Niatha Cullen - Women's Volleyball Coach

Niatha Cullen

Title:
Assistant Coach
Email:
niatha.cullen@ttu.edu
Phone:
(806) 368-2670

Niatha Cullen joined the Texas Tech volleyball coaching staff on Jan. 8, 2021.

In 2022, Cullen helped lead the Red Raiders to a 16-win season, highlighted by sweeps against Kansas State on Sept. 28 and Kansas on Nov. 25. Texas Tech also started the year out to an undefeated 8-0, which was the best start to a season since 2014. On Oct. 2, the Red Raider volleyball team set a program record in attendance against Texas when 6,037 fans showed up to the match, making it the largest crowd in the Big 12 all year.

Cullen helped coach two All-Big 12 honorees in Kenna Sauer (First Team) and Brooke Kanas (Second Team), while Sauer also earned her second AVCA All-Region accolade. Graduate senior KJ Adams also notched her second-consecutive CoSIDA Academic All-America honor and 10 Red Raiders were named to the Academic All-Big 12 team.

Cullen helped the Red Raiders to one of their most successful seasons after the team earned its first NCAA post-season bid since 2001 after going 17-12 in the regular season with an RPI of 38, also guiding Tech to its first top-10 win since 1996 when the Red Raiders reverse swept No. 9 Baylor in Waco on Oct. 1, 2021.

She aided multiple Red Raiders to conference and national accolades in 2021, highlighted by outside hitter Kenna Sauer, who earned AVCA Southwest All-Region and All-Big 12 First Team honors. KJ Adams garnered CoSIDA Academic All-America honors, making her the seventh Academic All-American in program history, while Karrington Jones was also named to the All-Big 12 Second Team for the first time in her career.

As a team, the 2021 Red Raiders led the Big 12 in total kills (1,456), total digs (1,701) and total assists (1,307) while finishing second in total blocks (279), third in hitting percentage (.225) and third in digs per set (14.66). The Red Raiders 279 blocks were the most by the program since 2011.

Cullen joins the Red Raider staff after stops at Stetson, the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) and Bradley. She has spent time as both an indoor and beach volleyball coach in her career.

Cullen most recently served as an assistant coach at Bradley for the 2019 season after four years as a beach volleyball assistant at UAB. While in Birmingham, Cullen served as a freshman leadership mentor to student-athletes from various sports and acted as an academic liaison where she helped the Blazers to a 2019 AVCA Team Academic Award.

Prior to her time at UAB, Cullen was a graduate assistant for the indoor and beach volleyball programs at Stetson, while earning her master’s degree in clinical mental health counseling. During her time in central Florida, she helped the Hatters to three ASUN beach conference championships and NCAA beach national championship tournament appearances in 2015 and 2017.

Cullen graduated from Jacksonville University in 2014 with a master’s degree in kinesiology and a minor in coaching and was a member of both the indoor (2010-12) and beach (2011-14) teams.

Coaching Accomplishments
Texas Tech
Guided Texas Tech to its first NCAA Tournament in 20 years in 2021 with a 17-13 record
Set program record attendance against Texas on Oct. 2, 2022 with 6,037 fans at the match