Arizona volleyball head coach Rita Stubbs extended through 2030
· Yahoo Sports
Arizona volleyball head coach Rita Stubbs likes to put her goals on paper every year. Heading into the 2025-26 year, she was striving for three things.
Her first target was to get to the NCAA Tournament, which she accomplished last December. She wanted to help guide her son through the NCAA basketball recruiting process. He announced his commitment to former Wildcat Mike Bibby at Sacramento State earlier this week. The third was to get a contract extension. That was announced today.
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𝑬𝑿𝑻𝑬𝑵𝑫𝑬𝑫 ✍️
— Arizona Volleyball (@ArizonaVBall) March 11, 2026
Our leader has signed a contract extension through 2030! pic.twitter.com/xxO85EN9h7
“We are pleased to extend Coach Stubbs and recognize the positive trajectory of Arizona Volleyball under her leadership,” Arizona Athletic Director Desiree Reed-Francois stated in the press release. “The program continues to grow and compete for NCAA Tournament opportunities while supporting student-athlete development in the classroom and the community. We appreciate Coach Stubbs’ investment in Arizona Athletics and the Tucson community and look forward to the program’s continued success.”
Stubbs is set to lead the program through 2030 under the new deal. Her original deal was signed in January 2023 and ran for five years, so the new contract extends her for three years beyond that commitment.
Although her first year was a struggle, the program has improved each season since that. That has caught the notice of people around volleyball, including new assistant coach RyanAmmerman.
Ammerman said he came to Arizona after three years at Maryland precisely because Stubbs had gone through the fire. It’s something he wants to be exposed to as he works towards becoming a head coach.
“When this opportunity came up, the big thing that stood out to me was that Rita had failed before, and she was starting to have success after the failure,” Ammerman said. “So she was at NC State, and then her first year here, the season wasn’t great, and then they’ve had two really good years after that. And I think that is such a important thing to learn how to lead through those hard times, because it’s going to happen to every coach.”
To that point, Stubbs’ first run as a head coach at NC State ended with a 22-111 record. She said she wasn’t true to herself and wasn’t ready to be the one who takes the blame when things go wrong as opposed to being the assistant coach who was loved.
“Everyone hates the head coach,” she once joked.
When former Arizona head coach Dave Rubio had an opening on his staff, he brought her back to Arizona. She characterizes it as Rubio saving her for the second time in her life. He then set her up to be his successor when he retired after the 2022 season.
Her first year was bumpy. Arizona went 8-23 overall and won just three conference games in its final Pac-12 year despite having an abundance of talented pins in Sofia Maldonado Diaz, Jaelyn Hodge, and Jordan Wilson.
In 2024, the Wildcats took a step forward despite losing Maldonado Diaz to transfer. A group of freshmen led by Carlie Cisneros joined forces with Hodge and Wilson to go 24-9 and finish 9-9 in their first season in the Big 12. They both started and ended the season on 11-0 winning streaks.
Still, there was bitter disappointment. Despite significant wins in the Big 12, the NCAA selection committee did not like the Wildcats’ strength of schedule. They didn’t go to the tournament.
That disappointment was wiped away in 2025. Stubbs put together a more challenging schedule, which included a trip to play the No. 1 Nebraska Cornhuskers in Lincoln. While their win total went down, the Wildcats’ heard their names called on selection day this time. Not only did they go to the tournament for the first time since 2018, but they won a match for the first time since 2014 and took a set off the hosting Stanford Cardinal in the second round.
Stubbs was a middle blocker for Arizona from 1992-1994. She then went on to coach as an assistant under Rubio for a total of 19 years over two tenures before taking the helm three years ago. She helped coach the program to 15 NCAA Tournament appearances over those 22 years. She also helped develop 10 All-Americans.
“I am excited for the future of Arizona Volleyball and look forward to continuing to push the limits of our program,” Stubbs said.