Mary DeJute

Mary DeJute,the Crusaders women's volleyball coach and a veteran with 13 years of head coaching experience at the NCAA Division I and III levels and more than 20 years of experience as a player, camp director and coach, was announced as the Head Coach of the Belmont Abbey men's volleyball team on December 5, 2011. The program will begin play in January, 2013.

DeJute will be only one of two female coaches in the nation to lead a men’s volleyball program. DeJute has vast experience coaching men, leading her former club team, the Columbus (Ohio) Area Volleyball Experience to a Bronze medal at the Junior National competition.

In just three years guiding the Abbey women, DeJute has led the Abbey to unprecedented heights, as she is already the winningest coach in the program's history with 42 wins. DeJute just wrapped up her third season mentoring the Abbey women’s program and is the winningest coach in school history. She has amassed a record of 42-45, the most wins in a three-year span in the program’s history, including back-to-back seasons of 18 wins, the most in a single-season at the Abbey.

In 2010, DeJute guided the Abbey to an 18-11 overall record and a tie for third place finish in Conference Carolinas with a mark of 11-7. The 11 conference wins were the most since the 2005 season and the 18 overall wins is a school record. In addition, Kay Schellenberg and Angela Jubb earned all-conference honors, the first Crusader selections in two years.

Prior to joining the Abbey DeJute spent the last nine years as the founder/director of the Columbus (Ohio) Volleyball Experience club team where she instructed local youth in the game of volleyball through camps, clinics and Junior Olympic Competition.

DeJute began her head coaching career at Mercer University from 1992-96, where she posted back-to-back winning seasons, including the first 20-win season in school history. Her teams maintained the top GPA of all varsity sports and had 24 players earn academic all-conference.

After directing Mercer’s efforts, DeJute moved to Northwestern State University, where she was the head coach from 1996-1999. While there, her teams were in the top two academically, while producing 15 academic all-conference performers. On the court the squad set 11 new school records and had five all-conference players.

In the summer of 1999, DeJute returned to her native Ohio where she led Heidelberg College for two seasons while teaching in the department of Health and Physical Education.

A native of Swanton, Ohio, DeJute is a 1986 graduate of Bluffton College with a Bachelor of Arts degree in education and art. On the court, she is among the school’s all-time leaders in blocks per game. She obtained her masters degree in education from Northwestern State.