Aurora University Athletics

Dan Ames was named Head Coach of the Aurora University men's volleyball program in May of 2019.

Ames took over the reigns of the Spartan men's volleyball program that was entering its third year of existence in 2020. In his time at AU, Ames has built the Spartans into a yearly contender in the Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference and a top program in the region and country on an annual basis. The 2025 team made the programs first appearance in the NCAA Division III Tournament.

Prior to coming to AU, Ames spent the last two seasons as an assistant coach at North Central College with the Cardinals men's and women's programs. Ames made his mark at the collegiate level at NACC rival Dominican University where he served as the Stars first NCAA Division III men's volleyball head coach and helped build their men's volleyball program from the ground up. In three short seasons, Ames built the Stars program into one of the top Division III program in the country. Ames was the 2017 AVCA Division III Men's Volleyball Coach of the Year.

Ames was an owner of two volleyball clubs, Naperville Volleyball Club and Pipeline Volleyball Club. During his time with the clubs, he amassed an impressive resume at the club level, posting second and third place finishes at the AAU National Championship in 1999 and 2000 with the Sports Performance Volleyball Club as well as a second place finish at the Asics National Championships in 2004 with the 16-Mizuno and 18-Runbird boys teams. While with Sports Performance Volleyball Club, the club became the first ever to two top five seeds in the same Boys’ Junior Olympics 18-Open Boys’ Tournament.
 

YEAR	OVERALL	CONFERENCE (Place)
2020*	12-4	2-1
2021	11-7	8-3 (4th)
2022	17-10	9-3 (3rd)
2023	15-11	11-1 (T-1st)
2024	18-10	11-1 (T-1st)
2025	26-5^	11-1 (1st)
2026	20-7	10-2 (T-2nd)
7 Years	119-54 (.688)	62-12 (.838)
Career - 11 Years	190-91 (.676)

     * 2020 season was canceled due to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic
^ NCAA Appearance