Corban University hired Kim McLain to be the Head Volleyball Coach in November 2014.
"It is an honor to be invited to serve Corban University as its Head Volleyball Coach," stated McLain. "What excites me the most are the relationships to be built, the incredible opportunity to coach at the next level, and using God's Word to direct the athletes and bring a culture of excellence and winning! One of my favorite quotes by Aristotle is, 'We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence then, is not an act, but a habit.'"
2024: The tenth season under Coach McLain’s leadership saw the Warriors return to the national stage for a ninth-consecutive year and qualify for the NAIA National Semifinals thanks to a dominant pool play run and quarterfinal victory over the University of Montana Western. Four more Corban student-athletes secured All-Conference honors along with an All-District representative, while the Warrior Volleyball program earned the highest team GPA among all teams for the first time in over five academic years.
2023: Led by Coach McLain and Corban legend Rylee Troutman, the Warriors qualified for an eighth-consecutive postseason appearance and made their way to Sioux City before bowing out in pool play after forcing tiebreaker sets and falling just two points shy of moving on to bracket play. Another five Navy and Gold members were selected to All-Conference honors, with Troutman securing back-to-back Player of the Year awards and a third-straight NAIA All-American nod. Troutman was joined by Guindy on the All-District team, and Coach McLain registered her 200th career win in a three-set home sweep of Lewis-Clark State College.
2022: In her eighth season at the helm of the Corban Volleyball program, McLain coached the Warriors to their highest ever NAIA National Tournament finish, falling just two points shy of a National Title to take home the 2022 NAIA National Runner-Up Trophy in their seventh-straight National Tournament appearance. The team finished with a 33-5 overall record, totaling the most wins in a single season by any Corban Volleyball squad in program history. They also achieved the highest NAIA Coaches’ Poll ranking in program history, coming in at No. 3 overall on November 12th, 2022.
The team finished 5th overall in the entire NAIA in offensive production, accumulating 1,870 to lead the CCC. Efficiency was key for the Warriors, as they averaged 14.06 kills per set to finish 3rd in the nation and swung at a .243 attacking percentage to rank 6th at the national level. On an individual basis, McLain groomed two more First Team All-American award winners in Avari Ridgway and Rylee Troutman, the latter of which was named the 2022 CCC Player of the Year and 2022 NAIA Attacker of the Year.
Their historic NAIA National Tournament run was highlighted by three-straight sweeps against RV Bethel University, No. 11 Taylor University, and No. 13 Park University to advance to the National Semifinal round, where they defeated fellow CCC member and No. 1 ranked Eastern Oregon University in four sets to advance to their first ever National Championship match.
2021: The seventh year was the year of breaking boundaries for Coach McLain and her program, as the Warriors finished the season 30-3 overall for the highest winning percentage in school history (.909), advancing to their sixth consecutive NAIA National Tournament before bowing out in the Opening Pool Play round. McLain was voted the 2021 CCC Coach of the Year after a dominate season of competition
The Warriors steamrolled their way to the first CCC Regular Season Championship since the 2017 season, setting the single-season conference mark for best conference record (20-2). They repeated as conference champions on November 13th, 2021, when they defeated Eastern Oregon University in the 2021 CCC Tournament Championship match on their home court.
Two more Warriors cemented their name in the history books by earning NAIA All-American status under McLain, as Avari Ridgway took home First Team honors while Rylee Troutman introduced herself to collegiate scene with Honorable Mention recognition. The team’s highest NAIA ranking that season was a new program record, as they were announced as the No. 5 team in the nation back on October 13th, 2021. The final program record to fall in 2021 was for most consecutive wins, as the Warriors began the season 19-0 to set the streak at 19-straight wins.
2020-21: Despite all odds, the Corban Volleyball program overcame a COVID-19 riddled season of cancellations, rescheduling, playing in an entirely different season to finish 14-5 overall and 10-4 in conference play, finishing second overall in the CCC and taking home the Spring 2021 CCC Tournament Championship on Eastern Oregon’s home court after the Mountaineers posted a perfect 14-0 conference slate.
Regardless of a shortened season and numerous challenges, the Warriors advanced to their fifth-straight NAIA National Tournament, where they fell in the Opening Pool Play round to the No. 1 Northwestern College Red Raiders. This marked the second time that McLain and her squad have had to face the No. 1 team in the NAIA early in the NAIA National Tournament Final Site.
McLain saw her sixth All-American crowned at the end of the shortened season, as Avari Ridgway was dubbed Second Team worthy for her fantastic year under McLain’s guidance. This now gave McLain an All-American student-athlete in all but her first season as the Head Coach at Corban University.
2019: Under McLain's guidance, the nationally recognized Warrior squad made its fourth-straight trip to the NAIA National Tournament in 2019, advancing to the NAIA Final-16 for the second-consecutive season.
2018: In 2018, despite possessing a team with just four returners from the year prior, McLain captained Corban volleyball to the NAIA National Championships for the third-straight season. The Navy and Gold finished with a 23-13 record, concluding the squad's season in the NAIA Final 16.
2017: During the remarkable 2017 season, McLain led Corban to a 27-9 overall record, the CCC regular-season Championship and the CCC tournament title. Following winning those trophies, the Warriors advanced to the the NAIA Volleyball Championship Quarterfinals, marking one round further than the Warriors had gone in 2016 and the furthest the team had advanced in program history.
2016: In the record-setting 2016 campaign, McLain guided the Warriors to a 25-8 overall record, a win in the NAIA National Tournament Opening Round, two wins in 'pool play' at the NAIA Final Site, and a trip to the NAIA Volleyball Round of 16. During the 2016 season, the Warriors finished with a 17-3 record in Cascade Collegiate Conference (CCC) play and Corban garnered two NAIA All-Americans and three First-Team All-CCC athletes to go along with the CCC Libero of the Year.
2015: In her first year at Corban in 2015, she led the Warriors to the best season the program had registered since 2004 with a 14-13 overall record and a fifth-place finish in the CCC. Under her guidance, the Warriors qualified for the CCC Tournament and saw three players garner All-Conference honors, with one collecting All-America honors and the other two earning CCC Libero of the Year and Freshman of the Year plaudits.
Personal: McLain came to Corban after a heralded coaching career at Santiam Christian High School, where she won five of the past six state championships and accumulated a 397-74 overall record at the helm of the Eagles. With an overall career winning percentage of .843 and a conference mark of 179-12 (.937), McLain led Santiam Christian to 13 Conference Championships in the last 13 years, six State Championships, 12 top-five finishes, and 14 appearances in the State Tournament during her 15 year career. With her team's successes, she was tabbed the League Coach of the Year 11 times, State Coach of the Year 6 times, and the Regional Coach of the Year on two occasions.
McLain capped a 28-2 season in the fall of 2014 by leading Santiam Christian to its third-straight OSAA State Championship and fifth in the last six years, seeing her team come from behind to win a five-set thriller in the title match over Creswell (25-20, 18-25, 24-26, 25-23,18-16).
In addition to her head coaching duties at Santiam Christian, McLain worked as an assistant coach with the Eagles for 10 years prior to taking over as the head coach. Moreover, she runs BOSS Volleyball Club, and coached the 18-1's team to a second-place finish in the region during the first year of existence while winning the Regional Championship in the second year of the club's existence.
On top of her coaching duties, McLain had worked with the Oregon Coaches Association for the previous 10 years as the 3A President, Representative, and Secretary. Moreover, she worked with the OSAA on the ranking committee.
