Birmingham, Ala. – SBU head women's volleyball coach, James Hanger, was a member of the 2011 Samford Volleyball team recently inducted into the Samford Athletics Hall of Fame. This induction came on April 25^th where the team was honored for their record-breaking season.
 
The 2011 Samford women's volleyball team had a school record 29 wins including the programs' first Southern Conference Tournament Championship and earned the first NCAA tournament bid. Hanger was an assistant coach for the Samford Bulldogs from 2010 to 2013. Coach Hanger had this to say about the experience:
 
"This team was a determined group of young ladies, all driven to excel, and we enjoyed our time together. It's hard to summarize how special this team was. They sacrificed personal goals for the good of the team. They fought through injury and exhaustion for each other. The coaches wanted nothing more than to see their hard work pay off. Even in our losses this team was competing for more than just a win. We did it for each other, and we all had an important part to play.  I remember something funny the team would do on the sidelines based on "greater than and less than" symbols in math. It started out as a joke and turned into an important core value of the team. The team was greater than each of us. This core value we lived out each day and it really mattered to all of us." – Hanger said
 
Coach Hanger will be heading into his 7^th season at the helm of the Bearcat women's volleyball team and posts the third best winning percentage in program history.