New Canaan High School varsity girls volleyball coach Kim Palmer has stepped down, according to an email from NCHS Athletic Director Jay Egan that was sent to parents Thursday afternoon.
Palmer, who was named head coach in April of 2014, will continue to serve as the girls varsity basketball coach and health and physical education teacher at NCHS, according to the email.
In 2014, Palmer’s first year as head coach, New Canaan went 9-10 and earned a berth in the Class L playoffs.
The volleyball team was 7-13 in 2015 and 2016, missing states by one game in each of the past two seasons.
Palmer’s basketball squad is 1-9 so far this season, however the Rams are coming off their first win of the year—a 43-18 rout of Bridgeport Central this past Tuesday.
Palmer was a volleyball and basketball star at Weston High School and continued to play both sports for two years at Eastern Connecticut State University before ultimately giving up volleyball to concentrate on basketball. Palmer has been at the helm of the Rams girls basketball team since 2009 and was named FCIAC Girls Basketball Coach of the Year after the 2014-15 season.
Here is the text of the email from Jay Egan:
Dear Volleyball Players and Parents,
Coach Palmer informed the team this afternoon that she is resigning her position as head volleyball coach. She will continue as a health and physical education teacher at NCHS as well as the head basketball coach. I want to publicly thank Kim for all the time and effort she has put forward on behalf of NCHS Volleyball.
We will immediately post the vacancy internally and on the CIAC coaching vacancies website. Our process for selecting a new head coach is as follows:
- Form an interview committee consisting of an NCHS Head Coach, a community member representing Volleyball (not an active parent) an assistant principal and the athletic director.
- Advertise the opening for 30 days
- Screen the applicants. Select between 3 and 5 candidates to interview
- Interview and determine best candidate
- Recommend to the principal for hire
I anticipate having a new coach in place by mid-March.
If you know of any coaches who might be interested please ask them to email a letter of interested and resume to jay.egan@ncps-k12.org.
It has been my experience that sport specific networking is the best way to find quality coaches. I am committed to finding the best possible person to move our Volleyball program forward. Thank you in advance for your support.
Best, Jay Egan