Pheister joins MU Volleyball as Associate Head Coach

MILWAUKEE – New Marquette University head women’s volleyball coach Tom Mendoza has announced the addition of Ethan Pheister to his first staff as associate head coach.

Pheister, a native of nearby Shorewood, Wisconsin and a Shorewood High School graduate, spent the last seven seasons alongside Tom Mendoza at South Carolina and was elevated to associate head coach in 2024.

“Ethan’s passion and dedication to helping student-athletes develop to their potential makes him one of the elite coaches in the country,” Mendoza said. “I am lucky to have been able to work with him the past seven years and I know our players will really enjoy his collaborative approach to training and competing. As a Shorewood native, I know he is excited to come home, and we are thrilled to welcome Ethan, Jen, Amelia, and Conrad to the Marquette family!”

Serving predominantly as the team’s defensive coordinator at South Carolina, Pheister developed the team’s middle blockers into one of the best positional groups in the Southeastern Conference. In the modern scoring era (since 2001), he has trained four of the 11 student-athletes who have totaled 250 or more blocks. As a team, the Gamecocks consistently ended the season in the top three of the SEC and top 50 nationally for average blocks per set during Pheister’s tenure.

Prior to his time in Columbia, he spent three seasons at LSU (2015-17), a pair of seasons at Duquesne in 2013 and 2014, in addition to a year at both Arkansas (2012) and Cincinnati (2011).

He helped lead teams to NCAA tournament appearances at each institution, including the first-ever berth for the Dukes in 2013.

During his one season at Cincinnati, Pheister helped lead the Bearcats into the second round of the NCAA tournament and a BIG EAST Conference tournament crown won at the Al McGuire Center. UC rallied for a reverse sweep of MU in the league semifinals and defeated Notre Dame in the title contest.

Pheister graduated from Ball State University in 2010, where he was a three-time all-conference setter and finished his career fourth in program history with 4,103 assists (11.21 per set).

Outside of the college ranks, Pheister served as the club coach for the Munciana Volleyball Club and High Performance Volleyball Club in Missouri.

Pheister and his partner, Jen Vilkoski, have two children together, Amelia and Conrad.

Keep up with the Marquette University women’s volleyball program through social media by following on X (@MarquetteVB) and Instagram (@MarquetteVB) and ‘liking’ on Facebook (/MarquetteVolleyball).

NOTE: This press release was submitted to Urban Milwaukee and was not written by an Urban Milwaukee writer. While it is believed to be reliable, Urban Milwaukee does not guarantee its accuracy or completeness.