Legendary coach Jerry Abraham returns to Madonna in 2007 for his 21st season guiding the Crusaders after leading the school to a league record 10th-straight regular season WHAC title in 2006.

Abraham has built a program literally from the ground up at Madonna as the only coach the program has ever known. In his 20 years at the helm the Crusaders have become the perennial Wolverine-Hoosier Athletic Conference favorite and a national power.

After leading the Crusaders to a 38-5 overall mark in 2006, Abraham has moved up to second all-time on the NAIA career coaching wins list with 809.  He became just the second NAIA coach to ever win 800 matches after a 3-1 win at Siena Heights (October 17, 2006).

Abraham’s success can be summed up by the events of 2004 when he was inducted into two separate Hall of Fame’s in the same year.

In September of 2005, Abraham became the lone member inducted into the inaugural class of the newly established Madonna Athletics Hall of Fame. As part of a surprise ceremony at the annual student-athlete convocation held at Madonna, Abraham was presented with the honor.

The athletic department at Madonna inducted Abraham on short notice to coincide with his induction into the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) Hall of Fame in December of 2005.  Abraham was recognized by the NAIA in the coaches category and inducted as part of the 2005 National Championship banquet held just prior to the National Tournament in San Diego, California.

Abraham directs the Madonna University volleyball program with a quiet yet reassuring confidence that is the unmistakable life blood of one of the nation’s most successful programs. It is a confidence not gleaned from the shine of numerous trophies and accolades bestowed upon the coach and the program, though no one would question if it was. In 19 seasons at Madonna, Abraham has collected wins at a staggering pace. Never having posted less than 29 wins in a season, he earned his 600th career victory at Madonna, on September 7th, 2002, with a win over Saginaw Valley State (only the third NAIA coach to reach the milestone) and has firmly entrenched the Crusaders among the elite programs in the nation.

Abraham does not reflect on past successes. “Fans can get spoiled very quickly in athletics and that’s a problem,” Abraham said. “It’s not easy to be successful in anything when people get accustomed to specific results, it sometimes loses its effect on the players and they forget what it really takes to succeed and how important the journey really should be to their development.”

Instead, Abraham addresses each new team and season on its own terms and his confidence lies in the ability and work ethic of his current players and coaching staff.

“I’m not much of a believer in predicting a team’s level of success,” said Abraham. “I can only state that we’re going to do our best. If we’re good enough to win matches then we’re going to win matches, but if we lose it’s not going to be because we didn’t work hard and it’s not going to be because we rested on our program’s previous laurels.”

For a good example of this statement, look no further than the 2003 season. Following the 2002 run to the “Final Four” the Crusaders had to deal with the loss of a pair of All-Americans, only to return to San Diego and a spot in the National Quarterfinals. The 2003 season saw Madonna capture its second-consecutive perfect WHAC regular season (and seventh straight conference title), becoming the first team in conference history to pull off the feat. In addition, the 2003 Crusaders extended their home winning streak to 33 straight games (before falling to Cornerstone in the WHAC tournament), eclipsing the previous standard set from 1991-92.

During the first 19 seasons of Madonna volleyball the team has never finished below .500 and has averaged nearly 43 wins per year. Abraham has amassed 809 wins and a .795 career winning percentage. Under his watch nine Crusader squads (‘93, ‘95, ’96, '00, ‘02, ‘03, ‘04, ‘05 & '06) have advanced to the NAIA National Championship Tournament. Additionally, Madonna has been ranked in the NAIA Top 25 at some point during every season since 1993. Last year the Crusaders remained in the NAIA top 25 poll every week during the season, closing it out with a #3 final ranking before the post-season tournament, the highest final ranking in team history.

While the team’s goals are the most important to Abraham and his staff, his teams have seen their fare share of individual accolades as a result of success. Abraham’s teams have produced nine NAIA First Team All-Americans, eight Second Team All-Americans, five Third Team All-Americans and 11 Honorable Mention All-Americans. Also, Crusader volleyball players have been named NAIA All-America Scholar-Athlete 26 times in Abraham’s career.  Abraham’s philosophy of a Madonna Volleyball family is readily apparent in the continued involvement of former players. Coach Abraham has built a solid program both on and off the court.

