three seasons and was the 2005 Georgetown Female Athlete of the Year.

Hellmann helped lead the Tigers to three NAIA national tournament appearances during her playing career, including an automatic berth in 2005, the 2005 Region XI title, three Region XI runner-up finishes and four MSC regular-season and tournament titles.

An active instructor, Hellmann has coached and worked at numerous volleyball camps including elite camps at the University of North Carolina and at the Nike High Performance camps.