Phil “Flip” Piontek is back for his 25th season with UCM Jennies volleyball program, the second as Head Coach. In his inaugural season he led UCM to its first outright MIAA championship since 1999, and earned the right to host the 2009 NCAA Division-II south Central Regional Tournament.

During his time at UCM, the team has compiled a 763-179 (.810) record overall, and a 296-38 (.886) mark in MIAA play. The Jennies have claimed 16 MIAA titles, and have been to the NCAA Tournament in each of his 24 seasons.

He specializes in teaching the technical aspects of the game, doing so during his tenure as an assistant.

Piontek joined the Jennies program in time for the 1986 season. He spent three years prior to that (from 1982-84) as an assistant at the U.S. Air Force Academy, where he helped the Falcons win two league titles and finish third at the 1983 NCAA?Division II?Tournament.

While this is his first head coaching job at the collegiate level, Piontek has several years of experience in the club and professional ranks.

In the summer of 2001, Piontek coached the Missouri/Kansas High Performance Team to a third-place finish at the inaugural USA Volleyball High Performance Colorado Cup. He was assisted by Mindy Sullivan.

In 1998, Piontek served as co-head coach of Kansas City’s first professional women’s volleyball team. He helped the Lightning to a 7-1 record and a regular-season league title before they fell in the semifinals of the playoffs to the eventual champion Nebraska Tornados.

An Air Force veteran who played volleyball while in the service, Piontek is active in the sport as he has helped several teams qualify for the USAV Nationals as a player and is a nationally certified referee and scorekeeper. He also served as a line judge during the beach volleyball competition at the 1996 Summer Olympic Games in Atlanta.

Piontek earned his bachelor’s degree in history in 1975 from the Academy. He also received a master’s degree in history from Indiana University later that same year and a second master’s degree in business administration from Central Missouri in 1988.

Piontek and his wife Stacy have three sons. Joe (20) is a junior piano major at UCM. Matt (18) is a freshman studying chemistry here, and Nick (14) is a freshman at Warrensburg High. They also have two daughters, Hally (12) and Shilpa (11).

Stacy is the assistant basketball coach at Warrensburg High School. A member of Central Missouri’s Athletic Hall of Fame, she was a two-time first-team All-American for the Jennies after transferring from the Air Force Academy, and capped off her two-year career by helping UCM to a runner-up national finish in 1987. She also played for the Kansas City Lightning in 1998.