3/16/2009 5:00:00 AM

UNO Volleyball Camp Central

University of New Orleans Volleyball Camp Central

Since arriving on the Lakefront, head volleyball coach Jozsef Forman has taken steps in establishing an elite program at the University of New Orleans.

While the team came up short of reaching the NCAA tournament when they fell in the Sun Belt Conference tournament Championship game in 2008, Forman has the program heading in the right direction and growing on the minds of those at the national volleyball scene.

In his second season on the Lakefront, Forman directed the team to a second-place finish in the Sun Belt tournament, defeating the top-seed and host institution Florida International along the way. A team that played strong throughout the season, the second-year head coach saw his team win a school-record 13-conference games and finish the season ranked #60 in RPI, 50 spots higher than the previous best Privateer finish.

Former Chinese national team player and United States national team coach Tieming "James" Li finished his first year as assistant coach at the University of New Orleans. Li came to UNO after being a part of the silver-medal-winning U.S. Olympic team in Beijing, China in August 2008. The China native was a defensive and passing coach and helped the U.S. to its best finish since 1984 Li also coached collegiately for the University of Tsukuba, where he also earned a Master's degree in athletic coaching. While at Tsukuba, Li's teams compiled a 186-7 record en route to three All-Japan University volleyball championships. Li's final team in 2005 went 63-0.