It’s a double win for head coach Austin Dyer with the Lakeland College women’s volleyball program.
Dyer sniped the provincial and national coach titles in the accolades being handed out this season.
“I am so grateful to win awards like this. It means that I have had a group of athletes buy in to how I am running my program, and they are doing everything they can to be successful in all areas. Whenever someone wins a coaching award, it’s always a team award and this is the prime example of that,” says Dyer.
The head coach captured the 2024-25 Alberta Colleges Athletic Conference (ACAC) Overall Coaching Excellence Award and the 2025 Canadian Collegiate Athletic Association (CCAA) Coaching Excellence Award. Dyer is now a two-time recipient of the CCAA Women’s Volleyball Coach of the Year.
Over the last 17 years, the Rustlers women’s volleyball program has thrived under Dyer’s leadership, with the team qualifying for conference championships every year.
The 2025-26 season was particularly historic, with the Rustlers completing a perfect 25-0 season – the first undefeated season in the program’s history – while winning their third straight CCAA and ACAC championships. Lakeland’s women’s volleyball program is the first team in the ACAC’s 60-year history to win three national titles in a row.
“Austin has worked extremely hard over his years at Lakeland to build a program that constantly strives for and finds success on the court and in the classroom. Above that, though, is that the student-athletes and coaches under his leadership learn that you become a stronger, more well-rounded person by giving back to the community. Everyone at Lakeland is very proud of Coach Dyer and his achievements,” says Alan Rogan, Lakeland’s athletic director.
Dyer is the College’s longest-serving head coach, and has built a culture of trust with student-athletes, encouraging them to excel academically which is reflected in the team’s consistent GPAs of 3.2 or higher, says Rogan.
