Floyd Deaton begins his first season as Auburn[apos]s assistant coach as he joined Rick Nold[apos]s staff in July. Deaton brings a wealth of coaching experience to the Tiger sideline as he served as Xavier[apos]s head coach for a span of 20 years, building a program from humble beginnings to one of the best in the Atlantic-10 Conference.
Deaton, the winningest coach in Xavier volleyball history, led the program to a 411-246 (.626) record in his 20 seasons at the helm (1990-2009). He also led the team to its first two NCAA Tournament appearances in 2001 and 2007, as well as two Atlantic 10 regular season titles (1998, 2004) and an A-10 tournament championship in 2001.
In his tenure at Xavier, Deaton coached three AVCA All-Northeast Region players, one AVCA All-America Honorable Mention, 48 All-Conference selections, 14 A-10 All-Rookie team selections and 16 A-10 Academic All-Conference selections. He also produced the three A-10 Players of the Year, two A-10 Setters of the Year, three A-10 Rookies of the Year, four A-10 Student-Athletes of the Year, a 2004 Third Team ESPN The Magazine Academic All-American, the 2005 ESPN The Magazine Academic All-America of the Year and nine Academic All-America All-District selections.
Deaton was named the Atlantic 10 Coach of the Year four times during his tenure at Xavier, including 2007 and back-to-back years in 2003 and 2004. He won his first honor in 1998 after leading the Musketeers to an A-10 Regular Season Championship and he was honored again in 2003 after he turned around a Xavier squad that began 2-6 in conference play and engineered a six-match winning streak to earn XU[apos]s sixth consecutive berth in the Atlantic 10 Tournament. In 2004, he led the Musketeers to the most conference wins in school history at 12-2 and claimed a share of the A-10 Regular Season Title, while advancing to the Championship Match of the A-10 Tournament. In 2007, Deaton led Xavier to an 11-2 conference mark, a second-place finish in the A-10 Championship and its first-ever at-large berth to the NCAA Tournament.
Deaton took over a struggling Xavier program in 1990 that had only managed a 46-111 record in the previous five years. Deaton was not deterred and led his inaugural team to a 19-17 record. Under Deaton, Xavier volleyball averaged 21 wins a season.
A 1978 graduate of West Liberty State College, Deaton took over at Xavier after a successful high school coaching career at Wheeling (W.Va.) Central Catholic High School.