Ahen Kim knew he had something special on his hands at the beginning of October 2025. The American University women’s volleyball team had just beaten the Lehigh Mountain Hawks in convincing straight sets in Bethlehem, Pa.
Lehigh was the bane of Kim’s previous year as the head coach of the Eagles, ending the team’s season on two straight five-set losses. Doing this well against a team that always gave him trouble gave Kim confidence. This season would be different because this team was different.
American posted a 24-5 record, sweeping the Patriot League postseason awards en route to a conference championship — the school’s 17th.
Duke University hired Kim as the school’s next volleyball coach on Jan. 12. His record with the Eagles over three seasons was 64-25. Kim said that he’ll take a lot of lessons from his time at American.
“[I learned] how important team chemistry is, and you also learn how, as a coach, sometimes it’s really out of your hands,” he said.
Kim also noted the multiple national championship contenders in Duke’s conference, the ACC. Trusting his philosophy will be a key to the Blue Devils’ success.
Building up a roster and having chemistry was hard enough for the Eagles, but Kim said he’s excited to take on that challenge again in Durham. He admitted that he has no clue what Duke’s team will look like for the coming season, but said he is excited to get to know them as students, people and players.
Junior middle blocker Prinzez Zeck credits Kim for giving her the opportunity to join the team in 2024.
“Just playing with the other girls and him teaching me how to be a higher level volleyball player was a huge difference in comparison to what I had been playing,” Zeck said.
A year later, Zeck played in all 29 matches for the team and led the Patriot League in hitting percentage with a .409. She was named First Team All-Patriot League in November.
“He has a vision for his players, he has a goal in mind. And he’ll do whatever it takes to achieve that goal.”
Kim said he planned to stay at American, if not for a few select jobs. Duke was one of them.
“Down the road, when I’m done with coaching, I think this is going to be one of those really, really memorable inflection points just in my career, and probably has one of the most meaning to me thus far,” Kim said.
Duke also hired Eagles assistant coach Maggie Catherina to be their assistant coach and director of operations. Kim credits Catherina for playing a key part in the development of some of American’s top players this season. He said he is optimistic for the future of American’s program, and plans to cheer the team on, just not from the coaching seat.
American hired Division II national champion head coach Jenny Glenn as the school’s next volleyball coach on March 5.
This article was edited by Matthias Sandoval, Jack Stashower and Walker Whalen. Copy editing done by Avery Grossman, Nicole Kariuki and Mattie Lupo.
