Kelley Hartley Hutton Bio

Kelley Hartley Hutton was named head women's volleyball at IPFW in July of 1999 and charged with carrying the torch for a University with a rich volleyball history. Since that appointment, the Mastodons are 172-83 (67%) and coming off a red-hot 26-10 overall record to mark their fourth-straight 20-plus win season.

Hartley Hutton guided IPFW to the 2006 Independent Championship Title and was named Independent Coach of the Year for the third time in five years. With a 309-150 career record (67%), a home crowd joined Hartley Hutton in celebrating her 300th career victory when the 'Dons swept Buffalo on October 14, 2006. Hartley Hutton is currently ranked 43rd in the nation in winning percentage as an active coach.

Known for playing gutsy defense, IPFW ended the '06 campaign ranked 19th in the country in digs per game (19.08 digs/game) with then junior, Peachy Jankowski, ranked 24th individually. The Dons 88 RPI ranking was good for third-best of 10 NCAA division I volleyball teams in the state of Indiana, behind Notre Dame and Purdue.

The women's volleyball team "won" in the classroom a year ago too. Hartley Hutton's team turned in a combined 3.28 last year while juggling a hectic travel schedule. In 2006, Hartley Hutton coached her first-ever Academic All-American in middle blocker Claire Jackson who graduated with a perfect 4.0 in Biology and is now in Indiana's Dental program.

Directing IPFW through the Dons' final two years of Division II play, Hartley Hutton then led the Dons through a transition to the serious, Division I volleyball force it is now. She led IPFW to a 2000 regular-season championship its last year competing in the Great Lakes Valley Conference and compiled an overall record of 23-7 that season. In 2001, the Dons first year of Division I play, they posted a 13-14 mark followed by a 16-18 season in 2002 - just shy of the .500 mark again. But, in 2003 the Dons rolled to a 22-10 record and have not won few than 22 matches since.

For the educational and cultural experience of her student-athletes' lifetime, Hartley Hutton took the squad to Brazil in May of 2003 for competitions, tourist excursions, and team bonding. It also meant "going home" for graduate assistant coach Fabiana Souza (a native of Belo Horizonte, Brazil) and playing in front of her family in an IPFW jersey. Souza shattered IPFW career record for kills setting it at 2,305, the previous stood at 1,895 and repeated as Independent Offensive Player of the Year in 2005. She was 16th in the nation in kills per game (4.94 kpg).

Off the court, Big Brothers/Big Sisters is Hartley Hutton's favorite non-profit organization and she has made time to mentor an area "little" since 2002, a relationship she cherishes. IPFW women's volleyball matches are standard fall events for the organization's First Friends Program. After those matches, Hartley Hutton and her team use this as an opportunity to talk to area youth about the importance of education and setting goals.

Hartley Hutton came to IPFW in 1999 after serving one year at Robert Morris University rebuilding that program. In just one year, her recruiting class led the Colonials to a Northeast Conference championship and an NCAA Tournament berth in 1999, redeeming a seventh place league finish the year before. Hartley Hutton began her coaching career at Walsh University in North Canton, Ohio for four seasons (1994-97), leading the team to back-to-back Mid-Ohio Conference titles and the NAIA tournament (1996 and 1997). At Walsh, she compiled a record of 131- 44, earned MOC Coach of the Year twice, and was the league's chairperson and regional representative. She also served as the assistant athletic director and senior woman administrator at Walsh.

A 1991 graduate from the University of Toledo, Hartley-Hutton played four years for the Rockets serving as captain her junior and senior years. She earned a M.S. in sports administration from Bowling Green State University in 1993 while working at the Mid-American Conference office. After completing a one-year NCAA internship with the MAC, she was appointed to a full-time position in 1992.

Kelley and her husband, Craig Hutton, were married in February 2004 after meeting at IPFW. They reside in Fort Wayne and their daughter, Kennedy, was born last April.