Former William Carey Volleyball player Lainey Brumfield has been hired as the Southwest Volleyball Assistant Coach. She will be working with head coach Chris Laird in the sport’s first season back on campus since the early 1970s.
Brumfield is no stranger to the sport bringing nearly a decade of experience to Summit. The goal of being a coach in the college ranks is one that she has had on her radar for multiple years.
“It’s a big change for my life,” she said. “I’ve been wanting to be a collegiate coach for years now.”
The volleyball journey started for Brumfield, a native of Foxworth and an alum of West Marion High School, when she started playing the sport in middle school.
“I’ve been playing for eight years now,” she said. “When I was a sophomore in high school I tried out for a club team in Hattiesburg. Eventually I moved on to play for Matrix down on the Coast. The club years were my sophomore, junior and senior years in high school.”
During that time, Brumfield not only worked on her game but also met someone who would play a big role in her career.
“I actually met the coach that influenced me the most, Kelly Pitre,” she said. “She was my biggest influence as a coach. Someone I looked up to and who I wanted to be as a coach. She also helped me get in contact with a few colleges. Moving into my senior year I got an offer from (William) Carey to go play.
It felt like home for me. I ended up going there playing indoor and beach.”
The want to coach for Brumfield came during her senior year in high school and by the next year, she was coaching club ball, a job she held throughout for the next two years before spending the 2024 season at Petal Middle School.
Brumfield feels like her age and being able to relate more with the girls on the team is a big advantage for her.
“I feel like am very mature for my age,” she said. “I feel like with that I won’t get into a friendship with the girls and I’ll keep it professional but also I’ll be able to relate their current life events that they are going through because college can be a big change.”
Being a former student athlete herself, she understands the importance of academics will help implement it on the team.
“At the end of the day you are a student athlete and the student has to come first before the athletics,” she said. “Volleyball will not last forever. You have to have your degree to go further into life and into your future job. My goal is to make these girls ready for their future job and life.”
Coach Laird said that he is very happy to bring Brumfield on board adding that with her experience, she can be a huge help in pushing the re-newed program it in the right direction.
“It is great that there is someone who played on the collegiate level both indoor and outdoor,” he said.
“The thing that I love about Lainey is that she is super organized and she will relate well with our players. She has already been in the club season and realizes the importance of reaching out to club coaches as well as high school coaches to improve our recruiting area.
He also says that she brings both lead-by-example and vocal leadership qualities. “We will sit down and discuss what the program will look like, where it needs to go and then after that, I expect her to be vocal on the coaching staff as well as being on the court to demo some stuff.”
