West Texas A&M University Athletics

Debbie Hendricks led the West Texas A&M University Lady Buff volleyball team to its third NCAA Division II national championship in 1997.

The team had a phenomenal 37-3 record and captured the title at Bakersfield, Calif., with a five-game victory over Barry University.

Hendricks graduated from Lubbock Christian University and then served two years as graduate assistant at Texas Tech. Her first head coaching job was at Wayland Baptist University in 1991, where she developed the program from the ground level.

Her two-year record at WBU was 37-34. She was then tabbed as the coach at WT, where she compiled a record of 159-47 over six years. Her teams won three Lone Star Conference titles and made the NCAA tournament in her final five years at the school.

In 1998 she resigned to pursue a medical career, but the desire to coach saw her return to the game in 2000 and was selected as the coach at Metro State. Hendricks compiled a career record of 549-229 in 24 seasons while going 353-148 at MSU Denver. Her teams won the RMAC Tournament six times and the regular season championship three times. She was a three-time RMAC Coach of the Year honoree. Hendricks coached seven All-Americans and had seven more named Honorable Mention while at MSU Denver. Hendricks led teams have made the NCAA Tournament in each of the last 21 years, including all 16 years at MSU Denver before retiring at the end of the 2015 season.