Meeting the approval of the Barton Community College Board of Trustees on Tuesday evening, Phil Shoemaker will be taking over the Barton volleyball program as the Lady Cougars’ head coach for the 2013 season.
Shoemaker, a 33-year veteran of collegiate coaching, comes to Barton from the University of Alaska-Fairbanks and replaces former head coach Andrea Rasmussen.
In 13 years with the Alaska-Fairbanks Nanooks, Shoemaker’s squads compiled a 132-180 record competing in the Great Northwest Athletic Conference at the NCAA Division II level. He leaves the Nanooks program as the winningest coach in history and earned the American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA) team academic awards for having a plus 3.3 grade point average for three consecutive years from 2007-09.
Prior to moving to Fairbanks, Shoemaker coached at Wichita State University from 1983-1999 winning 243 matches to become the second winningest coach in Shocker history.  During his tenure, Shoemaker was the first coach to lead the Shockers to four consecutive berths in the conference tournament and the first to lead them to five straight winning seasons.  Earning the conference coach of the year in 1991, Shoemaker’s run until his departure in 1999 included three 20-win seasons, two 19-win seasons, and six conference tournament appearances. In addition to the success on the court, Shoemaker’s teams also earned four AVCA team academic awards including a Division I best 3.55 grade point average in 1999.
Shoemaker’s head coaching career began in hometown of Independence, Missouri, serving as head coach and Volleyball Commissioner at the Blue Valley Activity Center.   His teams achieved a championship and eight top-five finishes in Amateur Athletic Union and USA Volleyball Junior Olympic National Championship Tournaments.
A graduate of the Missouri, Shoemaker began his collegiate coaching career at his alma mater in 1980 as an assistant for the Tigers.  During his three seasons, Shoemaker helped lead the Tigers to a 26-6 record and their first national ranking.
Through the years, more than twenty of his players earned All-American honors, and many, many more have earned All-Conference athletic and academic recognition.
In addition to coaching, Shoemaker has served the GNAC representative to the AVCA DII National Head Coaches Committee, and is a member of the USA Volleyball Coaching Accreditation Program Cadre. He has previously participated on numerous AVCA and NCAA committees, and, has served a coach and administrator for the USVBA Junior National Development Program, served as coordinator for the Mid-America Junior National Team, and was Assistant Director for the USVBA National Development Camps.
Shoemaker competed on collegiate and open teams for 20-plus years, including 10 national championship tournaments.
Shoemaker played college volleyball at both Graceland College and the University of Missouri as an undergraduate, and at Western Illinois while in graduate school. Shoemaker earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Recreation and Park Administration from the University of Missouri in 1975, and a Master of Science degree at Western Illinois University in the same field in 1982.
Shoemaker and his wife Dianne have a son Tanner.