Colorado Mesa University Athletics

The 2025 season will be Bri Strong's sixth season as an assistant coach for the Maverick indoor squad and her third as the program's top assistant, now focusing her efforts entirely on the indoor squad after assisting both the CMU indoor and beach volleyball teams for the first three years since officially joining the Maverick athletic staff in March, 2020.

In her first year, she helped the Maverick indoor team to win a RMAC Regular Season Championship and helped the Maverick beach team claim their first-ever wins over a Pac-12 opponent (Utah).

Her tutelage helped continue the success in 2021-22 as the Maverick beach squad won the AVCA (American Volleyball Coaches Association) Small College Division II national title while winning a program-record 16 duals, including four over Division I opponents.  That came on the heels of another strong indoor season as the Mavericks qualified for the NCAA Division II Tournament after winning 21 matches throughout the fall.

In 2022-23, Strong again helped the Maverick indoor team reach the semifinals of the NCAA Division II South Central Regional during the indoor season before the beach squad won a program-record 19 duals while finishing as the runners-up at the AVCA Small College Championships.

The Maverick squad then posted one of their best seasons in the fall of 2023, going 24-5 while again qualifying for the NCAA Tournament.

Strong then helped guide the Mavs to another 23-6 season while reaching the NCAA Tournament for the fourth straight year in 2024.

She named to the American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA) initial's class of Thirty Under 30 Beach Award Winners in the spring of 2021.

Strong came to the Mavericks after serving as an assistant coach at Cornell College in her hometown of Mount Vernon, Iowa for the previous five indoor seasons (2015-19). In her time with the Rams, Strong helped the program to Midwest Conference regular season championships in every year with the program. They also won four Midwest Conference Tournament titles and made NCAA Division III appearances each season from 2015-18.
 
At Cornell, Strong was the Rams’ defensive coordinator and directly coached the middle blockers.  In 2019, the Rams had five all-conference selections, including both starting middles and AVCA All-American libero Sydney Meeker.
 
In 2018, Strong also worked with All-American middle Nicole Ciari and setter Jillian Schulte, a NCAA Woman of the Year Top 30 award finalist.
 
No stranger to Colorado, Strong was a standout player at the University of Northern Colorado in Greeley, where she played from 2010-14, including her redshirt season.  In her time with the Bears, Strong helped the team win three Big Sky Conference Championships and make three NCAA Division I Tournament appearances (2011, 12, 14.  She earned all-conference honors in both 2013 and 2014 and still holds the Bears’ career record for attack percentage (.330) while ranking amongst the top 10 in career kills (877), solo blocks (51), block assists (302), total blocks (353) and total points (1073).

In 2012, she also led the BSC in overall hitting percentage at .370 and hit .403 in conference matches, which was a conference record at the time.
 
A December 2014 graduate of UNC with a bachelor’s degree in social sciences.
 
While in high school, Strong helped lead the Mount Vernon Mustangs to state titles in both basketball and volleyball as a senior in 2019-10, and was a 3-year all-state volleyball selection. 
 
Her parents, Ken & Deb, still reside in Mount Vernon.  Her sister, Shawna Mahoney, lives in Springville, Iowa.
 
When not coaching, she enjoys hiking, camping, backpacking and fishing.