Fred Aubuchon will be entering his third season at the helm of the Ranger Volleyball Program. Coming off of a shortened season in the spring due to COVID-19 the program had another successful year posting an overall record of 9-6 and finishing tied for 5th overall in the Great American Conference.
In 2019 Aubuchon led the program to its best season since NWOSU joined the NCAA Division II level back in 2012. Posting program record marks in regular season wins (23), conference wins (12), conference finish (2nd) and taking the program to its best finish in the GAC Conference Tournament (final 4).
The program received its second consecutive Team Academic Award as they received the AVCA National Team Academic Award with a cumulative GPA of 3.620. Overall, Aubuchon is entering his 26th year as a collegiate head coach. He has totaled an overall record of 619-315, finishing third or higher in conference play 19 times, to go with eight National Tournament appearances and seven Conference Titles.
Prior to coaching at NWOSU, Aubuchon spent 10 years as the Head Coach for Kansas Wesleyan University, where he is the all-time wins leader (218). He led KWU to four conference titles and two trips to the NAIA National Tournament. He was also KCAC Coach of the year three times and Region Coach of the Year in 2011. In addition, his program received the AVCA Team Academic Award all 10 years during his tenure and he coached seven All-Americans and five KCAC Player of the Year honorees.
Aubuchon had previous stops at four-year programs Hastings (Neb.) and Peru State (Neb.), as well as five seasons at the junior college level at Owens Community college where he won two Ohio Community College Athletic Conference championships and reached the NJCAA D-III tournament five consecutive times.
Throughout his career, Aubuchon's teams have won seven regular season conference championships, earned eight national tournament appearances, he has had nineteen 20-win seasons, had 96 All-Conference players, 16 All-Americans, 9 Player of the Year winners and has been named Coach of the Year 16 times at either the conference, district or regional levels.
A native of Detroit, Michigan, Aubuchon has compiled a career mark of 467-239 at four-year institutions. He closed his NAIA career ranked No. 18 in wins among active coaches.
It isn't just the work on the court his players have been in which has proven to be successful in, but also in the classroom. Under his leadership, 19 times his team won National Team Academic Awards with the American Volleyball Coaches Association. Five student-athletes received College Sports Information Directors Association (CoSIDA) All-District awards and one was named CoSIDA Academic All-American.
Aubuchon graduated with a Bachelor of Applied Arts in Community Recreation from Central Michigan where he played men's volleyball, and earned his Master of Education degree from Toledo. Fred Aubuchon and his wife Sabrina live in Alva and their daughter Emmaly is a Therapist in Wichita, Kansas.
"In meeting with Dr. Cunningham and Mr. Franz this past week, I was able to see the real value of both Northwestern and the Alva community," mentioned Aubuchon. "I couldn't be more excited to be a part of NWOSU as we continue to grow in the NCAA, as well as in volleyball, and I'm anxious to begin working with the Ranger volleyball team."
