Women's National Team Assistant Coach
Erin Virtue joined the U.S. Women’s National Volleyball Team as a consultant coach in 2017 and moved into a full-time role with USA Volleyball in fall of 2018. Since 2023, she’s also been the head coach of the University of Michigan women’s volleyball program.
Since joining the national team staff, Virtue has played an instrumental role for the U.S. Women to consistently reach podium finishes. The U.S. won consecutive FIVB Volleyball Nations League titles in 2018 and 2019, and won gold at the 2020 Olympic Games.
Among her major responsibilities, Virtue is the team’s offensive coordinator and setter coach.
Virtue arrived on the U.S. Women’s National Team staff while also holding the women’s associate head coach position at Northwestern University. She left Northwestern following the 2018 collegiate season when she started a split role with the USA Volleyball National Team Development Program before moving into the national team coaching staff full time.
Virtue is no stranger to the USA gym as a player and coach within USA Volleyball’s High Performance pipeline. She served as head coach of the U.S. Girls Youth National Team that captured silver at the 2016 NORCECA Women’s U18 Continental Championship and qualifying Team USA to this year’s FIVB Women’s U18 World Championship.
As part of her previous work within USA Volleyball’s National Team Development Program, she observed the coaching methods employed by Karch Kiraly with the U.S. Women’s National Team and implemented the same fundamentals within the youth program she led. In total, Virtue has spent 11 seasons coaching in the U.S. pipeline, mentoring athletes in the select (U16), youth (U18) and junior (U20) age groups.
She served as an assistant coach at University of Michigan for five years before arriving at Northwestern. She helped the Wolverines reach the national semifinals in 2012 in her first season, along with playing a large role in Michigan having the 12th best recruiting class as ranked by PrepVolleyball.com the same year.
Virtue has been recognized nationally for her coaching ability. She is one of only three coaches to earn the AVCA’s “30 Under 30” award three times, which is presented annually to honor up-and-coming coaches at all levels.
Prior to Northwestern, Virtues served four years as an assistant coach at University of Cincinnati and helped the program to a 101-36 record during her tenure. She began her coaching career in 2006 at Loyola University Chicago where she handled recruiting and worked with the setters.
Virtue, who was an AVCA Honorable Mention All-American setter while playing for University of Illinois from 2001-2005, was on the U.S. Women’s National A2 Team in 2004 and trained with the U.S. Women’s National Team until moving into the coaching realm in 2006.