NASHVILLE, Tenn. — With a wealth of playing and coaching experience both collegiately and on the international level, Vanderbilt head volleyball coach Anders Nelson announced Tuesday the hiring of Lauren Plum as an assistant coach.
In addition to coaching at the NCAA Division I level the last two seasons, Plum was a student-athlete at Oregon, competed for Team USA and in multiple professional leagues during her career.
“Lauren is driven, competitive and will outwork anyone,” Nelson said. “Her playing experience at the highest level both collegiately and internationally will help her serve as a role model to our future student-athletes. I’m excited to add Lauren’s offensive mind to our program.”
Plum’s responsibilities will include serving as offensive coordinator as well as combining with assistant coach Russell Corbelli to lead the Dores’ recruiting efforts.
“I’m thrilled to be coming to Vanderbilt and can’t wait to begin the process of building this program from the ground up,” Plum said. “I’ve been fortunate to be able to play volleyball at the highest levels and look forward to helping our future student-athletes be able to do the same. This is an exciting challenge to take on. I can’t thank Anders and Vice Chancellor (Candice) Lee for the opportunity to help shape Vanderbilt volleyball.”
Plum first entered the coaching profession at Villanova in 2020, helping guide the Wildcats in a spring season due to the COVID-19 pandemic as well as the following season. After serving as an assistant in the spring of 2022 at Arizona, where her focus was on recruiting, she joined the staff at Notre Dame as a volunteer assistant.
With the Fighting Irish, Plum helped implement and execute serving and setting scouting reports while also assisting with overall scouting reports and team and individual film reviews. Plum also has experience coaching with the East Coast Power VBC and was the interim assistant director of the COAST VBC from 2015-20.
A four-year letterwinner at Oregon, where she helped the Ducks make three NCAA Tournament appearances highlighted by a berth in the 2012 national championship match, Plum was a two-time All-American and All-Pac 12 selection and was chosen the league’s Setter of the Year as a junior. She set programs records with 75 assists in a single match and 1,618 assists in a season. Plum is the Ducks’ all-time leader with 5,213 career assists.
Plum was a member of the USA Junior National Team that competed at the World Junior Championships in Lima, Peru, in 2011 and the UA2 National Team Training Squad from 2014-17. She played professionally in leagues in France, Germany and Puerto Rico from 2014-20.
Plum, a 2014 Oregon graduate with a business degree, is the second assistant to be hired by Nelson this year, joining Corbelli who came to Vanderbilt in January. The Commodores are scheduled to make their on-court debut in 2025.
