Former Louisville volleyball head coach Leonid Yelin has been named head coach for the Orange, filling the position left open after Jing Pu was fired in October.

Syracuse hired Yelin to become the sixth head coach of SU’s program, SU athletics announced in a press release on Tuesday. Yelin, who led Louisville to 14 NCAA tournaments as head coach from 1996-2010, retired from Louisville after the 2010 season and worked as an assistant coach for Colorado in 2011.

‘Coach Yelin brings world class experience and success to Syracuse,’ SU Athletic Director Daryl Gross said in the release. ‘Syracuse volleyball will have the opportunity to compete for national honors under his leadership.’

In 15 years with Louisville, Yelin won all 10 matches the Cardinals had against Syracuse. Four of the matches Syracuse lost to Louisville during Yelin’s time as head coach came in the Big East tournament, ending SU’s season each time.

Yelin coached one of the most consistent teams in the nation during his time with the Cardinals, leading Louisville to a 366-112 record in his 15 seasons. The Cardinals made four NCAA regional semifinals under Yelin, and his .763 winning percentage is in the top 10 among active head coaches. He never had a losing season as Louisville’s head coach.

Yelin is the permanent replacement for Pu, who was fired in the midst of his 17th season as head coach on Oct. 17. Pu led Syracuse to 15 winning seasons in 16 full years, but Syracuse never made an NCAA tournament under him.

Pu said he had no comment on Yelin’s hiring when contacted on Tuesday.

Pu was replaced in October by interim head coach Kelly Morrisroe, who led Syracuse to a 6-4 record while at the helm.

The Orange went 19-12 last season, losing in the first round of the Big East tournament.

The status of Morrisroe, interim head coach and recruiting coordinator, and Matthew Soderstrom, interim associate head coach, has not been decided yet, said Sue Edson, SU assistant director of athletics for communications. Yelin will decide on assistant coaches.

‘Syracuse is a great academic school with an outstanding athletics reputation,’ Yelin said in the release. ‘As a coach I find the best system to get the most out of the team and the student-athletes. I will do that at Syracuse. I have been involved with the sports of volleyball since I was 17, as a player and a coach, and have coached at every level. My entire family is a volleyball family. The sport is everything to me.’

Yelin first began coaching on the collegiate circuit in 1991 as the head coach of Division-II Barry (Fla.) University. The Buccaneers won the 1995 D-II national championship under Yelin.

The 61-year-old Yelin also has international coaching experience, mainly for his home country of Uzbekistan. Yelin played for the Uzbekistan national team from 1970-75 and coached the women’s national team from 1977-82. He coached the Ukraine women’s professional team from 1983-87 and the Uzbekistan men’s professional team from 1988-89.

His wife, Yelena, was a member of the Uzbekistan women’s national team from 1973-86.

Yelin takes over a Syracuse team that will soon be transitioning from the Big East to the Atlantic Coast Conference.

‘I’m confident that Leonid will jump start the Syracuse program and lead them in the fashion that he has at Louisville and Barry University,’ Penn State head coach Russ Rose said in the SU athletics release. ‘I would expect them to compete for championships in their new conference affiliation.’

mcooperj@syr.edu

Published on December 27, 2011 at 12:00 pm

Contact Mark: mcooperj@syr.edu | @mark_cooperjr