UMBC Athletics Staff Bios
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Biography
Ian Blanchard was named UMBC’s new Head Women’s Volleyball Coach in 2005 as he becomes the fifth volleyball head coach in the program’s now 40-year history. The job marks the first collegiate head coaching job in Blanchard’s career after two years as an assistant at
Through his first seven years at UMBC, head coach Ian Blanchard has racked up the hardware while building the Retriever volleyball program into a perennial contender for the America East Championship.
In his first season in 2005, Blanchard’s star freshman, Sarah Ball, was honored with the America East Conference Rookie of the Year award, becoming the Retrievers’ first-ever recipient since joining the league in 2003. During that inaugural season, Blanchard also coached Ball to seven conference Rookie of the Week awards, the most honors by a freshman in America East history at the time.
One year later, Blanchard’s new blood achieved the same feat. This time it was Ashley Oscars who received the Rookie of the Year award and earned seven Rookie of the Week honors, tying Ball’s record.
The accomplishments didn’t end there, however, as Blanchard led the Retrievers to their first-ever appearance in the America East Conference Championship and their first postseason competition since 2002, when they competed in the Northeast Conference Tournament. Ultimately, the Retrievers ended up in the America East title game where they fell to Albany after a hard-fought five-set match. UMBC posted a record of 16-15 in the process, its first winning season since 2002.
A year later, Blanchard coached the 2007 squad to a 20-12 overall record, the first time the Retrievers recorded 20 wins in a season since notching 22 in 1998.
Blanchard led the Retrievers back to the conference tournament in 2008 and 2009, with Ball earning both America East All-Academic and CoSIDA Academic All-District honors and Alyssa Lang and Naomi Bush taking home conference Rookie of the Year awards. Lang won a conference-record eight Rookie of the Week honors during her freshman year in 2008.
In 2010, the Retrievers started slow, but Blanchard and his young squad bounced back and advanced to the America East final for the first time since 2006. Sabrina Hoeks earned All-Conference First Team honors, while Allie Spaay was named to the Second Team.
A year ago, Blanchard guided the Retrievers past perenially ranked UC-Riverside early in the year and then back to the America East Championships for a school record fourth consecutive season. In addition, freshman Dalton Tolliver was named the conference Rookie of the Year, giving UMBC five freshman awards in Blanchard's first seven season.
Blanchard’s athletes are also rewriting the UMBC record books, with eight players accounting for 13 single-season top-10 marks and 13 players placing their names on the all-time career records charts during Blanchard’s tenure.
Blanchard during his tenure at
Prior to Towson University Blanchard spent a year (2002) at Catonsville Community College as the head women’s volleyball coach, leading the program to a 24-5 overall record, 12-0 in the conference and was ranked 11th in the nation at the NJCAA Division II level. Blanchard was honored with NJCAA Region F and Maryland JuCo Coach of the Year accolades.
In addition to his collegiate experience, Blanchard has made a name for himself at the USAV Club level, directing the Orange Crush of the Time Out Volleyball Club for the past nine seasons. Blanchard’s team went undefeated in the USAV Chesapeake Region from 2000-2004 and placed fifth in 2003 and third in 2004 at the USAV National Championships.
Blanchard is a former social studies teacher at
Blanchard owns a Bachelor of Arts in Mass Communications from Westfield State College (1988) where he was a four-year member of
Blanchard is married with two kids and resides in