ODESSA, Texas (KOSA) - There’s a new face at UTPB. CJ Allard is the new head coach of the Falcons volleyball team.

CJ Allard grew up in Indiana and was born into volleyball. His mother played college volleyball at the University of Georgia and has coached middle school volleyball. His father officiated at the international level and has the highest winning percentage for a boys high school volleyball coach in Indiana.

Allard’s parents would discuss volleyball and watch volleyball all the time when he was young. It fostered a love of volleyball that would turn into a passion and a career for their son.

Allard attended Ball State University, where he was a student manager for the women’s volleyball team and a play-by-play announcer for the men’s volleyball team.

There, he met Corey Carlin, who left Ball State as an assistant coach to become the head coach for UNC Greensboro. He stayed in contact with Carlin and was offered a job as an assistant.

From Greensboro, Allard was an assistant coach at Coastal Carolina and Northeastern before landing his first head coaching job in Odessa with the UTPB Falcons.

With hard work and a team he’s happy with, Allard believes this program can achieve great things.

CJ Allard will make his head coaching and UTPB Falcons debut in San Angelo on September 6th.