DeAnn Akins enters her first season at the helm of the Wartburg Volleyball program in 2025.
Akins comes to Wartburg from Coe College where she has led the program since 2006. The Kohawks have won five A-R-C regular season championships and three A-R-C tournament titles. They also have made four appearances in the NCAA tournament. She has 388 victories in her 19 seasons at the helm.
Akins has coached over 60 All-Conference performers, three offensive conference MVPs, and 12 All-Americans. She has received the A-R-C Coach of the Year honor five times. Coe earned an AVCA team academic award for the last 14 years.
Prior to Coe, Akins spent the 2005 season as the director of volleyball operations at the University of Iowa.
Prior to working at Iowa, Akins led Kirkwood Community College in Cedar Rapids to its first ever NJCAA Division II National Championship in 2003. Akins spent two seasons with the Eagles, won back-to-back conference and regional titles and was 81-25 overall. She was named NJCAA Division II District C Coach of the Year in both 2003 and 2004 and was the 2003 AVCA Midwest Region Coach of the Year.
Akins, a native of Waverly, Iowa, worked as an assistant coach at Wartburg College during the 2002 season. She helped lead the Knights to their first 30-win season, first Iowa Conference title and the program's highest ever ranking at No. 7.
As a collegiate student-athlete, Akins began her career at the University of South Dakota before transferring to Northern Iowa. She played on the 1997 Panther team, then served as a student/volunteer assistant for four seasons. During that time, UNI won four consecutive Missouri Valley Conference titles and made four NCAA National Tournament appearances.
She earned her bachelor's degree from UNI in 2000 and her master's from California University of Pennsylvania in 2007.
Akins Year by Year
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| Year |
Institution |
Overall Record |
Post-Season |
| 2003 |
Kirkwood College |
35-11 |
NJCAA Division II National Championship, Regional, Conference Champions |
| 2004 |
Kirkwood College |
33-11 |
Regional, Conference Champions |
| Totals at Kirwood |
2 seasons |
68-22 |
|
| 2006 |
Coe College |
26-8 |
NCAA Tournament, First-round |
| 2007 |
Coe College |
20-12 |
Conference Tournament |
| 2008 |
Coe College |
4-30 |
|
| 2009 |
Coe College |
9-25 |
|
| 2010 |
Coe College |
19-14 |
|
| 2011 |
Coe College |
31-5 |
|
| 2012 |
Coe College |
20-13 |
Conference Tournament |
| 2013 |
Coe College |
33-7 |
Conference Tournament |
| 2014 |
Coe College |
29-10 |
NCAA Tournament, Second-round |
| 2015 |
Coe College |
23-13 |
Conference Tournament |
| 2016 |
Coe College |
23-11 |
Conference Tournament |
| 2017 |
Coe College |
14-16 |
Conference Tournament |
| 2018 |
Coe College |
20-11 |
Conference Tournament |
| 2019 |
Coe College |
15-18 |
Conference Tournament |
| 2020 (spring 2021) |
Coe College |
7-1 |
No tournament |
| 2021 |
Coe College |
24-8 |
Conference Tournament |
| 2022 |
Coe College |
27-6 |
NCAA Tournament, First-round |
| 2023 |
Coe College |
21-12 |
NCAA Tournament, First-round |
| 2024 |
Coe College |
23-8 |
Conference Tournament |
| Totals at Coe |
19 seasons |
388-224 |
|
| Career Totals |
21 seasons |
456-246 |
|
