Kindra Gillen will be in her first season as an assistant coach for Cowgirl volleyball. It was announced on Jan. 22, 2018 by University of Wyoming head volleyball coach Chad Callihan that Gillen had joined the coaching staff.
“I have seen Kindra (Gillen) several times while recruiting and always found her to possess an outgoing personality,” Callihan said. “Knowing that Bre (Nesselhuf) was getting married and would be relocating, Kindra was someone I thought of early in the process. An added bonus was Kindra being from Eaton, Colo., which is a little more than an hour from Laramie. It's not every day that you have an opportunity to hire a former All-American and I look forward to her sharing what it takes to compete at the highest levels with our young team.”
Gillen comes to Laramie after spending a season at Liberty University where she helped the Lady Flames to the Big South Volleyball Championship semifinals under head coach Shane Pinder. Before her time at Liberty, she was an assistant coach during the 2016 season at Nicholls State in Thibodaux, La., for what was her first collegiate coaching experience. She served as an assistant coach under head coach Tommy Harold.
Hailing from Eaton, Colo., Gillen was named a second team AVCA All-American in both 2009 and 2010 at the University of Washington. She also earned back-to-back All-Pac 10 and All-Pacific Region honors as both a junior and senior. She led the Huskies with 471 kills during her senior campaign, helping Washington reach the Elite Eight while finishing the season ranked No. 6 in the nation. As a sophomore in 2008, UW made it to the Elite Eight and ranked No. 5 nationally at the end of the year.
She left her mark on Washington's career record book. She currently ranks fourth in career points (1,470), seventh in career points per set (4.22 pps) and ninth in both career kills (1,251) and kills per set (3.59 kps).
Following her days at Washington, Gillen moved on to the professional ranks in Puerto Rico, France, Greece and Germany. While in Germany, she was the fourth overall scorer during the 2014-15 German season and voted MVP in several matches.
She trained with the U.S. National Team in 2011 and 2013, also serving as head coach of the T-Street Volleyball Club. Coaching in Southern California, she led a U16 team to a bronze division first-place finish in 2011 and guided a U15 team to a bronze division third-place finish in 2013.
Gillen graduated from Washington in 2011 with a bachelor's degree in comparative history of ideas. The former Kindra Carlson is married to Brett Gillen.