HARTSVILLE, S.C. – Coker College vice president of athletics and athletic facilities Dr. Lynn Griffin announced today that Jennifer Bell has been hired as Coker's new Associate Athletic Director for Internal Operations. Bell replaces Dr. Katie Flaherty who was recently promoted to Associate Provost for Institutional Effectiveness at Coker.
Bell joins the Coker athletic staff after spending the last 18 years at fellow South Atlantic Conference school, Anderson University. Bell held several positions while at Anderson, most recently serving as the Trojan's Associate Director of Athletics.
"We are very pleased to have Jenn join our staff here at Coker," said Griffin. "She brings a wealth of knowledge and experience from Anderson, that I really feel will benefit our faculty, staff and students."
Bell has served as an athletic administrator at Anderson since 2008, overseeing NCAA compliance, volleyball and soccer, as well as serving as the Trojan's Senior Woman Administrator. In 2011 she was promoted to Assistant Athletic Director and was then promoted to Associate Athletic Director in 2015.
"I would like to thank Dr. Wyatt and Dr. Griffin for this incredible opportunity," Bell said. "Coker is an outstanding institution that offers strong academic and athletic programs, and I look forward to becoming part of the amazing team that is already in place. I have big shoes to fill, as Katie Flaherty has done a tremendous job as the Associate Athletics Director for the last several years. I am more than excited to begin this new journey, and my family and I absolutely cannot wait to integrate ourselves into the campus and the Hartsville community."
Before devoting her attention to working in athletic administration at Anderson, Bell served as the Trojan's head women's volleyball coach for 11 seasons. She compiled an overall record of 207-176 and led the Trojans to eight winning seasons and 19 or more victories in a season seven times. After becoming a full member of Conference Carolinas in 1999, Bell's teams also posted a conference record of 116-66 and the Trojans finished in fourth place or higher six times, including a second-place finish in 2001 and captured the 2008 Conference Carolinas Tournament title, marking the Trojans first-ever appearance in the NCAA Tournament. They won 11 or more league matches eight times and played in the conference championship match on four occasions ('99, '01, '02 and '08).
She coached 27 All-Conference players, one conference Player of the Year and a conference tournament MVP. She was named NAIA Southeast Independent Sectional Coach of the Year following her first season at Anderson after leading the Trojans to a 17-15 overall record and winning the NAIA Southeast Independent Sectional Tournament for the first time in school history.
As an encore, Bell was named conference Coach of the Year in 1999 after guiding the Trojans to a 20-13 overall mark and 12-4 in Conference Carolinas. During the 1999 seasons her team set the school record for wins in a season, which would later be broken in 2002 (23), and yet again in 2004 (25).
In addition to the 2008 Conference Carolinas tournament title, Bell's teams claimed numerous tournament championships, including the Montreat Invitational ('98), Tusculum Invitational ('04), and the Anderson Invitational ('02, '04 and '05).
Prior to her time at Anderson, Bell was the head coach at Wofford College for four years and guiding the Terrier volleyball program during its transition from an NCAA Division II Independent to a Division I Southern Conference team.
A native of Spartanburg, S.C., Bell played for highly-renowned coach Paula Kirkland at Dorman High School. She graduated from Wofford College in 1994 with a bachelor's degree in Psychology. While there, she set single match, season and career records in assists and service aces. Following her senior season, she was named Most Valuable Player for the Terriers.
She received her masters degree from Coker in College Athletic Administration in December of 2015.
Bell is married to her husband, Lee, and they have two children, Madison and Eli.