Cara Currier embarks on her 10^th season as head volleyball coach at University of St. Francis joining fellow Saint head coaches Dick Smith (softball), Paul Downey (men’s golf) and Rebecca Boyter (Spiritline) in their second decade of serving the Saints’ department of athletics.

Currier, who has had only one team (2006) finish under .500 in her first nine seasons, is hoping to get back to where she was in her first year as head coach of the Saints – the NAIA National Championship Tournament.

      After spending the 2000 and 2001 seasons as USF’s assistant volleyball coach, Currier took over the Saints’ program in 2002 and found immediate success.  Her initial team not only posted a 35-9 mark, but also advanced to the NAIA national tourney, where it tied for 11th place in the country.

In addition, Currier and her contingent added a Chicagoland Collegiate Athletic Conference tournament title and a NAIA Region VII tournament championship to their list of accomplishments in her inaugural campaign.

In her sixth season in 2007, Currier added two more firsts to her coaching credentials at St. Francis – a CCAC regular-season championship and a CCAC Coach of the Year award.  She directed the Saints to a share of the title with rival Saint Xavier and the team claimed the No. 1 seed in the CCAC post-season championship tournament thanks to a three-game sweep of the Cougars in the regular-season meeting.  The Saints narrowly missed adding the CCAC tournament title to their 2007 accomplishments, losing a hard-fought four-game match at home to defending champion Olivet Nazarene.

Currier, who posted her 200th career collegiate coaching victory in 2009, stands 230-150 in her nine years at the USF helm.  She was promoted to head coach after Kendall Villa resigned upon the completion of the 2001 season. 

Along with her responsibilities as head coach, Currier also is an Assistant Director of Athletics at USF.

Prior to arriving at St. Francis, Currier spent five years as a math teacher and coach at Plainfield High School.  In her four years as the girls' varsity volleyball coach, the Wildcats went 46-68-6.  She also served as the head softball coach on the sophomore level all five years.

Currier received bachelor of arts degrees in both mathematics and secondary education from Augustana College in 1990 and a master of science degree in sports management from Western Illinois University in 1998. 

While attending Augustana, Currier posted a 3.31 grade point average and earned a total of 11 letters in volleyball, swimming and softball.  Her collegiate honors included being named a softball Academic All-American, a member of the Dean's List and a team captain.  She also was an all-conference performer in both softball and swimming, not to mention being the recipient of the Outstanding Participant Award at the College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin Swimming Championships.

During her prep career at Hononegah High School in Rockton, Currier was a three-sport athlete, competing in volleyball, basketball and softball.

Currier is the mother of twin daughters, Ashley and Haley, who were born in 2003 and can’t wait until they turn eight years old in December.  The family resides in Minooka.

Former University of St. Francis volleyball player Jeana (Carrico) Pekol enters her ninth season as Cara Currier’s right hand and chief consultant on the Saints' coaching staff.

Pekol played her senior season at USF and was named to the All-Chicagoland Collegiate Athletic Conference team that year (1998).  She also was recognized twice as the league's player of the week.

Before transferring to USF, Pekol competed at the University of Missouri-St. Louis her freshman year and at NCAA Division I Northeastern Illinois University the following two seasons.

While at UMSL, Pekol was voted as the Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletics Association freshman of the year.  She gained honors at Northeastern, as well, making the All-Mid-Continent Conference team.

Pekol, a member of the Kappa Delta Phi International Honor Society, also was the vice president of the Student-Athlete Advisory Board while at Northeastern.

Pekol's coaching background includes working at St. Francis' All-American Camp and both the Peru Park District and La Salle-Peru High School summer camps.  She also coached the Illinois Valley Volley Power club team.

After receiving a bachelor's degree in elementary education from USF in 1999, Pekol went on to get her master's in educational leadership from Aurora University in 2004.

In addition to coaching at USF, Pekol serves as an assistant principal at Minooka Junior High.  She and her husband Scott, a former USF basketball player, live in Joliet with their twin sons Zach and Luke, who celebrated their sixth birthdays in May.