Volleyball Coach Ronnie Kaase is in his seventh year at Huston-Tillotson. In that time he has coached 60 student-athletes of which 19 have graduated from HT and seven are currently continuing their education in graduate school. Coach Kaase believes in the true concept of "student/athlete" is where you will be a student first and an athlete second. In 2005, Elizabeth Torok was named to the NAIA Daktronics Academic All-American team. His volleyball team has placed 29 student/athletes on the RRAC All-Academic team.
Coach Kaase has been involved in the sport of volleyball since 1978 as a player, official, and coach through the United States Volleyball Association (USAV). He has attained a National ranking both as a USAV referee and USAV scorekeeper for over 20 years and is currently a retired FIVB Beach referee. Kaase worked as the Assistant Competition Manager for Implementation at the 1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta and was one of the top 16 beach referees to work the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens, Greece.
Kaase has been a junior Club Director for 20 years and a developmental coach for middle school and high school volleyball athletes for 18 years. He is currently working with the Wimberley Athletic Club. He holds a USAV Cap level I coaches accreditation and is working on reaching Cap level II.
At HT, Kaase is the NAIA Champions of Character (COC) representative and the Director of the HT Champions of Character Program Center. As the director, Kaase works with the HT student/athletes and students teaching them about the five core values the COC represent, which are Respect, Responsibility, Integrity, Servant Leadership, and Sportsmanship. The program center has several HT students who go out and talk with middle school and high school student/athletes about the COC to help build good character throughout the community.
Coach Kaase is also serving on the NAIA Competition Committee, NAIA National Rating Committee, and as the Vice-President of the RRAC volleyball coaches. He is starting in his first year as the HT Athletic Department Business Manager.
Coach Kaase is a "true" Austinite and has one son, Jacob, who was drafted in 2007 with the Texas Rangers and is currently assigned to the Bakersfield Blaze A team. Jacob attended and played baseball for Texas Lutheran University and is finishing up his education with a major in Math.
If you are interested in being a part of the HT Volleyball program, contact Coach Kaase at 512.505.3048, or email him at rckaase@htu.edu.