Alabama Volleyball Hires Jill Pape-Kramer as Assistant Coach
5/16/2006 12:00:00 AM | Volleyball
Jill Pape-Kramer has been hired as an assistant coach for the University of Alabama volleyball team head coach Judy Green announced today.
“Coach Kramer is an outstanding young coach and she will bring a lot to our program as we continue to improve and move forward,” Green said. “She brings a pretty diverse experience to our coaching staff with success at every level. What impresses me most is her ability to have athletes playing above their ability levels on a consistent basis. She brings a positive attitude to the practice gym and to match day that I really like.”
Kramer comes to Alabama after three seasons as an assistant coach at Texas at San Antonio. She helped the Roadrunners advance to the Southland Conference tournament each season she was with them, advancing to the championship match this season. She replaces Erich Hinterstocker who left Alabama to become head coach at North Dakota State.
“I am very excited to be at the University of Alabama,” Kramer said. “From the moment I stepped on campus, it was just a great feeling. Everyone associated with the program was just so positive and everyone I met on campus was very in-tune to what athletics was doing and so supportive.”
Kramer joins the Alabama program following its most successful season of the modern era. The Crimson Tide made it to the finals of the Southeastern Conference Championships and made its first appearance in the NCAA Championships.
“I feel like I can learn a lot from Coach Green and this team,” Kramer said. “And at the same time, I feel like I have a lot to add to this program. I see this program going in a great direction and I am excited to be a part of it and help it continue to rise.”
She joins the staff in time to join Alabama on its competitive tour of Europe this summer.
“The timing of this hire is very good for us and for coach Kramer,” Green said. “She will have the opportunity to work with the student-athletes and get to know them and our system before fall practice rolls around.”
Kramer will also spend time coaching for USA Volleyball this summer, serving as coach of an A2 team.
“Her involvement with USA Volleyball and coaching the A2 Junior National team this summer is a real plus for her and Alabama,” Green said. “It gives her more valuable experience coaching athletes at that level.”
Kramer came to UTSA from the University of the Incarnate Word in San Antonio, where she was a graduate assistant coach for one season. Kramer began her coaching career in 1998 as an assistant for the 16 national team of the Texas Advantage Volleyball Club that competed in the Junior Olympic National Championships. In 2003, she joined the Alamo Volleyball Club staff and coached the 17 Kaepa team to a third-place Club National Division finish. She also led the 2005 Alamo 17 Kaepa team to a fifth-place national finish. She served as assistant director to Laura Groff for the Alamo Volleyball Club while in San Antonio.
An East Central High School graduate, Pape-Kramer played collegiate volleyball at Texas Christian University. A four-year letterwinner and team captain, her 1999 senior class was TCU volleyball's first four-year group of players.The TCU standout still holds 10 Horned Frog volleyball records, two Western Athletic Conference records and one NCAA record.
Pape-Kramer completed her bachelor of business administration degree in
marketing from TCU in 2000. She married Willem Kramer in March 2002.
