USC Upstate Athletics Hall of Fame member Kim Pitman returned to USC Upstate as assistant volleyball coach in the 2011 season. She enters the 2012 season for her second year as an assistant on the Division I level and her third overall, having served as head coach Jennifer Calloway's assistant in 2002.

Pitman enjoyed an illustrious career at Upstate and was inducted into the Upstate Athletics Hall of Fame in 2008. As a player, Pitman was recruited by Calloway and led the Spartans to two-straight NCAA Division II Tournament appearances in 2000 and 2001.

When Pitman finished her two-year career at Upstate in 2001, she was one of the top players in the history of the program. Ten years after ending her career, she remains one of the best ever in school history. She began her career in 2000 after transferring to Upstate from Southwestern Illinois College and had an instant impact for the then-Lady Rifles, helping lead the program to back-to-back NCAA Division II Tournament appearances in 2000 and 2001.

Pitman was a middle hitter and helped the program to an impressive 49-19 record in her two seasons on the Spartanburg campus. She was a two-time first team All-Peach Belt Conference selection and was named the league’s Player of the Year in 2001.

In 2001, Pitman helped lead the team to a second-place finish in the Peach Belt regular-season race and a 25-8 overall mark. Pitman turned in one of the best seasons in the history of the program during the season, finishing second in school history in single-season total kills (535, 115 sets), kills per set (4.65, 115 sets) and attack percentage (.408). In one match during the ’01 season against Eckard, she posted 29 kills, which is tied for the second-most kills in an individual match in program history.

 Pitman turned in a spectacular junior season in 2000, amassing 341 kills and 123 total blocks in her inaugural season with the program. It was her play, in part, that helped secure the program’s first-ever NCAA Tournament berth.

For her career, Pitman posted 875-career kills in just two seasons. The mark was only 33 kills short of being included on the school’s all-time career list. Pitman also holds the career school mark in attack percentage (.384), finished fourth in school history in kills-per-set (3.71), ninth in career points (679.0) and 10^th in career blocks (270, 236 career sets).

After finishing her career in 2001, she remained in Spartanburg as Calloway’s assistant coach in the fall of 2002 while finishing her bachelor’s degree in experimental psychology. She helped coach the squad to a 22-10 overall record and an appearance in the semifinals of the Peach Belt Conference Tournament.

She left Spartanburg in 2003 and began her coaching career on the high school level. She spent three years as an assistant coach at Collinsville High School in Illinois from 2003-06. She also coached the Southern Heat Volleyball Club 15-under squad and advanced to nationals in 2006. She left Collinsville in 2006 and moved to Arizona where she served as the assistant coach at Fountain Hills High School from 2006-08 and head coach Shadow Mountain High School from 2009-10, coaching the team to an appearance in the state tournament in 2010.

The Pitman File
HOMETOWN: Collinsville, Ill.

EDUCATIONAL BACKGROUND
2002             Bachelor of Science - Experimental Psychology (USC Upstate)

COLLEGIATE VOLLEYBALL COACHING EXPERIENCE
2002             Assistant Coach - USC Upstate
2011             Assistant Coach - USC Upstate

HIGH SCHOOL VOLLEYBALL COACHING EXPERIENCE
2003-06        Assistant Coach - Collinsville HS (Ill.)
2006-08        Assistant Coach - Fountain Hills HS (Ariz.)
2008-10        Head Coach - Shadow Mountain HS (Ariz.)