Laurie Bitter begins her third season at the helm of the BSU women’s volleyball squad and is the 12th head coach in program history. In 2008, the Beavers went 7-24 and 3-17 in the NSIC. In her rookie campaign, Bitter helped lead the Beavers to a 10-17 mark, the best record since the 2004 season, and guided BSU to a 6-12 NSIC record, good for eighth in the conference. She also led BSU to a three-match winning streak, which was the longest since 2004. Bitter took the helm at BSU after a 16-year tenure at Lake of the Woods High School where she turned the Bears’ volleyball program and Lady Laker club team into powerhouses that have competed well on the regional, state and national levels. While at Lake of the Woods Bitter piled up an impressive 354-100-1 record as its head coach. Nine times she led the Bears to North Boarder Conference Championships-including the last six consecutively. The team has also won eight district championships and participated in the Minnesota State High School Volleyball Tournament four times under the watchful eye of Bitter, earning an AA Championship in 2005 and runner-up honors in 2003. Bitter earned Section Coach of the Year accolades in both 1998 and 2001. In addition to Bitter’s high school coaching experience, she has also been active on the club team circuit. She helped start the Lady Laker program in 1993 and in 2001 and 2003 she mentored her teams to North Country Region Championship and trips to the Junior National Championships. A two-year participant in both volleyball and track as a student-athlete at Minnesota State University Moorhead, Bitter turned her focus to her passion-teaching and coaching-as a junior. Bitter is a graduate of Minnesota State University Moorhead with a degree in physical education/health/coaching. She completed her master’s degree in theory at the University of Minnesota Duluth in May of 2007. Bitter and her husband Curt have two children. Courtney is a sophomore for Bemidji State and Isaac is in the 11th grade and occupies his time with hockey and baseball.
