A coach who helped lead multiple programs to NCAA championships is coming home to Western New York.
Daemen announced Tuesday that it hired Sean Byron to be the school’s new men’s volleyball head coach.
Byron, who grew up near the Daemen campus, has more than 30 years coaching experience and was inducted into the Western New York Boys’ and Men’s Volleyball Hall of Fame.
The Hall of Famer most recently served as an assistant coach at his alma matar Springfield that won the NCAA Division III championship earlier this year. Byron also as assistant coach at Ohio State helped guide the Buckeyes to four consecutive MIVA titles and the 2011 NCAA championship.
This will be Byron’s fourth head coaching position in college men’s volleyball.
Byron served as the Springfield head coach from 1996 to 1998 and helped the program win the inaugural Molten Division III national championship. In addition, he was the head coach at two more former EIVA schools – Rutgers-Newark and East Stroudsburg.
Along with his men’s volleyball experience, Byron spent more than a decade in college women’s volleyball. Bryon was an assistant coach at both Michigan and West Virginia and was named the Marist head coach in 2019.
“I am incredibly excited to take over the men’s volleyball program at Daemen. This position is a wonderful opportunity to return to Western New York,” Byron said in a statement. “Having grown up in the area and recently being inducted into the Western New York Volleyball Hall of Fame, this feels like a true homecoming. I was deeply impressed by the vision of the athletic department and the commitment to student-athlete success. I look forward to working with our talented student-athletes and competing for championships in the years to come.”
Daemen has won two NEC championships in the last three years and in 2025 became the first NEC team to earn a berth to the NCAA Tournament. The Wildcats finished last season tied for fourth place in the NEC and missed the conference tournament.
