Rutgers-Newark Athletics

Karl France was named the head men’s volleyball coach/coordinator of volleyball operations at Rutgers-Newark in June 2007.

The Brooklyn native knows the Rutgers-Newark program and its EIVA competitors well, having served as the assistant men’s volleyball coach at nearby New York University for the past five seasons.

France is the school’s first coordinator of volleyball, serving as the Scarlet Raider men’s head coach while overseeing the NCAA Division III women’s program which competes in the New Jersey Athletic Conference.

At NYU, France assisted Jose Pina, helping the Violets to two NCAA appearances. The 2004 team went a perfect 12-0 in the EIVA Hay and achieved a #2 national ranking.

Prior to his stint in Manhattan, France was the men’s and women’s head volleyball coach at the College of Mount St. Vincent from 1998 to 2002. He posted an overall record of 76-46 with the men’s program, being named the North East Collegiate Volleyball Association Coach of the Year in 2000. He guided his men to three Metro East first-place finishes and three NECVA playoff appearances, earning a conference runner-up finish in 2002.

On the women’s side of the ledger at Mount St. Vincent, he was voted the Skyline Conference Co-Volleyball Coach of the Year in 2002 as well as the Hudson Valley Women’s Athletic Conference South Coach of the Year in 2000 and 2001. Mount St. Vincent won three HVWAC tournament titles and claimed three Skyline Tournament berths in his three seasons at the helm.

France was the head coach of the New York City Men’s Open volleyball squad in the 2005 Empire State Games as well as the NYC’s Scholastic Women’s team mentor from 2002 through 2004. He coached volleyball, basketball, softball and swimming at the Marymount School in Manhattan before landing the dual job at Mount St. Vincent.

In his fourth year of working with USA Volleyball, he will help coach the USA Youth A2 team during summer training and competition in Florida.

Still active as a USA Volleyball player, France played three seasons of club volleyball at Bowling Green University before earning his bachelor’s degree in communications in 1991. He participated in swimming and soccer at Brooklyn Tech High School.

He served as an on-air analyst for CSTV during the broadcast of the 2005 EIVA Championship match.

Rutgers-Newark is the only NCAA program in the nation which sponsors a Division I men’s volleyball program while participating on the Division III level in its other nine varsity programs. The men’s program made five NCAA Final Four appearances between 1977 and 1990 while the women’s volleyball program has claimed five New Jersey Athletic Conference crowns.

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