Now in his 13th season as head coach at Kennesaw State, Keith Schunzel has elevated the volleyball program in every aspect on and off the court.
Under his tenure, the Owls have gone from below 200 in the RPI rankings his first season to claiming the first two ASUN Tournament championship titles in school history along with a pair of ASUN regular season championships. The Owls also claimed their first two NCAA appearances thanks to Schunzel on the bench, coming in 2017 and 2019.
Four of the last nine seasons the Owls have finished the season ranked in the top-75, including a program best No. 42 in 2017. The Owls finished the 2019 campaign ranked 62nd in the country. Off the court, the team has averaged a 3.0 GPA or better for 26-straight semesters, earning AVCA Team Academic Excellence honors eight times (2014, 2015, 2019, 2021, 2022 and 2023, 2024, 2025).
Under his direction, the Owls have racked up 23 all-conference honors, ten all-freshmen team selections, two ASUN Setters of the Year, an ASUN Defensive Player of the Year, two ASUN Freshmen of the Year and an ASUN Scholar of the Year.
Recently, Schunzel guided the Owls to one of their best national finishes in program history, as the Owls reached as high as 35th in the RPI during the 2022 season and just missed out on the first at-large big in school history to the NCAA Tournament, finishing at 53rd in the year-end RPI rankings. In 2023, the Owls had a hot start to the year, with a school-record three wins over Power Five opponents (Oregon State, Wake Forest, Mississippi State), before injuries would derail a promising season.
The 2024 season saw Schunzel lead the Owls, picked to finish seventh in the preseason polls, to a fourth-place standing in their first year in Conference USA, as well as an appearance in the CUSA tournament semifinals after a 3-2 win over Middle Tennessee. That marked the 10th straight conference tournament semifinal appearance for KSU.
Schunzel led the Owls to the NCAA Tournament in 2019, as playing one of the toughest schedules in program history, KSU finished the year 22-9 overall with wins over Georgia Tech and Alabama to mark its fourth and fifth Power 5 wins in the last three years. The Owls went on to reach the ASUN Tournament Championship match for the fourth time in five years, downing FGCU in five sets to earn its second title.
He propelled KSU to a program-best 24 wins in 2018, marking the first-ever back-to-back 20-win seasons, finishing 24-7 overall. The Owls went 14-2 in ASUN play to finish second in the league.
Schunzel led the Owls to their first ASUN Championship and subsequent NCAA Tournament berth during the 2017 season. In all, the Owls finished the season 21-5 while going 13-1 in ASUN play to claim their second regular season title in a row.
The Owls won the program’s first regular season ASUN Championship in 2016 with a 12-2 league record, after the 2015 campaign where Schunzel led a team with nine underclassmen to a 19-9 record, earning KSU’s first ever ASUN Championship berth.
That 2015 season concluded a three-season turnaround for the Owls, as KSU won 10 and 13 games in Schunzel’s first two seasons on the bench.
His volleyball career began at Ball State University, where he was a four-year starter. The St. Louis, Mo., native and three-time team captain brought the Cardinals to the 2004 NCAA Final Four and a Midwestern Intercollegiate Volleyball Association (MIVA) Championship.
Individually, the four-year starting setter earned second team All-America honors in 2004 and honorable mention recognition in 2003.
After graduation, Schunzel played professionally with Germany’s VfB Friedrichshafen Volleyball Club in 2004-05.
Keeping with the volleyball theme, Schunzel’s wife, Briana, was the 2004 Mid-American Conference Player of the Year while a setter at Ohio University.
The couple has three sons named Griffin (12), Grady (6) and Micah (2). They reside in Marietta.
