Diane Seymour Position: Head Coach Experience: 6th year Alma Mater: UT Arlington, 1989

Diane Seymour File

Diane Seymour completed her sixth season as head coach of the UT Arlington volleyball program in 2009. Seymour is no stranger to the Mavericks program after coming to UT Arlington in 1984 as a student-athlete and later spending eight years (1996-2003) as the assistant coach.

Overall, Seymour has spent 19 seasons with the UTA program, helping lead them to 387 victories, seven Southland Conference championships, six NCAA Tournament appearances and to a No. 7 national ranking at the end of the 1988 season.

In six seasons as head coach, Seymour owns a 93-89 overall record (.511), which includes two second-place finishes and one third-place finish in the Southland Conference regular season. In addition, Seymour led UT Arlington to a runner-up finish at the 2006 SLC Tournament. Since 2004, she has mentored 14 All-Southland Conference picks, including three in 2007, a pair in 2009 and Amanda Aguilera in 2008, who became the sixth UTA freshman to earn first team All-SLC and the first since 1990.

Averaging 16 wins per season as head coach, Seymour has directed UT Arlington towards three double-figure win totals in SLC play. Her squads have totaled a 54-48 conference record in six seasons. She notched her 50th career SLC victory in 2009 during a three-set sweep at Texas Hall over Southeastern Louisiana (10/22/09).

Seymour returned to her alma mater in 1996 as an assistant coach on Janine Smith's staff. In her eight years as an assistant, the team captured two regular season championships, two SLC Tournament titles and made two trips to the NCAA Tournament while never finishing lower than fourth in the conference.

Just three weeks prior to the start of two-a-days in 2004, Seymour was named the interim head coach. With a young squad featuring six freshman and just two seniors, the Diane Seymour era began with a thrilling five-set victory over Baylor. The Mavericks trailed 13-9 in the deciding set but climbed back to defeat the Bears for the first time since 1990 (23-30, 31-29, 23-30, 30-28, 17-15).

The season-opening victory was only the beginning as the Mavericks rattled off 13 victories during their first 15 matches. The 2004 squad ended the season with an overall record of 24-7 and a 15-5 mark in conference play, finishing in third place. The 15 conference victories marked just the fourth time a UT Arlington team had won at least 15 conference matches. On the way, the team won tournament titles at the Western New York Invite and the UTA Invitational.

After the successful year in an interim role, director of athletics Pete Carlon named Seymour the sixth head coach in UT Arlington history on Nov. 22, 2004.

In 2005, numerous injuries and tough breaks contributed to a 6-21 record.

Seymour returned the Mavericks to the top of the SLC in 2006, guiding the team to a 25-10 record, including a second-place conference finish with a 12-4 mark. The team carried on the tireless work ethic of their head coach as they went 7-1 in five-set matches, including coming back from 0-2 set deficits to defeat TCU and Sam Houston State.

The past four seasons combined UT Arlington is 17-6 in five-set matches and has tallied a 21-11 record in five-set matches in Seymour's head coaching tenure.

After finishing second in the regular season in 2006, the Mavs advanced to their 15th SLC Tournament championship match in 25 years as they were runner-up to Stephen F. Austin in San Antonio, Texas.

Defense has always been the forté of Seymour and 2006 was no different as the Mavs set a new SLC record with 2,887 digs. The digs total is also the second-highest mark in the NCAA since the 2001 season. Individually, libero Ashley Smith re-wrote the UT Arlington and SLC record books with 863 digs, the second highest single-season digs total in NCAA history.

A loaded non-conference portion of the Mavs' schedule in 2007 led to continued success in the Southland Conference. Seymour's team posted a pair of five-match win streaks and had a period where they collected victories in eight of nine matches during a 30 day span (Sept. 15-Oct. 13). UTA finished the season winning six of eight conference matches, tallied the fourth-highest winning percentage among the 12-team Southland, and led the league averaging 18.88 digs per set - ranking 32nd in the nation.

The 2008 Mavericks featured 11 underclassmen, including eight freshmen. The Mavericks finished 7-23, despite beginning the season with two wins at the Mean Green Classic in Denton, and picking up a win over Utah State at the San Francisco tournament. UT Arlington earned conference victories over SLC Eastern division champion Central Arkansas and McNeese State, who finished third in the East.

UT Arlington's youth showed promise ranking second in the conference in blocks per set (2.07) and finishing fourth in the league in digs per set during league play (15.49). Setter Raegan Daniel led the team and tied for fifth in the conference with 11 double-doubles during the season and outside hitter Amanda Aguilera led all conference players with 10 double-doubles during conference competition.

