The Anoka-Ramsey Community College Athletic Department is excited to announce the hiring of Brandon Bader as the Golden Rams head Volleyball coach.
Brandon is entering his first season at the helm of the Golden Rams, and his seventh year coaching overall.
Brandon has coached in four different states and has coached high school boys, high school girls and club. Coach Bader played high school volleyball at Cheyenne Mountain High School in Colorado Springs, Colorado where he started on varsity for three seasons two of which ended placing third at the state tournament. For two years he played club at Pikes Peak Community College in Colorado Springs.
While attending Pikes Peak Community College Brandon began his coaching career with the same team he finished playing with, the Cheyenne Mountain High School boys' team. He began the 2013 season as an assistant but took over as head coach the last half of the season in which he led a surge to the state tournament placing fifth. The 2014 season came up short of the previous season, ending in the regional finals.
Brandon transferred to Drake University after two years at Pikes Peak Community College where from 2014-2015 he was a student assistant for the Drake Volleyball team, a NCAA Division I institution. This opportunity translated into him being the color analyst for their home matches during the 2015 & 2016 seasons which were broadcasted on ESPN. Brandon left Drake with two undergrad degrees in sociology and digital media production. Additionally, while in Iowa, from 2015-2017 Brandon coached at Roosevelt High School where he was an assistant coach during the fall and a head coach for their club team in the winter.
Upon graduation from Drake University, Brandon moved to Washington D.C. where he ended up taking over as Head Coach at Westlake High School where he took over a program that had won six games in five years. In two seasons Westlake won 13 games before Brandon moved back to the Midwest where he coached the 2018 club season at the Shakopee Volleyball Association. He also was nominated as one of twelve individuals selected to receive the AVCA's Diversity Coaching Award in December of 2018.
Brandon is currently obtaining his master's degree in sports coaching & leadership through Drexel University and is on track to obtain his PhD in counseling to pursue a sports psychology career. Brandon is engaged to his fiancé Julie and is set to wed in July of 2020.