Jerry Abraham has set the absolute standard for how to build a women's volleyball program from scratch. The 2005 national coach of the year and 2004 NAIA Hall of Fame inductee has led the Crusaders to 11-straight conference titles, 10 national tournament appearances, including a national semifinal appearance in 2005.  The only head coach Madonna University has had, Abraham brings an 844-221 record into his and the program's 22nd season in 2008.

Abraham has built the program literally from the ground up.  In his 21 years at the helm the Crusaders have become the perennial Wolverine-Hoosier Athletic Conference favorite and a national power. Abraham currently sits second all-time in the NAIA in wins with his 844, just five victories out of the top spot held by Paul Swanson of Mt. Vernon Nazarene.

 

Abraham's success can be summed up by the events of 2004 when he was inducted into two separate Hall of Fame's in the same year.

 

In September 2004, Abraham became the lone member inducted into the inaugural class of the newly established Madonna Athletics Hall of Fame.  As part of a surprise ceremony at the annual student-athlete convocation held at Madonna, Abraham was presented with the honor.

The athletic department at Madonna inducted Abraham on short notice to coincide with his induction into the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) Hall of Fame in December. Abraham was recognized by the NAIA in the coaches category as the third winningest NAIA volleyball coach all-time.  He was inducted as part of the 2005 National Championship banquet held just prior to the National Tournament in San Diego, California.

Abraham directs the Madonna University volleyball program with a quiet yet reassuring confidence that is the unmistakable life blood of one of the nation's most successful programs.  It is a confidence not gleaned from the shine of numerous trophies and accolades bestowed upon the coach and the program, though no one would question if it was.  In 20 seasons at Madonna, Abraham has collected wins at a staggering pace.

Never having posted less than 29 wins in a season, he earned his 800th career victory October17, 2006, with a win at Siena Heights University (only the second NAIA coach to reach the milestone) and has firmly entrenched the Crusaders among the elite programs in the nation.

Abraham does not reflect on past successes.  "Fans can get spoiled very quickly in athletics and that's a problem," Abraham said.  "It's not easy to be successful in anything when people get accustomed to specific results, it sometimes loses its effect on the players and they forget what it really takes to succeed and how important the journey really should be to their development."

Instead, Abraham addresses each new team and season on its own terms and his confidence lies in the ability and work ethic of his current players and coaching staff.

"I'm not much of a believer in predicting a team's level of success," said Abraham.  "I can only state that we're going to do our best.  If we're good enough to win matches then we're going to win matches, but if we lose it's not going to be because we didn't work hard and it's not going to be because we rested on our program's previous laurels."

For a good example of this statement, look no further than the 2003 season.  Following the 2002 run to the "Final Four" the Crusaders had to deal with the loss of a pair of All-Americans, only to return to San Diego and a spot in the National Quarterfinals.  The 2003 season saw Madonna capture its second-consecutive perfect WHAC regular season (and seventh straight conference title), becoming the first team in conference history to pull off the feat.  In addition, the 2003 Crusaders extended their home winning streak to 33 straight games (before falling to Cornerstone in the WHAC tournament), eclipsing the previous standard set from 1991-92.

During the first 21 seasons of  Madonna volleyball the team has never finished below .500 and has averaged nearly 43 wins per year.  Abraham has amassed 771 wins and a .791 career winning percentage.  Under his watch 10 Crusader squads (‘93, ‘95, '96, '00, ‘02, ‘03, ‘04, ‘05 ,‘06 and ‘07) have advanced to the NAIA National Championship Tournament.  Additionally, Madonna has been ranked in the NAIA Top 25 at some point during every season since 1993.

While the team's goals are the most important to Abraham and his staff, his teams have seen their fare share of individual accolades as a result of success.  Abraham's teams have produced seven NAIA First Team All-America's, six Second Team All-America's, four Third Team All-America's and six Honorable Mention All-America's.  Also, Crusader volleyball players have been named NAIA All-America Scholar-Athletes 14 times in Abraham's career.
 

Abraham's philosophy of a Madonna Volleyball family is readily apparent in the continued involvement of former players.  Coach Abraham has built a solid program both on and off the court.

Madonna joined the Wolverine-Hoosier Athletic Conference (WHAC) in 1997 and Abraham promptly guided his squad to both the conference regular season and playoff championships in 1997 and 1998. 

The Crusaders again won the regular season championship in 1999 before dropping their first-ever WHAC postseason match.  Responding to this adversity, the Crusaders rebounded to win both the WHAC regular-season and tournament titles again in 2000.  The next season saw the Crusaders take the regular season title before capturing the regular season and tournament titles in 2002 enroute to the program's first ever NAIA Final Four berth. 

The most successful season yet came in 2005 when Abraham guided his team to a 48-2 record and another berth in the NAIA Final Four.  The Crusaders advanced to the NAIA National semi finals, falling to eventual National Champion California Baptist in five games, but finished the season as the third best team in the country.  The 2005 sweep of the regular season and WHAC tournament titles was the second in a streak of four straight seasons that MU has won both the regular season and tournament crowns.

In each of Madonna's 11 seasons in the WHAC, Abraham has guided his troops to an outright or shared conference championship.  The Crusaders are 122-8 in regular season WHAC play and have dropped just two conference postseason matches. In 2002, 2003, 2005 and 2006, Abraham's troops pulled off one of the most impressive runs in WHAC history, not losing a single game en route to perfect conference seasons.

Abraham has been named NAIA District 23 Coach-of-the-Year three times, Great Lakes Sectional Coach-of-the-Year twice, WHAC Coach-of-the-Year twice and Great Lakes Region Coach-of-the-Year twice and added NAIA Region VIII Coach-of-the-Year honors as well in 2006.  Additionally, in 1994 Abraham took over the softball program at Madonna and led the Crusaders to the NAIA World Series - meaning he took two separate teams to the NAIA National Tournament during the same academic year.

Prior to his days at Madonna, Abraham compiled a 270-70 record at Bishop Borgess High School in Redford, Michigan.  His Borgess teams won five district titles, three regional crowns, three Catholic League championships and finished Class A state runner-up in 1986 and Class B state runner-up in 1988.  He has been named to the Borgess High School Hall of Fame as well as the Detroit Catholic League Hall of Fame.

Abraham earned a Bachelor of Science degree from Eastern Michigan University (1976) with a major in Physical Education, a minor in English and Health Science and an Elementary Teaching Certificate.  He went on to earn his master's degree in Guidance and Counseling, also from EMU.  Currently, Abraham is a high school guidance counselor at Truman High in Taylor.