University of North Texas Athletics
Women's Volleyball
- Title:
- Associate Head Coach
- Email:
- carrie.gurnell@unt.edu
- Phone:
- 940-565-3610
Katy, TX
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Carrie Gurnell was promoted to Associate Head Coach after serving as an assistant for two years under Palileo at North Texas. In her time as an assistant, the Mean Green have amassed a 36-28 record and an impressive 21-7 record in Conference USA play.Â
Gurnell comes to Denton from Gardner-Webb University, where she spent two years as an assistant coach. She primarily works with defense and North Texas’ middle blockers, although her success as an outside hitter at Purdue lends her to help different positions around the floor.
Gurnell brings a wealth of coaching experience at the camp and club level, including eight years in the junior club circuit and two years coaching young children in the Austrian public school system with VC Tirol. She has participated, trained and coached in the USA Volleyball system, including stints as a player in both the USA A-2 Youth and the Junior National teams.
In her collegiate playing career, Gurnell starred for Purdue from 2006 to 2009. She totaled more than 1,000 kills as an outside hitter for the Boilermakers while earning a spot on four all-tournament teams during her senior season. The four-year starter appeared in 127 matches during her career at Purdue and posted at least 10 kills in 50 contests - including 24 as a senior. Gurnell also showcased a great work ethic upon arrival at Purdue, earning the 2006 Most Improved Freshman on her squad. In her senior season, she posted a team-high 3.17 kills per game for the Boilermakers.
A native of Katy, Texas, Gurnell was a two-time all-state honoree at Cinco Ranch High School and was ranked as the No. 11 recruit in the nation by prepvolleyball.com prior to her commitment to Purdue. She was also listed among Volleyball Magazine’s Fab 50 players.
Following her collegiate career, Gurnell played three professional seasons for Volleyball Club Tirol in Innsbruck, Austria as a middle blocker. During her stint with VC Tirol, Gurnell helped the team to back-to-back second-place finishes in the Bundesliga Damen regular season standings.
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