Karin Parkhurst ’96 enters her second season at the helm of the Norwich University women’s volleyball program in 2025, becoming the third head coach in program history when she returned to her alma mater in 2024.
Parkhurst brought with her decades of coaching and mentorship experience across multiple levels of volleyball. She previously served at Mexico Academy and Central Schools in New York for seven years, leading the junior varsity volleyball team for six seasons before being promoted to head varsity coach in 2023. Her resume also includes time coaching modified eighth-grade volleyball and serving as a varsity assistant softball coach from 2018 to 2022.
Earlier in her career, Parkhurst coached in Louisiana at the Louise S. McGehee School and Metairie Park Country Day School. She guided U18 and U14 travel teams for the New Orleans Hurricanes USA Volleyball Club from 1999 to 2002.
A 1996 graduate of Norwich, Parkhurst made her mark as a goalkeeper on the women’s soccer team, logging a .869 save percentage that remains eighth-best in program single-season history. She later joined the women’s rugby team and served as a student athletic trainer, immersing herself fully in the Norwich athletics community.
Parkhurst’s return to Norwich reflects her deep commitment to developing student-athletes in all aspects of their experience. “To now come back and coach at Norwich is truly an opportunity of a lifetime,” she said. “I look forward to helping shape the next generation of Norwich women both athletically and academically.”
