South Carolina has a new volleyball coach. Here are the details of the hire
Athletic director Jeremiah Donati has officially made his first hire at South Carolina.
On Monday, the South Carolina Board of Trustees approved a contract for Sarah Rumely Noble to become the next Gamecocks’ volleyball coach.
Rumely Noble, who spent the past three seasons leading Appalachian State, takes over for Tom Mendoza, who left South Carolina in March after seven seasons to take the head job at Marquette.
Under Mendoza, South Carolina made the NCAA Tournament four times, including last season — a major feat considering the Gamecocks had made the tournament just seven times before Mendoza took over in 2018. In those four appearances, Mendoza’s Gamecocks won just two games: first-round matches in 2018 and 2019.
He left USC making $205,000 annually.
Rumely Noble’s initial contract at South Carolina is a five-year deal — running through Jan. 31, 2030 — that pays her a base salary of $260,000 for the first two years and increases $15,000 every two years. South Carolina will also pay up to $95,000 for her App State contract buyout.
She’s the 14th head coach in program history.
“This is a really exciting day, for our athletics program and our volleyball program,” Donati said to the Board of Trustees. “We were very intentional about, not only finding a coach who wanted to be at South Carolina, but be a part of building a program that we feel has a tremendous amount of potential to do great things.”
A former star volleyball player at Kentucky (2006-09) who ended up in the Wildcats Hall of Fame, Rumely Noble played a season in France before beginning her coaching career as an assistant at North Texas in 2010. From there, she had stints with Wake Forest, Arkansas and LSU.
“I love the SEC and am so excited to be back in the league,” Rumely Noble said in a statement. “The growth of volleyball nationally and the competitiveness of SEC volleyball makes this an exciting time. We look forward to putting a great product out on the court to make our fans proud.”
In five seasons at LSU, Rumely Nobleserved as the Tigers recruiting coordinator while running LSU’s offense. In addition to signing a trio of Top-25 classes, per Prepvolleyball.com, she helped LSU make the 2017 NCAA Tournament.
She was elevated to the LSU associate head coach in 2021 and, after that season, Appalachian State came calling. Right away, she excelled. The Mountaineers went 18-10 in Rumely Noble’s first season, earning her a contract extension through 2026.
In her three seasons at App State, Rumely Noble’s teams went 50-35, including an 18-10 record this past season that earned the Mountaineers the top seed in the Sun Belt Conference Tournament’s east division. They fell in the semifinal and lost to Northern Colorado in the National Invitational Volleyball Tournament.
This story was originally published March 31, 2025 at 3:13 PM.
