In 2025, Steve Aird led Indiana to its first NCAA tournament since 2010 and even appeared in the Sweet 16. With first and second round wins right in his backyard at Wilkinson Hall in Bloomington, Aird and his Hoosiers defeated both Toledo and Colorado to advance to the second weekend before falling to Texas. Aird is one of the best coaches in college volleyball right now, by leading Indiana to its best season in program history and signing historic recruiting classes, waking what he once called “a sleeping giant.”
It’s safe to say that Aird has awaken that sleeping giant. So much so that after the historic 2025 season Aird started his 2026 off with signing a contract to keep him coach of IU until 2031, IU announced on Tuesday.
But the first time I met him, in spring 2024, he was occupying a different role on campus: the interview subject for a sports media class, where we students were testing our on-camera presence. Aird was there with two of his players, Madi Sell, an experienced transfer from Missouri, and Reese Hazelton, a high school recruit turned December early enrollee.
The three of them had been co-existing for no more than two months, and that made the big question to the two players obvious: “Why IU?”
Both Sell and Hazelton gave the same answers: glowing details about who Aird was as a human, not just a coach. Aird sat and listened to the praise in his trendy OVO sweatshirt, not even a smirk when hearing what his players think make him so special.
Aird described Indiana as a place that could be nationally relevant in the volleyball world if things were simply done right. But there are many ways to do things right, and what’s most interesting about Aird is how he’s chosen to do them.
Coming from national powerhouse Penn State, as a player turned graduate assistant, he knew what it would take to bring the Hoosiers from the gutter. From his first days at IU, he’s done everything his way, bringing in likeminded people to accomplish the ultimate likeminded goal, win. In 2025, now the big question isn’t “Why IU?” It’s “How high can IU go?”
“This to me is the start of very exciting times,” Aird said when I interviewed him in October.
Aird was born into a culture of loving sports north of America’s border in London, Ontario. But he suffered from bad asthma and was unable to play early in life. When sports finally became an option, basketball was the first real love for Aird. Then found his niche on a court with different lines, a ball that lacked color and a net with a negative connotation.
But the ultimate theme here is, a male gravitated to a female sport, when in 2025 that trend tends to be the opposite.
Canada’s sports love mainly resides indoors; with courts and of course rinks. As a freshman in high school and predominantly a basketball player, Aird looked up to one of the (male) volleyball seniors, one of the better players in the country. That influence was the start of Aird’s volleyball career.
“That was the north star for me. So where as the American guys grow up and it’s the quarterback they want to emulate or the starting power forward. But for me volleyball was the show,” Aird said.
After a desire to be a sports agent and a business law degree at Penn State, Aird’s coach from his playing days for the Nittany Lions wanted him to stay on staff as an GA. The decision to do so would pay off, leading Aird to his next gig at Auburn and then Indiana.
“I had a great opportunity to do it young, and fast forward I’m in my mid-forties and have been doing it for 25 years.” Aird said.
Aird has seen a lot of changes in those 25 years and his time in the college game. When you think of college sports, national coverage mostly stems from football and men’s basketball. Also, the rarely occasional women’s basketball phenomenon that gravitates the world like Caitlin Clark. To many, that's enough for college, people still need brainspace for professional sports as well.
But over the past couple of years, I couldn’t help but notice conferences, like the Big Ten, have pushed for more and more volleyball coverage. This includes a primetime national TV slot on Saturdays and Sundays, but also a national broadcast during the week from time to time (right along with an increased social media presence). A predominantly female sport that just spews dopamine with every action in this high paced game. What could go wrong for these conferences? Well, nothing, the sport is drawing a ton of eyes online and in arenas.
The approval of N.I.L. laws incentivize wealthy schools in power conferences to push volleyball just as hard as the previously mentioned “powerhouse” and “coverage driven” sports. Schools like Indiana, are investing and trusting in people like Aird. A man with a strict plan, doing everything his way, through low lows early and the high highs of today.
Before each home game, Aird is welcomed with an abundance of cheers and claps as well as the “Crimson Chaos” student section chanting “Steve, Steve, Steve” after he both takes the floor and is introduced after the starters. In-game, Aird sits during most if not all points and does most of his coaching in between sets when teams switch ends.
Most of the in-game tactical coaching and substitutions are done by assistant coaches Kevin Hodge and Matt Kearns. The two both call out defense strategy while facing serves by talking to the active players by standing in a position both in front of them but also on the sideline while holding a thick lawyer style note pad to where the serving opponents cannot see their mouths move.
With my two seasons of actually watching this team you tend to believe Aird when he says he is a “very” resilient human being. When he does coach, there is no screaming, there is no singling out, there is no one player's fault. A win and lose both as a team attitude.
“I will keep showing up and fighting every single day, like full stop,” Aird said.
Aird’s mentioned resilience and short memory for when things go wrong has helped him a lot during his coaching career. Specifically in 2023 where he felt his Hoosier squad was good enough and had sufficient wins to make the NCAA tournament. The idea about getting better and only looking toward “the next thing” served him well.
“I think a lot of times when that happens to people they throw their hands up or they quit or they stop short just before the gold,” Aird said.
What Aird preaches remains consistent in every facet: surrounding yourself around good people who you trust, whether that's players or coaches.
“Try to get the right people in the gym, try to get the right people on staff and then go after it like crazy,” Aird said.
With the landscape of college sports forever fluid, Aird has had to take on a new way of business with recruiting and a program oriented in “the process.” The decision favors recruiting high schoolers over the transfer portal and vice versa, one of the main dilemmas for all coaches in today's NCAA landscape.
“When we got here it was very much the old school. We got to recruit and build it slowly,” Aird said. “Portal recruiting is a lot like speed dating. You are trying to get to know somebody in five minutes.”
Aird is not one to dwell on the negatives of this day and age, comparing it to a taxi driver being mad about Uber.
“You can’t be mad about what you don’t have,” Aird describes when discussing the new world of collegiate athletics and who it fortunes. “Indiana cares about us, they are doing a great job at trying to help us out,” Aird said.
“Steve is extraordinary because he puts his best foot forward in everything he does and is a great role model for us,” freshman Victoria Gray said to me in October. Gray owns a perfect perspective for this dilemma of recruiting. Due to her recent recruitment story and timeline, especially as a high schooler this time a year ago, Gray experienced this first hand.
Aird took the time to recruit a high schooler over a possible seasoned vet with tournament experience, like the aforementioned Sell.
Gray seemingly was manufactured to play for Aird, a volleyball superstar while also a finalist of Ms. Basketball in the state of Michigan. The way the recruiting process shook out, it seemed they both agreed with that statement.
“The first phone call we ever had was all over the place,” Gray said. “We rarely talked about volleyball it was ‘how my life was’ ‘ how my family was’, he cares about me,”
Gray’s words are the feelings of the entire roster and staff. Aird’s biggest win to date came on Nov. 2, 2025, taking down none other than his alma mater and national powerhouse Penn State in a dominant sweep.
To add onto Gray’s comments, others just scratching the surface of the program must feel the same way. On Nov. 12, Aird and Indiana signed its third top 15 recruiting class in the last six years.
Plus, with the signing of his new contract, expect Indiana to be a power in Big Ten volleyball for the foreseeable future.
