Roberts Wesleyan Redhawks

Julia Reininga was announced as the new Director of Athletics for the Warriors at the conclusion of the Spring 2020 school year.  She joined the Warriors staff in the summer of 2012.

Under her guidance as the head volleyball coach, she has coached seven All-Conference athletes including 11 NCCAA All-South Region athletes and four NCCAA All-Americans. Other notable honors include Paige O'Connor who received the 2017 Conference Carolinas Offensive Player of the Year, 2017 D2CCA All-Southeast Second Team, and the 2017 Conference Carolinas Fall Scholar Athlete of the Year honors.

In her first four years at SWU, Reininga has posted a 98-47 overall record and a 47-13 mark in Conference Carolinas and Southern States Athletic Conference play. Southern Wesleyan has finished second in Conference Carolinas in back-to-back seasons and finished second in the SSAC in 2013. She has led the Warriors to the NCCAA Volleyball National Tournament in three times including a run to the semifinals in 2014. 

Prior to joining the staff at SWU, Reininga spent the previous 12 years as the head coach at her alma mater, Bethel College in Indiana. While there she posted a 336-210 career mark and guided the Pilots to the 2007 NCCAA National Championship. She was named the NCCAA Coach of the Year after that season as well.

Reininga was also named the NCCAA Regional Coach of the Year on five occasions and was honored in 2005 as the Mid-Central Conference Coach of the Year after leading Bethel to a MCC championship.

In addition to coaching Reininga served as the NCCAA Sport Vice-Chair in 2009 and the NCCAA Sport Chair in 2010-2011.

Additionally, Reininga was a physical education instructor for 12 years, and was the home game supervisor for Bethel from 2005-2011.

Before her head coaching role, Reininga was the assistant volleyball coach at Bethel for two years, which followed her star-studded four-year playing career for the Pilots where she was named the first NAIA All-American in the program’s history. 

Reininga won two NCCAA National Championships (1993 and 1994) as a player, and is the only person in Bethel history to win national championships as a player and as a coach (2007).

She graduated in 1997 with a bachelor’s degree in Recreation Administration and later graduated in 2012 with her master’s in Ministry.

She has been a part of the Midwest Professional Volleyball Association for four years and has spent seven years in the United States Volleyball Association.

REININGA'S CAREER NUMBERS

Year by Year at Southern Wesleyan University