Deb Zellers

Title: Head Volleyball Coach

Date of Hire: 1994

Degrees: B.A., DePauw University, 1992

E-Mail: dzellers@depauw.edu

Other Contact Information: 765-658-4969 (office)

Deb Zellers, a 1992 DePauw University graduate, is in her 19th year as head volleyball coach at her alma mater where her teams have posted a 407-221 record for a .648 winning percentage. Zellers is the program's winningest coach in terms of both victories and winning percentage. 

She directed the 1998 and 2000 Tigers to NCAA Division III postseason appearances including 32 victories in 2000. The 2009 squad posted the program’s best winning percentage (.757) since 2001 and was ranked in the Division III coaches’ poll throughout the second half of the season, while the 2008 and 2010 teams finished second in the Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference tournament.

In the fall of 1994 Zellers led the Tigers to their first conference volleyball championship as they won three matches to capture the Indiana Collegiate Athletic Conference tournament title. 

Zellers also coached softball for seven seasons and remains the school's winningest coach with a 129-102-3 record and a .558 winning percentage. In 1998 she led the softball team to its first conference championship in school history and a school-record 21 wins against just nine losses. The Tigers entered the Indiana Collegiate Athletic Conference tournament seeded third, but won all three games to capture the league title. Zellers earned coach of the year honors in the process. The 1999 team finished second in the SCAC in its first year of play in the league. 

Zellers came to DePauw from Oberlin College where she was the school’s head women’s basketball coach during the 1993-94 season and assistant the previous year. She also served as assistant volleyball coach each of her two seasons there.

A Spencer, Indiana, native, Zellers majored in psychology while at DePauw. She was a four-year volleyball starter and a two-year starter in basketball as well as a captain in each sport. Zellers earned all-conference honors in volleyball in 1989 and 1991 and was an all-district selection in 1990. She was the team’s most valuable player in 1991 and the mental attitude award winner in 1990 and 1991. The Tigers earned a trip to the NCAA Division III Championship during her senior year (1991).

In basketball she twice won the mental attitude award and once was the most improved award winner. Zellers earned all-Hoosier Conference for Women honors as a senior.

Zellers also serves a Part-time Instructor in Kinesiology.