TEMPE – For the second time in three years, Sun Devil Volleyball Head Coach JJ Van Niel has won the Frank Kush Coach of the Year Award.
In the middle of June, every Sun Devil head coach casts a single vote for the Sun Devil Coach of the Year in honor of Frank Kush. The award is presented around the anniversary of Coach Kush's passing (June 22, 2017), this year presented on the actual anniversary. It is a way for each coach to recognize a peer who impressed them the most.
There are no true guidelines for this honor; coaches can nominate someone who earned any honors, a coach who made an impression in their first year, or simply the nicest coach in the building. Once the nominations are in, one Sun Devil coach earns what one can consider the ultimate show of respect: An award from their peers in the 26-sport, 22-head coach department.
In his third season at Arizona State, Van Niel achieved something that no other head coach has yet to do in the award’s eight-year history, which is to win the award twice. His first win came following his first season in 2023-24.
In a competitive field of worthy head coaches, Van Niel had another impressive year. In 2025, Sun Devil Volleyball won back-to-back Big 12 Championships and made it to the NCAA Regional Semifinal for the second time in the last three seasons. Arizona State had a 28-4 overall record, going 17-1 in conference play. Volleyball went undefeated at home for the second season in a row, going 36-1 under third-year head coach Van Niel. Sun Devil Volleyball ended the season at No. 12, finishing in the top 20 for the third season in a row.
This is not the only award that Van Niel earned this school year. He was the 2025 Big 12 Coach of the Year, making him the first coach in team history to win three conference coach of the year awards. He joins an exclusive list of Sun Devil head coaches across all sports to win three consecutive Coach of the Year honors. He is one of seven to have at least three in a row, including Sun Devil Hall of Fame inductees Linda Vollstedt and John Spini. He is one of four coaches in Big 12 history to have won consecutive coach of the year nods.
Additionally, Van Niel was the Linda Volldstedt Coach of the Year at Wings of Gold in the spring, which was his second time winning that award as well.
It was a strong year for many sports this school year, which was evident in the votes that came in for other head coaches. Five others received votes: Megan Bartlett (softball), Herbie Behm (swim and dive), Cliff English (triathlon), Jamea Jackson (women’s tennis) and Molly Miller (women’s basketball). Big 12 titles were won in softball, swim and dive (both men’s and women’s) and women’s tennis. Additionally, the triathlon team had a second-place finish nationally, while women’s basketball had a major turnaround in Miller’s first season to make the NCAA Tournament.
In 100 games while at ASU:
- JJ Van Niel: 86-14
- Frank Kush: 73-26-1
Annual Frank Kush Award winners
- 2025-26: JJ Van Niel, volleyball
- 2024-25: Kenny Dillingham, football
- 2023-24: JJ Van Niel, volleyball
- 2022-23: Bob Bowman, swim and dive
- 2021-22: Matt Thurmond, men’s golf
- 2020-21: Todd Clapper, water polo
- 2018-19: Greg Powers, hockey
- 2017-18: Trisha Ford, softball
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