Anders Nelson

Nelson was born on November 14, 1987, in Chisago City, Minnesota to Mark and Laurie Nelson. He was raised in St. Croix Falls, Wisconsin. He did not play volleyball in high school at St. Croix Falls High School, but did play basketball, baseball and cross country, earning MVP honors three times for the basketball team.^[1]

Nelson is a 2011 graduate of Ball State University, where he graduated summa cum laude with a finance and accounting degree. He earned a Master of Business Administration from Kentucky in May 2018 and is married to his husband, Mark Hemberger.^[2] Nelson started college at the University of Minnesota, where he played for their men's club team. Eventually, Nelson played three seasons of NCAA Division I men's volleyball as a middle blocker for Ball State University. In his final season in 2011, he was named to the AVCA All-America Second Team.^[2]

Nelson spent 11 seasons in various coaching positions for Kentucky, first as an assistant coach and later as associate head coach for seven seasons. Nelson helped guide the Wildcats to the NCAA tournament in each of his 11 seasons, highlighted with the team winning the 2020 NCAA title, its first in program history.

In April 2022, Vanderbilt announced the addition of volleyball as its 17th varsity sport. The program was originally discontinued after the 1979–80 academic year. Anders was officially named head coach in December 2022.^[2]