Aguilera also led the conference averaging 3.68 kills per set in SLC play, while middle blocker Christy Driscoll tied for the league lead in blocks per set (1.11) in conference play.

Seymour's 2009 squad finished 12-17 overall with an 8-8 record in the SLC, placing the Mavs in sixth place in the SLC (fourth in the West). The Mavs grabbed the No. 5 seed at the SLC Tournament where they lost to No. 4 seed Lamar in four sets in San Antonio. UTA had a turnaround season with five more victories in SLC play from the previous season.

UTA continued its dominance at the net leading the SLC in blocks (2.45 dps) during league play. Emily Shearin was the conference blocks leader averaging 1.25 blocks per set in SLC play.

The Mavericks had nine matches with at least 10.0 team blocks, which led to a 9-0 record. Racking up the blocks and winning went hand-in-hand as Seymour saw her team hold eight opponents below a .100 hitting percentage, which is the most during her head coaching tenure.

The Mavericks were once again strong on their home court with a 9-4 record (7-1 in SLC) at Texas Hall in 2009. Under Seymour, the Mavs are 48-28 (.632) at Texas Hall with an impressive 36-14 (.720) home record in SLC matches. In fact, four of Seymour's six seasons as head coach the Mavericks have lost only once at Texas Hall during SLC play.

The 2009 season proved to be a historic season, as two school records were set. The Mavericks recorded only one attack error in a three-set sweep over Northwestern State (10/14/09) at Texas Hall. The Mavericks .507 hitting percentage (38 kills - 1 error - 73 attempts) ranks second in school history, but one attack error is the lowest total in school history and is also an SLC record.

It was the only one-attack error match in the NCAA in 2009 and is only the fourth time in NCAA history that a team produced just one attack error. The last time an NCAA D-I team had one attack error was on Nov. 3, 1999, when Fairfield had 40 kills, 1 error and 55 attacks against Iona. The previous school record was three attack errors by the 1985 Mavericks in a three-set win over North Texas (9/25/85) - which was Seymour's freshman season as a student-athlete at UTA.

The second school record that fell in 2009 was when UTA and Texas State combined for 80 points in the second set with the Bobcats winning the frame, 41-39. The previous school record was 72 combined points in a set between UTA and Sam Houston State in Huntsville (10/5/04) when the Bearkats won the set 37-35. The SLC record for points in a set is 82.

The Mavericks' 2009 slate was loaded with five opponents reaching the NCAA Tournament (Ohio State, Colorado State, TCU, Oklahoma, Texas State) and nine teams finishing the regular season with at least 20 victories. UTA defeated three teams that won 20 games, including Georgia Southern (21-10), Arkansas State (22-11) and Sam Houston State (20-14). The Mavs' schedule featured eight teams that were in the top 130 in the final RPI rankings.

As a student-athlete, Seymour came to UT Arlington in 1984, but missed all of the season after undergoing knee surgery. She worked her way into the lineup in 1985 and contributed 18 kills, 24 digs, and 12 service aces in 24 matches as the team went on to go 28-4 to make the school's first appearance in the NCAA Tournament.

The team was not satisfied with just making the tournament in 1986 as they went 29-10, capturing its second straight conference championship and advanced to the NCAA Regional Semifinals. UT Arlington hosted Texas State in an opening-round match and defeated the Bobcats in four sets before falling in three sets to LSU. Seymour would collect 44 service aces on the season, including a school-record eight against Oklahoma on Oct. 15, 1986.

Coming off her second knee surgery, Seymour collected 21 service aces and 110 digs in helping her team to a 32-7 record and their third-straight conference title in 1987. The 32 victories are the most by any UT Arlington squad since NCAA play began in 1982. The team would knock off Arizona State in an opening round match before falling to Kentucky in the regional semifinals.

Seymour captained the 1988 squad to 30-4 record and a No. 7 ranking in the final AVCA poll. The team earned tournament wins over Pepperdine and Kentucky before being eliminated by eventual national champion Texas. Seymour finished her playing career with 48 kills, 95 service aces and 433 digs in 119 matches and 313 sets. Including her redshirt season, the Mavs went 140-41 during her playing tenure.

Seymour came to Arlington after earning all-state honors at Arlington High School in 1983. She began her career at Arlington Bowie High School, playing for her college coach Lisa Love. Seymour earned a bachelor's degree from UT Arlington in 1989. After her playing career ended, Seymour worked closely with several of the top club teams in Texas and is currently the director of the North Dallas Junior Volleyball Association.