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Rob Neilson was hired as the new BYU women's volleyball coach on Dec. 23, 2025.

Courtesy BYU Athletics

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New BYU men's volleyball coach Rob Neilson give remarks at an introductory news conference at the Smith Fieldhouse in Provo on Thursday, Jan. 8, 2026.

Christi Norris, BYU Photo

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BYU's Rob Neilson, center, celebrates a point during his career as setter with the men's volleyball program. To his left are former head coach Tom Peterson (standing) and current BYU men's head coach Shawn Olmstead.

Courtesy BYU Photo

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Members of the BYU women's volleyball team watch a news conference introducing Rob Neilson as their new head coach at the Smith Fieldhouse on Thursday, Jan. 8, 2026.

Christi Norris, BYU Photo

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Rob Neilson left Utah State to take the BYU women’s volleyball head coaching job about six months ago, getting back to the place where he played collegiately and once coached the men’s team.

So while there is plenty that is familiar, there are also some pleasant surprises.

Such as returned phone calls.

“It’s funny,” Nielson said. “All of a sudden, calls I was having a hard time getting returned six months ago, I’m getting. Club directors that never once called us or we couldn’t get on the phone, they are ringing me now.

“I don’t think it’s my glowing personality. I mean, Logan was great to us. We loved Utah State. We had a great experience with great players. But we just have a little more juice here in Provo.”

With the juice comes the mantle of expectations with a program that competes in the Big 12 and has been a perennial NCAA tournament team.

“BYU has had a ton of success and we’re trying to follow in some big footsteps,” Neilson said. “Heather (Olmstead) did a great job. All of the players have been great. They’ve really bought into what we want to do and they’re excited.”

While Neilson said he felt like he didn’t need to make a lot of changes to the roster, change is difficult to avoid when it comes to college sports these days. Big 12 Freshman of the Year Suli Davis left for SMU to be closer to home and oft-injured middle blocker Mia Lee transferred to TCU.

Nielson brought back 6-foot-4 senior middle/opposite Kate Prior after a year’s absence from the program and then hit the transfer portal for some key additions: Utah State setter Kaylie Kofe, UTRGV outside hitter Dimitra Nanou and Oklahoma middle blocker KJ Burgess.

Kofe was the 2026 Mountain West Conference Player of the Year, Nanou was the Southland Conference Freshman of the Year and Burgess, who prepped at Lone Peak High School, was second team All-SEC with the Sooners.

“KJ is an incredible get for us and adds to an unbelievable group in the middle,” Neilson said. “It’s as talented a group as I’ve ever been around. Whether we run a 5-1 or a 6-2 with Kaylie on the roster remains to be seen, but she adds depth and competition with our setters. Dimitra brings passing stability and she’s played in some big-time matches internationally. She’ll really push our other hitters to be at their best.”

Among the returners are junior setter Alex Bower, senior outside hitter Claire Little Chambers, senior middle blocker Brielle Kemavor and junior outside hitter Elli Mortensen, who have all taken leadership roles in the spring and off-season workouts.

“Alex, Claire and Brielle have all bought in and Elli has emerged as a leader with our group,” Neilson said. “I think those four are going to have a big impact on our season.”

Nielson brought much of his support staff from Logan, including assistants Chloe Hirst and Torre Glasker as well as Director of Operations Kennedi Hansen. Last week, Neilson added Donan Cruz, a keen volleyball mind who has been a head coach at the NAIA and NCAA level and was most recently an assistant coach for men’s national champion Hawaii. Cruz will be Neilson’s associate head coach.

The Cougars produced mixed success in the spring training period, losing three of four games to the University of Utah at the Smith Fieldhouse on March 28.

“Offensively we were awful in those matches against Utah,” Nielson admitted. “We were trying to do some different things technically. I thought we served and passed well. But I’m OK with steps back offensively because we’re playing faster. We’re setting the middles more in different areas. We need to set BK (Kemavor) more than we did last year and find her in more places.

“Technically, all of that is more difficult. Managing that part of the game is going to take more time. But I think we’re right on track to where we need to be. I’ve asked the players to do some things that are tougher. We’ve come a long way in that regard. It probably doesn’t look to the general public that we’ve changed a lot but we feel like those small changes will make a big difference in the aggregate.”

As for taking advantage of all of those returned phone calls, Neilson said he wants to focus on being better in signing and committing the top players in the country that are members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, which sponsors BYU.

“In my first cycle here, there are 20 players on the USA U19 roster and four of them are members of the church,” Neilson said. “The top three players of our faith in the Class of 2027 are going to Nebraska, UCLA and Stanford (Lone Peak’s Ava Burgess). So we have to do a better job of finding that elite LDS talent. In volleyball there’s a very high concentration of LDS kids that are good volleyball players. At BYU we have great resources and community involvement. Provo is a perfect spot for kids to come and play. I’m excited to leverage those things into something great.”