Craig Vlietstra is beginning his first season as an assistant coach for Grand Valley State during his second stint with the Lakers. He was the second assistant during GVSU's 2005 National Championship season.

Vlietstra comes back to Grand Valley State after a two-year stint as the head coach of Judson University, an NAIA institution in Elgin, Ill. In his two years with the Eagles, Vlietstra owned a 20-49 record, had two all-league performers in the Chicagoland Collegiate Athletic Conference (CCAC) and one NCCAA All-America honoree.

Prior to his time at Judson, Vlietstra spent a year at GLIAC North Division rival Michigan Tech as the top assistant coach, helping MTU to its first NCAA Tournament berth in 10 years. This came a year after he was the second assistant coach with Scanlon and GVSU for the 2005 national championship season. During that season, Vlietstra trained the setters on a Laker team that went 32-6 and won both the GLIAC championship and the Great Lakes Regional tournament title.

Before spending two seasons in NCAA Division II, Vlietstra was the head coach at Siena Heights, an NAIA school in Adrian, Mich., from 1999 to 2004. His six-year tenure solidified a program that had seen five different coaches in five years prior to his arrival. In 2000, Vlietstra was named as the Wolverine-Hoosier Athletic Conference Coach of the Year. He also served as the academic liaison and intramural director at SHU.

Vlietstra also spent a year as an assistant coach at Michigan State in 1998. While at MSU, the Spartans tallied a 23-6 record and hosted an NCAA Tournament sub-regional during his time. Vlietstra began his collegiate career at Glen Oaks Community College in 1996 and totaled an 82-27 record in two seasons.

On the club level, he has worked with the Sports Performance 18-Blue team in Illinois and the Premier Volleyball Club in Ohio for four years as the Director of Player Development.

Among other duties, Vlietstra will assist Scanlon in most aspects of the volleyball program, including planning practices, recruiting, coordinating summer camps, and breaking down film. One of his specialties on the court is training the team's setters.

Vlietstra is from Kalamazoo, Mich. and received a bachelor's of business administration degree in management from Western Michigan in 1994. He also earned his master's degree in organizational leadership from Siena Heights in 2006.