University of Houston volleyball coach Bill Walton is no stranger to success entering his 21st season with the Cougars.

Walton has been a permanent fixture in the consistent success and longevity of the Houston volleyball program. In fact, Walton has been at Houston longer than any present head coach leading the Cougars to 397 victories and 101 Conference USA wins. Walton has tallied an impressive .664 career winning percentage and had a stretch of 17 consecutive winning seasons from 1986 to 2002 in addition to earning bids to 10 consecutive NCAA Tournaments from 1991 to 2000.

Walton's career spans 25 seasons, where he has put together one of the best records of any Division I coach. He recently picked up his 600th career victory against East Carolina on October 22, 2005 becoming the 11th coach in NCAA history to reach that feat. He currently stands at 607-307 (.664) just outside of the Top 10 in career victories for Division I active coaches.

The Cougars have averaged just under 20 wins per season during the Walton era and didn't fall below a .517 winning percentage in his first 17 seasons.

A teacher of the game, Walton has produced 57 All-Conference (35 C-USA and 21 SWC) in addition to 24 All-Region selections. He coached 1994 AVCA All-America and Olympic Festival participant Lilly Denoon and has placed at least one player on the All-Conference team in 19 consecutive seasons (1987-2005).

Walton produced four Conference USA selections a season ago headlined by two-time Defensive Player of Year Jaci Gonzalez, who paced C-USA and was sixth in the NCAA averaging 6.12 digs per game. Gonzalez finished her career third in NCAA history compiling 2,451 career digs.

Gonzalez was also an AVCA All-Midwest Region selection and an AVCA All-America Honorable Mention joining Kariny Ritter and Becca Sartori, who also reached those accolades. Ritter finished 24th nationally averaging 4.70 kills per game.

Walton looks to get back to the NCAA Tournament after a second-place finish in C-USA last season returning Sartori along with C-USA All-Freshman selection Justine Farmer and 2004 C-USA Third-Teamer Kelly McAnelly. He has ensured the Cougars' success for years to come with a balanced mix of experience and incoming talent.

Walton led the program to its first NCAA Tournament in 1989 and also captured the 1990 National Invitational Volleyball Championship (NIVC) title, often referred to as the "Volleyball NIT." At that championship, Houston defended its No.1 seed storming through the 20-team field knocking off Tennessee, Colorado, Memphis and Cal-State Northridge along the way to a 6-0 record.

Houston had its best season in program history racking up a 26-7 record in 1994 as the Cougars reached the Elite Eight of the NCAA Tournament. UH was just a match away from going to its first Final Four since the 1970s.

Houston volleyball enjoys its headline status as an elite volleyball member of Conference USA and has compiled an eye-opening 101-46 (.687) league record. The Cougars won the C-USA Tournament in 1997 and have reached the semifinals of the conference tournament in seven of its 10 seasons as a league member.

The Cougars are also a regular in the regional rankings by the American Volleyball Coaches Association and were ranked the No. 1 team in its region several times throughout the late 1990s. In 1999, Walton joined an elite group of college volleyball coaches by recording his 500th career win.

Before the Cougars joined C-USA, Walton secured a spot as one of the top volleyball coaches in Southwest Conference history. He earned SWC Coach of the Year honors twice in 1992 and 1994 in addition to leading the Cougars to the 1995 SWC title. When the SWC concluded volleyball play after 13 seasons, Walton was one of only two coaches to capture a SWC championship.

In addition to tremendous success on the court, Walton's high standards for his program carry over into academics, character and taking a role in the University community. His teams have proven to be every bit as strong academically, earning NCAA national and regional Academic All-America awards as well as selections to the Conference USA Commissioner's Academic Honor Roll. Millicent Martin was a 2005-06 C-USA Commissioner's academic medal winner, while Gonzalez was named to the 2005 ESPN The Magazine Academic All-District First Team.

Walton came to Houston in 1986 from Elmhurst College in Illinois, where he compiled a 210-55 record. He led the Blue Jays to the 1983 and 1985 NCAA Division III National Championship. In his first year as head coach at Elmhurst, Walton took a team with a .500 record the previous season to an Illinois State Championship and a No. 4 finish in the final AIAW-College Championships.

Walton began his volleyball career after originally attending George Williams College to play basketball. After his freshman season, a roommate convinced him to try volleyball. Walton, who is still often mistaken for the former NBA star who shares his name, quickly picked up the sport of volleyball and became a two-time NAIA All-American. He led George Williams to the national volleyball title in 1974 and his outstanding play gained him berths on the 1976 United States America's Cup Team and the 1979 United States National Team, which he left shortly after to take a head coaching position at Elmhurst.

Following graduation from George Williams, Walton was a volunteer assistant coach at Cincinnati, where he earned a master's degree in education. He arrived at Elmhurst in 1979 as an instructor in the physical education department, earned his first volleyball head coaching job at the school in 1981 and soon began climbing his way to the top.

An impressive career that started with a "casual challenge" from his roommate in college. If you know Walton however, there are no "casual challenges." Whether it's the big match, team academics, or a daily drill in practice, Walton shows his players that accepting challenges and adhering to responsibility is a way to achieve success.

In the history of UH Athletics, only four other coaches (Dave Williams, Guy Lewis, Bill Yeoman and Tom Tellez) have maintained a longer stay as head coach than Walton. Those coaches have each gone on to be remembered as one of the finest coaches in NCAA history for their respective sport, as will Walton.

Since volleyball became a competition sport at the University of Houston in 1974, the program has enlisted the coaching expertise of just three coaches beginning with Ruth Nelson from 1974-1980, followed by Dave Olbright from 1981-1985, and Walton from 1986 to the present time.

Walton has set himself apart from the first two coaches at Houston as the only volleyball coach to capture a conference championship, and is responsible for 397 of the program's 791 victories since 1974.