A native of Huntsville, Alabama and member of the Huntsville-Madison County Athletics Hall of Fame, Rose Magers-Powell enters her sixth season as head women’s volleyball coach at Alabama A&M after being named to that position on May 28, 2014.
She brings with her a wealth of experience that includes an Olympic medal, extensive international playing and coaching career, 23 years as a collegiate head coach with a record of 468-424 and a Hall of Fame worthy playing career at the University of Houston.
ALABAMA A&M (2014-PRESENT, HEAD COACH)
Since joining the program in May of 2014, Magers-Powell has compiled a 95-119 overall record while scheduling a challenging non-conference slate and has dominated Southwestern Athletic Conference (SWAC) play, going an impressive 72-22 (.766) with just one season of more than three league losses.
That stretch has included consecutive 20-win seasons of 20-15 overall in 2019 with a 15-4 mark in the SWAC and 23-16 and 17-1 in 2018. Those performances resulted in back-to-back SWAC Regular Season Championships for the first time since the end of the 2000’s and a berth in the league title game. The 2018 title represented the first regular season championship since the 2009 campaign.
Her six seasons have also resulted in a bevy of individual honors for Bulldog student-athletes, including 12 All-SWAC selections, nine of which have been on the First-Team. That group has included three Player of the Year selections as well as two each for Setter and Freshman and one for Newcomer of the Year
Headlining that group is two-time Player of the Year and All-SWAC First-Team selection Ashundria Mitchell, who earned those honors in 2015 and 2016, and two-time Setter of the Year (2018, 2019) and 2018 Newcomer of the Year Megan Evans. Maya Evans earned Player of the Year that same season.
It also includes two Freshman of the Year winners in Meredith Sieck (2017) and Alana Cox (2018) as well as eight All-SWAC performers over the past two seasons that the team competed (2018, 2019). To illustrate that leap forward, that number equals the total amount of selections in the seven years prior to that stretch from 2011- 2017.
On top of that, Magers-Powell has led the Bulldogs back to the postseason in three consecutive years, earning a berth in the National Invitational Volleyball Championship (NIVC) from 2017-19.
MARTIN METHODIST UNIVERSITY (1996-13, HEAD COACH)
A member of the Redhawks’ Hall of Fame, Magers-Powell led Martin Methodist’s (Pulaski, Tenn.) NAIA women’s volleyball program for 17 years and was the first head at the four-year level.
In that time, she produced a 373-305 (.550) overall record and was ranked No. 11 among active NAIA coaching wins leaders before moving on to A&M in 2014. A three-time TranSouth Athletic Conference (TSAC) Coach of the Year, Magers-Powell led MMC to three straight league championships from 2005-07.
OLYMPIC AND INTERNATIONAL PLAYING AND COACHING CAREER (1980-90)
Mager-Powell brings with her more than a decade of experience playing and coaching on the international stage, highlighted by her time as a member of Team USA Volleyball from 1982-84.
That included being the starting setter on the United States team that won the silver medal at the 1984 Olympics in Los Angeles. That is a mark which is still tied for the highest ever won by Team USA during the Olympics.
Following her time playing for her country, Magers-Powell played and coached in Japan with NEC Professional Volleyball from 1984-90, earning three Most Valuable Player awards in the process.
Over the course of her career, she also helped the USA win gold medals at the Pan American Games and NORCECA Games, a silver medal at the Super Three Tournament (China, Japan, USA) and a bronze medal at the World Championships.
COLLEGIATE PLAYING CAREER (UNIVERSITY OF HOUSTON 1978-80)
One of the top players in the country, then Rose Magers earned two All-American honors playing for the University of Houston from 1978-80 before beginning her professional career.
In that time, she helped lead the Cougars to a combined record of 119-43 (.740), including a 44-10 campaign in 1979 and 41-24 in 1980. The 1979 team would go on to finish third at the United States Volleyball Association (USVBA) National Tournament and fifth in the Association for Intercollegiate Athletics for Women (AIAW), which was the precursor to the NCAA fully sponsoring women’s athletics.
During her time playing for Ruth Nelson with Houston she was named as the Southwest Conference Most Valuable Player and selected as one of the top three players in the NCAA. In recognition of her career, she was inducted into the Cougars’ Hall of Fame in 2012.
EDUCATION
Magers-Powell spent the first three years of her college career at the University of Houston from 1978-80 before pursuing a professional playing and coaching career. She earned her Bachelor’s in Human Services from Martin Methodist College in 2000.
PERSONAL
A resident of Huntsville, Alabama, Magers-Powell is married to Harry Powell and the two have two children, William Scott Powell and Brandon Michael Powell.
