Photo courtesy of Justin Kisor.
Justin Kisor, Spain Park High School’s new volleyball coach, with his family. Photo courtesy of Justin Kisor.
Spain Park High School has hired a volleyball coach on the rise, with the hopes that he can keep the Jags at a prestigious level.
Justin Kisor has been selected as the new Spain Park volleyball coach, coming to the Jags following four years at Fort Payne. He led the Wildcats to the Class 6A state tournament in 2023, taking the program from 18 wins in his first year to 38 last year.
“That’s always been a school we’ve wanted to get to,” Kisor said of Spain Park. “It is a premier spot in Alabama and volleyball and is a top program. … When the opportunity arose, it was something we couldn’t say no to.”
Previous Jags coach Kellye Bowen recently took a job at Jasper High, a homecoming of sorts for her. In her 10 years at Spain Park, she built the program into a perennial contender and won the 7A state championship in 2021.
“My vision for Spain Park is to carry on what Kellye did a great job at, having a tradition and a winning program. We want to see if we can take it to new heights,” Kisor said. “The Lord has blessed us tremendously with having success everywhere, and we want to continue that. We want it to be the best program in the state.”
Kisor, a Glencoe graduate, was first introduced to indoor volleyball by helping his cousin at Cedar Bluff High. That turned into a job as the head coach at Faith Christian, where he coached for three years and made a trip to the state final four.
Kisor then took a job at Pell City, but he never coached a match there because an opportunity arose at Fort Payne for him and his wife, Ashley, who played volleyball at Snead State and has helped him coach at each stop along the way.
He has been tasked with building programs in his previous stops, but Kisor inherits one on solid footing at Spain Park.
“We don’t have to come in here and redo anything or rewrite the script of what’s been going on,” he said. “We’ll just throw some of our spice and add some to it and hope that’s a winning combination.”
In 2023, Bowen’s Jags started slow, but the team gradually improved throughout the year and peaked at the end. They ended up winning the Area 6 tournament and ultimately advancing to the state tournament.
“Nobody thought we would do what we did,” Bowen said. “We had just graduated eight seniors and two All-Americans, so this was supposed to be a rebuilding year. I refuse that, because I’m extremely competitive.”
Kisor hopes to continue that competitive level at Spain Park by “going about it the right way.”
“Doing things the right way, working hard, being a good teammate and being a good person. That’s going to be the biggest thing for us early on is them trusting me and Ashley. If we can build that trust, that’s a winning formula,” he said.
Kisor said he knew a few of the Spain Park players before taking the job and was eager to get going. Once the month of June arrives, it will be full speed ahead.
The 2024 season begins in late August.
