Madison Lilley helped coach Craig Skinner and UK win a national title. Now she's back on his coaching staff. (UK Athletics Photo)
As soon as Madison Lilley arrived on the Kentucky campus, she made it clear that UK would win a volleyball national championship — something no Southeastern Conference team had ever done.
She was right, too, as Kentucky won the COVID 2020 national title and Lilley not only was the first volleyball player to ever be named SEC Athlete of the Year but was also the American Volleyball Coaches Association Player of the Year and the national player of the year when she averaged 12.37 assists per set.
Florida, not Kentucky, was the team to beat in the SEC when Lilley arrived on campus. Now coach Craig Skinner’s team has won outright or shared six straight SEC titles since Lilley’s arrival on campus.
She’s been playing professionally overseas the last two years since graduating from UK in 2021 but is back in Lexington now as an assistant on coach Craig Skinner’s staff. The new assistant coach wants Kentucky’s SEC dominance to continue.
“I think it is the same, if not more,” Lilley said Thursday when asked about her motivation to continue UK’s SEC streak. “To be able to establish that type of tradition and hunger, I see this team wants to carry that on as much as I want.
“That is the type of culture and tradition that even those who came before me tried to instill. We are all hungry for that.”
Lilley said that’s why she was “busting” her butt at practice even during UK’s national title season to build that tradition.
“We recruit amazing competitors who are all very like-minded,” Lilley said.
One Response
AWESOME!!!! Great staff adition!!!!