Head Coach

The 2010 season marks the 21st year at the helm of the women’s volleyball program at Eastern University for Head Coach Mark Birtwistle. In that time, Coach Birtwistle has collected more than 450 career victories and 12 Conference Championships.  His teams have earned a spot in the NCAA Tournament 10 times advancing to the Sweet 16 in half of those appearances.  Including 2009, Birtwistle’s overall career record now stands at 468-177 (73%) keeping him among the top winningest active coaches in NCAA DIII Volleyball.  In 2002 and 2005, Coach Birtwistle was honored by the AVCA as the Mid-Atlantic Region, Coach of the Year.

Birtwistle has led the Eagles to regional prominence as well as into the national standings.  His teams have been regionally ranked more than 11 years, producing fifteen 20+ win seasons. The program entered a brand new era in 2003, 2004 and 2005 when his teams won over 30 matches each year, collected three consecutive Pennsylvania Athletic Conference (PAC) championships and advanced all three seasons to the Mid-Atlantic Regional Final of the NCAA National Tournament... the Sweet Sixteen.  In those three seasons, the team won nearly 100 matches, spent 6 weeks in the AVCA ‘s Top 25 National poll, named 5 AVCA All-Americans, 6 All-Region selections, the 2004 Region Freshman of the Year and three straight Conference Players of the Year. 

After a one-year vacancy from the national tournament in 2007, Birtwistle quickly got his team and program back on track.  The Eagles turned a 17-15 season record in 2007 into a 32-5 statement in 2008 as the team immediately returned to regional prominence.  By season's end, the Eastern Volleyball program was back on the AVCA's Top 25 in their highest rank ever at #19.  2009 saw more of the same as Birtwistle led the team to another 30+ win season, a second consecutive Freedom conference championship and to their 5th NCAA Sweet Sixteen appearance in 7 years.  

20 years has produced countless memories, but none more important than the players that have built this program. The Eagles have named 12 AVCA Division III All-Americans and 18 Mid-Atlantic All-Region selections.  There have been 65 All-Conference players, over 70 conference Players of the Week, 13 consecutive conference Players of the Year, 12 conference championship game MVP’s, and 5 Freshmen of the Year.  The program's most recent national accolade was the selection of Eastern's first NCAA DIII National Player of the Week in Courtney Reinhold ('12) in October 2009. 

Coach Birtwistle is a 5-time Conference Coach of the Year including back-to-back selections in 2008 and 2009.  He has coached with USA Volleyball’s High Performance teams at the Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs as well as various Gold Medal Camps throughout the country. He currently serves on the NCAA Regional selection committee as well as the AVCA's Top 25 selection committee.

Birtwistle works full-time for the university as both the Head Women’s Volleyball Coach and Head Men’s Golf Coach. He resides on-campus with his wife Heidi, their daughter Ali (15), and son Jack (9).