Century volleyball coach stepping down after six years – Post Bulletin

ROCHESTER — The call of family has taken over for Century sixth-year volleyball coach Nichelle Guillaume.

The 33-year-old Guillaume, who has children ages 8 and 4, announced her resignation as Panthers coach on Tuesday, citing a desire to stay close to home as the primary factor.

Guillaume ended her Century tenure with a sparkling overall record of 108-51.

An Austin native, Guillaume has taken a job as Dean of Students at Austin Middle School. Between bouncing back and forth from Austin to Rochester, and devoting so many nights to practices and matches, it had gotten to be too much.

Guillaume and her family have lived in Austin the last two years.

“There are quite a few things that went into my decision (to step down as volleyball coach),” Guillaume said. “One of the most important things is that my kids are getting older. It’s time for me to be a mom in the stands. Now that my kids are getting into activities, I don’t want to miss anything.”

Instead, what she’ll miss now is coaching Century volleyball.

It was a labor of love for Guillaume, who was a standout player at Austin High School and then the University of Minnesota, Morris before turning her attention to coaching.

Guillaume, who says the likelihood is high that she’ll get back into the game at some point, is going to miss it in the interim.

“I’m going to miss the athletes for sure,” she said. “It’s hard to walk away now because there are several girls in our (Century) program who I’ve coached for several years. But I don’t think I’m (permanently) done being in a volleyball gym. When you have a passion for a sport like I have, you’re not going to stay out of the gym forever.”

Guillaume says she doesn’t know who will be next as Century’s volleyball coach. But whoever takes over, she says the Panthers have some great prospects on the horizon.

“Next year might be a growing year, because we lost a lot of good seniors this season,” said Guillaume, whose team finished 17-10 this season. “But there are a lot of great younger athletes coming up.”