Our Team

Steve Aird - Head Volleyball Coach

Indiana University Vice President and Director of Intercollegiate Athletics Fred Glass announced on Dec. 27, 2017, that Steve Aird is the new head volleyball coach at Indiana University. A two-time NCAA champion as an assistant coach at Penn State, Aird is an elite recruiter who has spent the last four seasons successfully turning around the Maryland program as its head coach.

“Being located in the middle of a volleyball hotbed and opening a new, state-of-the-art $17 million facility, it was important that Indiana University hire the right coach to lead our program into this exciting new era,” Glass said. “In Steve Aird we have found that person. He is an elite recruiter, a program-builder of the highest order, a great trainer and tactician, knows the conference well, connects with and graduates his students, and is regarded as one of the best young coaches in America. We are thrilled to welcome Steve and Brandy to the IU Athletics family.”

At Maryland, Aird inherited a program that not only went 13-19 and finished 13th in the Atlantic Coast Conference in 2013, but was also preparing the join arguably the nation’s best volleyball conference - the Big Ten. After winning just 10 matches overall and three in the Big Ten in his debut season, Aird quickly turned the Terrapins’ fortunes around. This year’s 18 wins represented the program’s most since 2010, while the seven conference victories was easily the most since UM joined the Big Ten. Notable wins this fall came against eventual Elite Eight participant USC as well as NCAA qualifier Purdue.

“I am humbled and honored to accept the Head Coaching position at Indiana University.  I believe Indiana Volleyball has a rightful place among the nation's elite and we will work tirelessly to make that a reality,” Aird said. “I cannot thank Fred Glass and his staff enough for this opportunity and for their commitment to building an excellent program the right way.  Brandy and I could not be more excited to be a part of the IU family and the Bloomington community.”

Among Aird’s greatest attributes is his ability to recruit. In 2016, Aird welcomed the nation’s 16th ranked recruiting class to College Park, Md., and he followed that up with the program’s first-ever top-10 class in 2017. That infusion of talent not only helped elevate Maryland in the Big Ten standings, but also created a level of excitement that had been lacking.  Six of the program’s top-10 attendance marks came during Aird’s four-year stint.

Before taking over at Maryland, Aird enjoyed highly-successful assistant coaching stints at Penn State (2007, 2012-13), Cincinnati (2005-07) and Auburn (2002-05). At Penn State, he helped the Nittany Lions to NCAA titles in both 2007 and 2013 along with a Final Four berth in 2012.

In addition to his success in the coaching ranks, Aird also served as the President and CMO of Complete Athlete Inc., from 2007-12, where he helped train and develop youth volleyball players. Many of his players went on to play at the D-I level, including programs such as Penn State, Stanford, Washington, Florida and Tennessee.

A native of London, Ontario, Canada, Aird was a four-year member of Penn State’s men’s volleyball program from 1997-01. He was a two-year captain and helped the Nittany Lions to three appearances in the Final Four.

Aird, who earned his bachelor’s degree in Letters, Arts and Sciences from Penn State in 2001, is married to the former Brandy Wilson. The couple has two sons, Caelan and Padraic, and a daughter, Mackenzie.

Chris Virtue - Director of Volleyball Performance

Virtue is in his 13th year within the Indiana Strength and Conditioning department and is currently the Assistant Director of Athletic Performance for the Indiana University Department of Intercollegiate Athletics. He is responsible for the development and implementation of sport specific strength, conditioning, flexibility, speed and agility programs for Women’s Volleyball and Women’s Golf programs.
 
In addition to the responsibility of his primary programs he has served two stints as the Interim Head Athletic Performance Coach for the Indiana Men’s Basketball Program, served five years as an Assistant Athletic Performance Coach for the Indiana Men’s Basketball Program, served 3 years as an Assistant Athletic Performance Coach for the Indiana Football Program. Virtue also created the Indiana Athletic Performance Applied Sports Science, Performance and Technology Department. In 11 years at Indiana University Virtue has served as the Head Athletic Performance Coach for nine different athletic programs.
 
Virtue earned a bachelor's degree in Kinesiology in May 2006 and a master's degree in Kinesiology in May 2009, both from Indiana University. He holds the SCCC certification through the CSCCa and is a certified Level 1 Sport Performance Coach through USA Weightlifting. He resides with his wife Crista in Bloomington, Indiana. They have one daughter, Penelope and one son, Charlie.

Amanda Madsen

Amanda Madsen joined the IU Sports Medicine staff in August 2017, as the DoD Concussion Project coordinator.  She then started working with Hoosier volleyball team in September 2017.  
 
Upon arriving in Bloomington, Madsen worked from 2014-2017 as an Athletic Trainer for the School of Optometry, providing coverage at the local high schools and helping collect concussion data for their eye tracking study.  Prior to coming to Bloomington, Madsen worked at Wartburg College in Waverly, Iowa from 2009-2014.  During her 5 years there, she provided coverage for the men’s and women’s soccer programs, men’s and women’s basketball programs, softball and track and field teams. Madsen was promoted to Head Athletic Trainer at Wartburg College in 2013. She also taught in the Athletic department, teaching Care and Prevention courses. 

Amanda graduated from Luther College with a Bachelor of Arts in Athletic Training in 2007, and earned her Master of Science degree in 2010 from Western Michigan University. She is a member of the National Athletic Trainers’ Association and is an American Red Cross Instructor for CPR and First Aid. 
 
Amanda and her husband Leif reside in Bloomington with their daughter Brenna. 

Lauren Solomon

Lauren Solomon joined Indiana University as a sports performance dietitian in July 2018. As a sports dietitian, Solomon works with individuals and team on all aspects of fueling for athletic performance. 

Prior to returning to Indiana, Solomon was at Purdue University as a Gatorade/CPSDA Sports Nutrition Immersion Program (SNIP) fellow, then later as full-time staff. During her time at Purdue, she independently managed the volleyball and tennis programs and assisted in the daily fueling of football, where she helped the Boilermakers to a Foster Farms Bowl win. 

Additionally, Solomon spent time as a sports nutrition coach at IMG Academy in Bradenton, Florida with their 2017 NFL Combine Training Program. Solomon’s sports nutrition career began with Generation UCAN, a sports nutrition company, where she worked with elite endurance athletes to recreational athletes on fueling for optimal performance. 

Solomon earned a B.S. in Applied Health Science, Dietetics from Indiana University in 2013 and continued her education at Benedictine University where she completed an accelerated dietetic internship and earned a M.S. in Nutrition and Wellness in 2014.

Solomon is a member of the Collegiate and Professional Sports Dietitians Association (CPSDA) and the National Strength and Conditioning Association (NSCA). 

Lauren and her husband, Les, reside in Columbus, Indiana.  

Chelsi Day

Chelsi Day is in her third season as director of counseling and sport psychology at Indiana.

Worked in a variety of clinical settings, including geriatric work in outpatient and inpatient settings, college counseling and outpatient private practice.

Founder and current director of the Nationwide Children’s Hospital Columbus Marathon and Half Marathon Psyching Team, which provides brief sport psychology interventions for race registrants before, during and after the Columbus Marathon each October.

Completed bachelor’s degrees in psychology and health and sport studies from Miami (Ohio) University.

A diver on the RedHawks swimming and diving team.

Earned a master’s degree in sport and exercise psychology from the Chicago School of Professional Psychology followed by a master’s degree and later a doctoral degree in clinical psychology from Antioch University New England in Keene, N.H.