Dan Gwitt wants to continue the volleyball team's tradition

Towards the end of the 2023 volleyball season, University of Miami head coach Carolyn Condit announced her retirement after 40 years with the program. With accomplishments like hers, including her 682-549 record at Miami, the stakes are high for Condit's successor and the future of the program.

Fortunately, Penn State assistant coach and former volleyball player Dan Gwitt is up to the task.

Gwitt, who was announced as the new head coach of Miami's volleyball department, never played volleyball until high school. Although he played almost every other sport growing up, he found learning volleyball to be a welcome challenge in late adolescence.

“I was pretty good at most sports,” Gwitt said. “Volleyball was born after that, and it’s a very difficult sport to learn, especially after the fact. I think that’s what attracted me to it. There were so many challenges, but I quickly learned how to get better at it. I felt it.”

Gwitt piqued the interest of Penn State, which recruited him despite being late to the sport. Nittany's Lions were dominant in his early 2000s, winning the Eastern Collegiate Volleyball Association Conference Tournament and appearing in the NCAA Tournament every year in the 2000s.

Although he didn't play as well as he expected, Gwitt credits his experience at Penn State with inspiring him to pursue a coaching job after graduation.

“My Penn State career definitely had its ups and downs,” Gwitt said. “I didn't play as much as I wanted when I went there, but I think that was part of my journey, and I'm older and have been coaching for a long time, so that helps. Ta.”

After four years as a collegiate athlete, Gwitt set his sights on a coaching career. He enrolled at Centenary University in Louisiana and became interim head coach in 2007, becoming the nation's youngest Division I head coach.

After leaving college coaching to coach club volleyball, Gwitt returned as an assistant coach at Indiana University, where she met future Miami women's basketball head coach Glenn Box.

“We ran into each other on our second or third day on the job,” Gwit said. “When I was there, they were building that program into a strong organization. So I was excited to see him here because I knew he knew what he was doing. I was excited about it.”

In 2022, Gwitt returned to his alma mater as an assistant coach. While at Penn State, Gwitt helped the program with back-to-back successful seasons. After a successful 2023 season, Penn State posted a 23-9 record, won the conference tournament, and made it to the NCAA Tournament in the Sweet Sixteen.

Gwitt spent two seasons at his alma mater before being contacted by Miami associate athletic director Jenny Gilbert.

“We talked for about 45 minutes straight and I could tell she was excited,” Gwit said. “I was excited to talk to an administrator who knows this sport so well…I knew there was something special in this sport. Unless this is a great place, a coach who's been around for 40 years. does not exist.”

For juniors Outside hitter Ellie Hanson, Condit's legacy will remain with the team even as Gwitt joins the program.

“It's very hard to underestimate how influential she is, not just as a volleyball coach, but as a human being and as a woman in sports,” Hanson said. “…I think so many women today look up to her so much and respect her so much, and that's never going to stop.”

Senior Margo Lawson said she and the rest of the team were impressed by Gwit's support of the program and commitment to continuing Condit's ideals of treating the team as people first.

“The moment he met us, you could tell he was very confident in himself,” Lawson said. “You can tell he really cares about not only athletes, but people as well.”

With Gwitt at the helm and with his recruiting expertise, the future of the volleyball program is secure. In the offseason, Gwitt will work to build trust and team cohesion for next year's offense.

“I'm very competitive,” Gwit said. “I want to win and I want to win the right way. I want to make this program a contender every year to win a conference title and inevitably win a conference title if not every year. I don’t think it will take long to get a lot of them.”

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