"I am confident that Craig is the right coach to lead our volleyball program," says Director of Athletics Nancy Smith. "His outgoing personality, passion for volleyball and his desire to see student-athletes succeed in all facets of life will all contribute to furthering the success of our program. He has a wealth of experience at various levels and knows what it takes to win."

Success seems to follow Vlietstra wherever he goes. He has had the opportunity to coach at the NAIA, NCAA Division I, and NCAA Division II levels and been successful at each stop.

He comes to Judson after one year at Michigan Tech (NCAA Division II). In just one year at Michigan Tech as an assistant coach, he helped the Huskies to only their sixth berth in the NCAA Division II Tournament and their first in 10 years. It was also Michigan Tech’s first winning conference record in a decade.

In 2005, Vlietstra was an assistant coach at Grand Valley State University where he trained the setters. GVSU went 32-6 that season, won the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Championship, NCAA regional and then the NCAA Division II National Championship over the University of Nebraska-Kearney.

Vlietstra received the head coaching job at Siena Heights, a NAIA university in Michigan, in 1999. Vlietstra’s six years as the head volleyball coach at Siena Heights was his longest tenure to date. He provided stability to a program where Vlietstra was the fifth coach in five years. He was able to improve their winning percentage immediately and in 2000, his fellow coaches honored Vlietstra with the Wolverine-Hoosier Athletic Conference Coach of the Year. Vlietstra was also the academic liaison and the intramural director during his time SHU.

Prior to that, Vlietstra spent the 1998 campaign as an assistant coach at Michigan State University in the Big 10. The Spartans tallied a 23-6 record and hosted an NCAA Tournament sub-regional during his stay at MSU. While at MSU, he had the chance to coach Jenna Wrobel who was an AVCA All-American, led the nation in kills per game, and was a member of the U.S. National Team. He also coached three players that were named all-Big 10.

He began his collegiate coaching career at Glen Oaks Community College in 1996 and he garnered an 82-27 record in two years with that program.

Vlietstra also has extensive, high-level club experience working with junior players. He is currently coaching the Sports Performance 18-Blue team in Illinois.  He has worked with the Premier Volleyball Club in Toledo, Ohio, for four years as the Director of Player Development. Vlietstra was in charge of all the training of the top teams for Premier. In 2003, the Premier 17-1 team won a National Championship. Vlietstra also has experience with Chicago-land club volleyball when he spent the 1998 club season at Sports Performance Volleyball Club in West Chicago, Ill. He was the head coach of the 14-1 team that went 69-17 and placed 15th at Nationals.

Vlietstra hails from Kalamazoo, Michigan where he received a bachelor of business administration in management and marketing from Western Michigan University in 1994. Vlietstra recently earned his master’s degree in organizational leadership from Siena Heights in 2006.