Joining Roger Williams University in August of 2005, Bret Stothart has helped lead the women's volleyball team to new heights. In his first year as head coach at RWU, he improved the team’s winning percentage (.689), regular-season conference ranking (3rd/10), conference playoff finish (semifinals) and guided the team to its first ECAC Postseason Tournament appearance since 1985. The next year the team upset the No. 3 and the No 2-seeds to advance to its first CCC Finals appearance since 1998.
The 2008 team posted a 22-14 record, tying the program's second highest win total since 1994. In 2009 the team surpassed the 20-win mark again, improved its winning percentage, won the conference Championship and earned the automatic bid into the NCAA National Tournament for the first time in program history. The 2010 team posted the program’s highest winning percentage ever with a 29-6 record, including a perfect 10-0 in the conference, repeated as TCCC Champions and again competed in the NCAA National Tournament.
Along the way, Stothart has recruited and trained the first and second All-American volleyball players in the program’s history. He’s also coached the TCCC Player of the Year, Libero of the Year, two Scholar-Athletes of the Year and two Rookies of the Year. He also earned the 2010 TCCC Coach of the Year.
Stothart also had an outstanding playing career while earning his Bachelor of Science in Sports Management from Springfield College in May 1998. As a senior he was named the Division III “National Player of the Year,” and was also chosen as an All-American. He was named to the All-EIVA Division III First Team in 1997 and 1998 and to the All-EIVA At-Large Second Team the same years. He was the Pride’s “Most Valuable Player,” in 1997 and 1998 and was named Springfield College’s “Senior Male Athlete of the Year,” in 1998. He was a key performer as the Pride captured the 1997 Division III National Championship. He also excelled in the classroom, graduating summa cum laude and earning Dean’s List honors every semester. He was named to the GTE/CoSIDA Academic All-American Team in 1996, 1997 and 1998. He later went on to earn his Master of Business Administration (MBA) degree magna cum laude from Niagara University.
His previous coaching experience includes serving as the graduate assistant coach for the Division I women’s team at Niagara University. He also served as the volunteer assistant coach for the men’s program at Springfield for two seasons. He was the head coach of the top Husky Club program in East Hartford, Conn. for two seasons and has served as an instructor at numerous camps and clinics across the east coast and Canada.
He is CAP I certified and a member of the American Volleyball Coaches Association and New England Women's Volleyball Association. He is the Communications Liaison for NEWVA and serves as the TCCC representative on the NCAA Regional Ranking Committee. He also served four years on the AVCA Regional All-American Selection Committee, is currently the Sport Chair for TCCC women's volleyball and is the TCCC liaison to the AVCA Division III National Head Coaches Committee.
In addition to his coaching duties, Stothart oversaw RWU's successful intramural program for a year and a half before moving to his current position as Assistant Sports Communications Director. His experience in this field includes two years as the media relations graduate assistant for Niagara University Athletics. Previously he spent five years at the Head Offices of the American Hockey League (AHL) based in Springfield, Mass. There, he quickly worked his way up from Sales and Marketing Executive Assistant to Manager of Communications before overseeing all AHL public relations efforts for three years as Director of Communications and Media Services.
Stothart hails from just outside of Allentown, Pa. where he twice earned All-State honors after leading the Emmaus High School volleyball team to four straight District Titles and a State Championship Finals appearance. He currently resides in Bristol, R.I.
