Syracuse head coach Leonid Yelin retiring after 10 years with the program

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Syracuse head coach Leonid Yelin announced Tuesday that he’s stepping down as head coach after a decade with the Orange, according to a press release from SU Athletics. Current associate head coach Andrea Beaty will be the interim head coach while the search process begins to find Yelin’s replacement.

“My sincere thanks to everyone at Syracuse University, including the administration and the athletics department leadership and staff,” Yelin said in the release. “I am looking forward to spending more time with my family in retirement.”

Before coming to Syracuse in 2012, Yelin spent 15 seasons at Louisville, where he led the Cardinals to 14 NCAA appearances and became the winningest coach in the school’s history with a record of 366-112. Following his time at Louisville, he spent one season as an assistant at Colorado before coming to Syracuse in 2012. Yelin began his collegiate coaching career at Barry University, where he won a Division II championship in 1995.

In 2018, Yelin led Syracuse to its first NCAA Tournament appearance in program history. The Orange defeated Yale 3-0 before being swept by Penn State in the second round. Last season, Syracuse finished 17-13, just missing out on an NCAA Tournament berth. The Orange finished the first half of the year 14-2 before going 3-11 in their remaining conference games. In his over 30-year career, he finished with a record of 624-292.

At Syracuse, the Uzbekistan native mentored three American Volleyball Coaches Association All-American honorable mentions including Marina Markova and Polina Shemanova, who combined for 61.8% of Syracuse’s kills in 2021. Markova was second in the ACC with 492 kills while Shemanova was fourth with 421. Yelin coached 11 All-ACC selections at SU, too.