Chattanooga volleyball rounded out its coaching staff ahead of the 2025 season on Monday, when head coach Julie Torbett Thomas announced the addition of Kaleigh Fitzgerald as assistant coach for the Mocs.
Fitzgerald, a four-year collegiate letterwinner across numerous programs, comes to the Scenic City having spent several years coaching volleyball at multiple levels as well as most recently working for the Atlanta Vibe in the Pro Volleyball Federation.
“I am thrilled to announce the hiring of Kaleigh Fitzgerald as our new assistant coach,” Torbett Thomas remarked.
“What stood out to me immediately was her passion for the game and the energy she brings to the gym every day. Kaleigh comes to us with a unique blend of marketing and coaching experience, having worked with the Vibe pro volleyball team and developed athletes at the IMG Academy. She also had a standout collegiate playing career that gives her a strong foundation as a teacher of the game.
“She will primarily be working with our defensive specialists and will oversee our serve and serve receive strategies. I’m confident her knowledge, drive and enthusiasm will have an immediate impact on our program.”
As mentioned earlier, Fitzgerald most recently served as Sponsorship Activation Coordinator for the Atlanta Vibe in the newly formed Pro Volleyball Federation. In this role, Fitzgerald helped to execute sponsor agreements as well as manage branding for the team.
Fitzgerald spent a good portion of 2023 down in Florida, where she served as a summer volleyball coach for IMG Academy leading weekly training sessions with athletes aged 12-17. She was eventually promoted to head coach of the program at the mid-season mark as well. Fitzgerald’s coaching career also includes stints as a camp coach for the University of Wisconsin – Oshkosh and for SMASH Volleyball Club.
A defensive specialist/libero in her playing days, Fitzgerald was a four-year letterwinner in indoor volleyball having bounced around four different universities over the course of her career. Fitzgerald would get her start in collegiate volleyball at the University of Hartford in the spring of 2021, and it was during the 2022 season that she would make her way to UAlbany as a transfer. Fitzgerald would then spend the 2023 season at Auburn University at Montgomery before wrapping up her playing career at Georgia State in 2024.
As a player, Fitzgerald raked in countless honors and awards including being named the 2023 Gulf South Conference Libero of the Year while at AUM. Her college career would finish with Fitzgerald having amassed 1,146 career digs (3.23 digs/set) and 129 career aces (0.36 aces/set). Some of her other achievements include being a Second Team AVCA All-South Region honoree, a First Team All-GSC selection and the Georgia State Female Sport MVP for 2025. Over the course of her playing career Fitzgerald was also a standout in the classroom, receiving numerous conference and university honor roll distinctions.
“I’m incredibly excited to join such a competitive program and be a part of a team culture that truly feels like family,” Fitzgerald said. “I’m grateful for the opportunity to work alongside Coach T and contribute to the continued success of UTC volleyball.”
Fitzgerald is a 2023 graduate from the University of Albany – SUNY, where she received her B.A. in Communications alongside a minor in Leadership. She went on to earn her M.S. in Sports Administration from Georgia State University in May of 2025. Fitzgerald originally hails from Waukesha, Wisconsin, where she was a part of a very volleyball-centered family as her mother and aunt each played collegiate volleyball at George Washington University and the University of Wisconsin, respectively.