Throughout the fall semester, daemenwildcats.com will feature profiles on the "residents of #DCWildcatNation" to introduce you to the coaches, administrators and athletic trainers at Daemen College. These dedicated professionals work tirelessly behind the scenes to ensure Daemen's place as Western New York's Premier Division II Team. Today's featured staff member is Stephanie Albano, assistant athletics director for administration/head women's volleyball coach. 

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QUICK BIO
A rising star on the college volleyball landscape, Stephanie Albano was named the eighth head coach in the history of the Daemen women's volleyball program on May 5, 2016, and she enters her fifth season at the helm in 2020. Over her first four seasons, Albano has led Daemen to a 73-47 overall record, a pair of East Coast Conference regular season championships, two NCAA tournament berths and one conference tournament title. The two-time East Coast Conference Coach of the Year has guided the Wildcats to wins in a staggering 73 percent of their regular season conference matches, as well as a 61-26 record against NCAA Division II East Region opponents. 

A Lancaster, N.Y. native, Albano helped the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill to two Atlantic Coast Conference championships during her collegiate career there from 2005-09. The former Stephanie Jansma is a big name in local volleyball circles, and has been since her scholastic days which saw her lead Lancaster High School to the 2004 New York State Public High School Athletic Association Class AA championship while earning Gatorade New York State Player of the Year honors that season.

In addition to her volleyball coaching duties, Albano sits on the administrative leadership team for Daemen Athletics as the assistant athletics director for administration. She is responsible for a variety of administrative duties within the division of athletics, including oversight of the DC Will Lead Academy, a comprehensive leadership development program for student-athletes. 

Albano resides in Lancaster with her husband, Ricky, and their children, Mackenzie and Hudson. 

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QUESTION & ANSWER
Q: Where did you grow up? Did you stay in one place or move around a lot?
A: I grew up in Lancaster, N.Y. outside of Buffalo. We lived in same house since I was three years old.

Q; What is your fondest childhood memory?
A: Hanging out with all the neighborhood kids. We played kick the can, ghost in the graveyard, capture the flag and kickball all the time. 
 
Q: Who was your childhood idol and why?
A: I mean, I wanted to be a basketball player when I was younger. I loved Larry Bird. There wasn't really women's sports on TV. The WNBA didn't start until 1996. I love that you see women athletes now and young girls can look up to other females. After I realized volleyball might be my thing, I followed beach volleyball player Gabrielle Reece.
 

Q: What do you like to do in your free time? What are your hobbies and interests?
A: Volleyball, funny enough. I just love the game. Other than that I like to run, workout and meditate. Also, playing backyard games and board games is fun. Being with my family and watching my kids grow, learn, and develop.

 
Q: Where did you meet your husband? Do you have any children?
A: Ricky and I met at Hotshots in Rochester playing in a reverse co-ed volleyball tournament. He was living in Rochester at the time and I was in Buffalo. I bought a pair of Sabres tickets and asked him out on the first date. The rest is history. We have two children together, a daughter, Mackenzie who is five, and our son Hudson, who is three. 

 
 Q: What is your favorite season and why?
A: 100 percent fall. Volleyball season, cooler nights and pumpkin-flavored everything.

Q: What was your first job growing up?
A: I didn't have a job in high school as I was playing sports at all time. During my college years, I coached club volleyball for four years, gave private lessons, and worked lots of camps and clinics.

Q: When did you know you wanted to go into a career in collegiate athletics?
A: My senior year in high school I was asked a bunch of questions about the future and one was where do you see yourself in 10 years. My response: running my own volleyball facility. I've also known that I wanted to keep volleyball as a part of my life. As a kid I loved learning the game. I would take notes after practices and camps and designed my own drills. I spent a lot of my free time coaching travel teams during college. After I graduated, I moved back home to be a graduate assistant coach at Canisius College and got my first taste of coaching collegiality. I had a few assistant coaching job offers, however my now husband at the time had a teaching job. Coaching is a very unstable career path, so I worked in the business world for a few years at Ingram Micro and Fisher Price. When an opportunity to be an assistant coach opened up at UB, I couldn't turn it down as I knew that would be my last opportunity to get back into the collegiate game.
 
 Q: Who are the people you consider to be your greatest mentors?
A: Joe Sagula, my coach at Carolina. He is still always there if I need advice or want to run through a situation.

Q: What is the best advice you ever received and who did it come from?
A: There is always someone out there that is better than you, my dad would say. It helps keep me grounded, humble and motivated to work hard and continue to learn and grow in all aspects of my life.

Q: If you didn't work in collegiate athletics, what job do you think you'd have?
A: No idea!

Q: Besides Daemen, what are the teams or who are the athletes you root for most?
A: I'm a Tar Heel born, I'm a Tar Heel bred and when I die I'm a Tar Heel dead. Rah, Rah, Carolina-lina. And, the Bills make me wanna shout!

 
 Q: Where did you go on your most memorable vacation? What made it memorable?
A: Montego Bay, Jamaica for our honeymoon. We loved the all inclusive resort and relaxing on a beach all week.

Q: What is one place you haven't visited, but definitely plan to someday?
A: Definitely Hawaii. 

Q: If you could have dinner with any three people, living or deceased, who would they be and why?
A: I have five: Bri Erickson, Lauren Taylor, Christie Clark, Ashley McMullin, Kelly Davies. These are my "bff's" and teammates from college. We live all over North America. I would love to have dinner with them way more often, so given an opportunity to have dinner with anyone, I'd want to have dinner with my people.

 

Q: What is your biggest fear?
A: Not living up to the standard I have set for myself.

Q: If you were singing karaoke, what would be your go-to song?
A: Don't Stop Believing by Journey.

Q: Is there anything you would like to do or accomplish in your life that you haven't done yet?
A: Taking our team to the Elite 8 of the NCAA tournament. 

Q: If you were ever on Jeopardy, what is the interesting fact or experience about yourself that you'd choose to discuss with Alex Trebek?
A: My experience as a volleyball student-athlete at Carolina and being two-time ACC Champion and NCAA Tournament participant.
 

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Daemen College features the premier NCAA Division II athletics program in the Buffalo-Niagara region, sponsoring 17 intercollegiate teams. For the latest information on Daemen Athletics, follow the Wildcats via social media on Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and Instagram, or sign up to receive customizable news alerts, e-mail newsletters and weekly schedule alerts.