Career Highlights
- Winningest head coach in program history
- Four-time Coach of the Year Awards (EIVA: 2006; NEC: 2023, 2024, 2025)
- Three NEC Regular Season Championships
- Coached and recruited eight AVCA All-Americans: Marc Honroe (2007, first team), Jordan Varee (2009, second team), Mike Marshman (2016, honorable mention), Michael Fisher (2019, 2021, honorable mention), Ryan Parker (2024, honorable mention), Nathan Zini (2024, honorable mention), Andrew Deardorff (2025, honorable mention)
- Coached and recruited five Players of the Year: Marc Honore (2007, EIVA), Nathan Zini (2024, NEC), Peyton Blain (2024, DPOY), Andrew Deardorff (2025, POY), Kyle Charles (2025, ROY)
- Coached and recruited 55 All-Conference selections: 42 EIVA (18 first team, 23 second team, 1 honorable mention), 13 NEC (eight first team, five second team)
- Coached and recruited seven players with 1,000 kills
Milestone Wins
- 1: Columbia Union, Â W, 3-0 (1-31-99)
- 50: Johnson & Wales, W, 3-0 (1-17-04)
- 100: Rutgers Newark, W, 3-0 (3-24-07)
- 150: Mount Olive, W, 3-1 (2-20-11)
- 200: Pfeiffer, W, 3-2 (2-6-16)
- 250: Harvard, W, 3-2 (3-30-19)
- 300: Central State, W, 3-0 (1-20-24)
Mike Rumbaugh enters is 28th season as the Saint Francis men’s volleyball head coach in 2026. Rumbaugh is the second head coach in program history, after Gary Evangelisto, who guided the program for the first 15 years (1984-98).
In the three years in the NEC, Rumbaugh has guided the Red Flash to a 51-35 overall record and a 31-3 mark in league play. Saint Francis has won the regular season title all three years and advanced to the NEC Championship Game each season.Â
For the third-straight season, Saint Francis won the NEC regular season and finished 14-14 overall and 7-1 in NEC play in 2025. Rumbaugh was named the NEC Coach of the Year for the third-straight campaign. Andrew Deardorff was named the NEC Player of the Year and an AVCA All-American honorable mention. Kyle Charles was also named NEC Rookie of the Year, while Charles, Deardorff, and Brady Stump were named to the All-NEC first team, with Sam Lane garnering All-NEC second-team recognition.
Rumbaugh led the Red Flash to its second-straight NEC regular season with a program-record 21-9 overall record and a perfect 12-0 in conference play in 2024. It was the first time in program history that the team finished the regular season unbeaten in conference play. Nathan Zini earned NEC Player of the Year and All-NEC First Team honors. Deardorff and Ryan Parker were named All-NEC first team for the second-straight year, and Peyton Blain achieved NEC Defensive Player of the Year and All-NEC second team. Zini and Parker were also named AVCA All-American honorable mentions. For his efforts, Rumbaugh earned his second-straight NEC Coach of the Year and led the Red Flash to their second NEC Championship game. Blain was also selected as the NEC Men’s Volleyball Student-Athlete of the Year and the NEC Team Student-Athlete of the Year. For their work in the classroom, Zini was named to the College Sports Communicators Academic All-America first team, and Blain was named to the second team.Â
Rumbaugh led the Red Flash to win the NEC regular-season championship title in 2023 in the inaugural season of men's volleyball in the NEC, while also making history as being named the first NEC Coach of the Year in the 2023 season. Rumbaugh had five players earn spots on the All-NEC team in 2023, with Parker and Deardorff on the All-NEC first team and Blake Liprando, Thomas Leahey, and Brandon Dunz on the All-NEC second team. The Red Flash finished the 2023 season with a 16-12 overall record and 12-2 in the NEC.
Prior to joining the NEC, Rumbaugh and the Red Flash was a member of the EIVA for the first 24 years as a head coach. Saint Francis registered a winning overall season 10 times during this stretch and participated in the EIVA Tournament 10 times, advancing to the EIVA Championship Game four times (2006, 2007, 2016, and 2017) and winning the EIVA Hay Division twice (2001, 2005).
The Red Flash enjoyed its best five-year stretch from 2004 to 2008 in the EIVA after participating in the EIVA Tournament all five seasons and playing in two EIVA title games. It is no coincidence that Marc Honore was playing for Rumbaugh in Loretto during that period. Honore was named the EIVA Player of the Year in 2007, the only player in program history to earn that top honor, an AVCA All-American first-team in 2007, and a three-time All-EIVA first team selection. Honore, who has enjoyed a great professional career, was inducted into the Saint Francis Athletics Hall of Fame in 2022.
Along with Honore, Jordan Varee (2009, second team), Mike Marshman (2016, honorable mention), and Michael Fisher (2019, 2021, honorable mention) have earned AVCA All-American status under Rumbaugh duing the EIVA Red Flash era.
Over the course of Rumbaugh’s career, he has not shied away from playing the best teams in NCAA Division I men’s volleyball, with the Red Flash owning 17 wins against ranked opponents, including three wins against teams ranked in the Top 10. The Red Flash defeated the No. 1 team in the country, Springfield, 3-1 on February 14, 2009, and also took down No. 8 Stanford 3-2 in 2019 and No. 7 Stanford in 2020.Â
Rumbaugh arrived in Loretto in 1998 after serving a six-year term as an assistant coach with the men's and women’s volleyball teams at Mercyhurst College.Â
Rumbaugh is a certified official by the United States of America Volleyball Association. He has served as an instructor at USA High Performance and Regional High Performance Camps, and coached the USA Continental Youth Team against domestic and international opponents at the USA Select Competition.
A native of Cabot, Pa., and a 1985 graduate of Knoch High School, Rumbaugh holds an associate degree in humanities from Butler County Community College. Rumbaugh and his wife, Cindy, have two children, a son, Tyler, and a daughter, Ashlee.
