Don Shondell’s career is remarkable. A 1952 Ball State University (BSU) graduate, Shondell started the volleyball program at BSU in 1964 and has remained the head coach with the exception of 1965 when he completed his doctorate at Indiana University. In that time he has copiled a 734-254-6 (.741) record. He is the second winningest coach in NCAA men’s volleyball. Only Hall of Famer Al Scates, coach of UCLA has more wins.

Don has received Coach of the Year honors eight times from the Midwest Intercollegiate Volleyball Association (MIVA), the conference of which he was a co-founder and first president. His teams have won 18 of BSU’s 19 MIVA titles.

He served as the president of the USVBA from 1979-80, was inducted into the Ball State Athletic Hall of Fame in 1983, and was the first recipient of the Mikasa Lifetime Achievement Award in 1989. The USVBA awarded Shondell with the William G. Morgan Award in 1989 and the Dr. Harold T. Friermood Award in 1992.

The Ball State Cardinals, have played in the annual Volleyball Hall of Fame Classic Tournament at Springfield College in 1995 and 1996. The Cardinals returned to Springfield in 1995 to play in the Men’s NCAA Volleyball Championship, hosted by the Hall of Fame. No stranger to those championships, Don has led BSU to 13 appearances in the NCAA tournament.

He was named American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA) / Tachikara National Coach of the Year in 1995 and All-Time Great Coach by the USVBA in 1996.