Kindra Gillen enters her third season with the Bulldogs in 2024 after two years at Notre Dame, where she served as an assistant while Head Coach Katie Wilson was associate head coach for the Fighting Irish. Gillen helped lead the Irish to the NCAA Tournament in 2020, reaching the Round of 32.
Prior to her time in South Bend, Gillen spent a season as an assistant coach at the University of Wyoming, where she helped the Cowgirls earn their second consecutive postseason berth for the first time since 1990 and their first 20-win season since 2015. The Eaton, Colo. native also served as an assistant for Liberty University and Nicholls State to begin her collegiate coaching career.
Like Wilson, Gillen has spent plenty of time in the state of Washington, earning All-American and All-Pacific Region honors in her final two seasons as an opposite side hitter at University of Washington, where she graduated with a BA in comparative history of ideas in 2011.
In her senior year in Seattle, Gillen racked up a career-best 471 kills to lead the Huskies, averaging 4.17 per set to rank fifth in the Pac-10 and 26th in the NCAA. Her name is all over the UW record book, ranking ninth in single season points (553), fifth in career points (1,470), seventh in career points per set (4.22), 10th in career kills (1,251) and ninth in career kills per set (3.59). In all four of Gillen's years at UW, the Huskies reached the NCAA Tournament, culminating in an Elite Eight appearance her senior year.
After her collegiate career, Gillen played professionally in Puerto Rico, France, Greece and Germany. She trained with the U.S. National Team in 2011 and 2013 before serving as head coach of the T-Street Volleyball Club, leading an under-16 team to a bronze division first-place finish in 2011 and an under-15 team to a bronze division third-place finish in 2013.
Joining Gillen in Spokane are her husband Brett and sons Cody, Clayton, and Cooper.
