After 692 wins and 32 years of being the Head Coach, Mike Gibson has retired as the Head Coach of the Michigan-Dearborn volleyball team. Gibson started the team in 1982 as a club team, one year later the team was elevated to varsity status. He is the only volleyball head coach in school history. He finishes his career with a 692-691 record, and he entered this season as the fifth winningest active volleyball coach in the NAIA.
Michigan-Dearborn was an independent in the athletics ranks for many years. In the late 1990s, the university joined the Northeast Atlantic Conference where the volleyball team was the conference champions in 1999. The university left the conference the following year and joined the Wolverine Hoosier Athletic Conference (WHAC) in 2004. Gibson led the Michigan-Dearborn volleyball team to back-to-back 10 win seasons in the WHAC in 2006 and 2007. The 2007 team finished 11-3 in the WHAC knocking off nationally ranked Cornerstone University twice and ending Madonna's 20 year WHAC home winning streak. The 2007 team featured setter Renee Laidler, who would become the WHAC Setter of the Year as well as an NAIA All-American that season. Gibson would also be named Coach of the Year in the WHAC in 2007 and the Champions of Character Coach in 2006 and 2012.
In 1987, Gibson started the Victors Volleyball Club, an AAU volleyball club which rents the University of Michigan - Dearborn Field House for practices and tournaments. The Victors Volleyball Club added a winter program in 2009 and between the winter and spring programs has over 200 players in the club annually. Gibson was instrumental in starting 12 and under volleyball teams and 10 and under volleyball teams for the Michigan Junior Volleyball Association. The Victors Volleyball Club also hosts approximately 25-30 tournaments a year. Coach Gibson also organizes many high school volleyball tournaments during the fall season where his players volunteer their time to work the tournaments.
Gibson also has his players coach at the AAU level. Many of his players go on and coach at the high school level as he believes in his players giving back to the game they love. While most players stay in the game coaching, outside hitter Lynnea Harris (2002-2006), enjoyed playing professionally in a European League for a couple of years before returning home and coaching.
Besides volleyball, Coach Gibson has a passion for the outdoors. Before each volleyball season, he would lead the team on either a backpacking trip or a camping trip. The team would hike trails in New York, Pennsylvania, northern parts of Michigan, and many other areas in the Midwest. He has a belief in experiential education, where people can learn how to do things that they can apply in real world settings. His passion for the outdoors led him to start the Operation Adventure Program at the University of Michigan - Dearborn in the 1990s. Operation Adventure is a team building program that encompasses a high ropes course, rock climbing wall, low ropes course, and many team building activities that bring groups closer together.
Gibson will continue to be a part of the University of Michigan - Dearborn as he will remain with the university in an administrative role. He will also continue to lead the Victors Volleyball Club.