Madonna joined the Wolverine-Hoosier Athletic Conference (WHAC) in 1997 and Abraham promptly guided his squad to both the conference regular season and playoff championships in 1997 and 1998. The Crusaders again won the regular season championship in 1999 before dropping their first-ever WHAC postseason match. Responding to this adversity, the Crusaders rebounded to win both the WHAC regular-season and tournament titles again in 2000.

The most successful season yet came in 2005 when Abraham guided his team to a 48-2 record and another berth in the NAIA Final Four. The Crusaders advanced to the NAIA National Semifinals, falling to eventual national champion California Baptist in five games, but finished the season as the third best team in the country.

In each of Madonna's 10 seasons in the WHAC, Abraham has guided his troops to an outright or shared conference championship. The Crusaders are 112-6 in regular season WHAC play and have dropped just two conference postseason matches. From 2002, 2003, and 2005, Abraham’s troops pulled off one of the most impressive runs in WHAC history, not losing a singe game en route to the perfect season.  After a 14-0 mark in 2006, the Crusaders had accomplished their fifth ever perfect season in league play.

Abraham has been named NAIA District 23 Coach of the Year three times, Great Lakes Sectional Coach of the Year twice, WHAC Coach of the Year three times, Great Lakes Region Coach of the Year twice and twice named NAIA Region VIII Coach of the Year as well.  Abraham was also honored as NAIA Coach of the Year following a successful 2005 season.

Additionally, in 1994 Abraham took over the softball program at Madonna and led the Crusaders to the NAIA World Series - meaning he took two separate teams to the NAIA National Tournament during the same academic year.

Prior to his days at Madonna, Abraham compiled a 270-70 record at Bishop Borgess High School in Redford, Michigan. His Borgess teams won five district titles, three regional crowns, three Catholic League championships and finished Class A state runner-up in 1986 and Class B state runner-up in 1988.
He has been named to the Bishop Borgess High School Hall of Fame as well as the Detroit Catholic League Hall of Fame.

Abraham earned a Bachelor of Science degree from Eastern Michigan University (1976) with a major in Physical Education, a minor in English and Health Science and an Elementary Teaching Certificate. He went on to earn his master’s degree in Guidance and Counseling, also from Eastern Michigan. Currently, Abraham is a full-time middle school Guidance Counselor in Taylor, MI and is also the Director of the Crusader Juniors AAU Volleyball program.

Abraham's Coaching Accomplishments
- Head coach at Madonna since the program's inception in 1987
- Inducted into the MU Athletic Hall of Fame in September of 2005
- Inducted into the NAIA Hall of Fame in December of 2005
- Is Madonna's all-time winningest volleyball coach and ranks second all-time in the NAIA with 809 wins
- Owns the best all-time winning percentage in the NAIA (.795)
- Averages 40.5 wins per season
- Led the Crusaders to a school record 52 wins in 1996
- Has guided MU to 10-straight WHAC regular season championships
- Guided the Crusaders to nine NAIA National Tournament appearances
- Has helped MU to two NAIA 'Final Four' appearances (2002 and 2005)
- Has kept every Crusader team since 1993 in the NAIA Top 25 poll
- Named NAIA National Coach of the Year in 2005
- Named WHAC Coach of the Year three times (2002, 2004, 2005)
- 3-times named NAIA District 23 Coach of the Year
- Twice named Great Lakes Sectional Coach of the Year
- Twice has earned Great Lakes Region Coach of the Year honors
- Has twice been named NAIA Region VIII Coach of the Year (2004 and 2005)
- Has coached 33 NAIA All-Americans, including nine first team selections
- Has had eight of his players named WHAC Player of the Year

Abraham's Year-by-Year Head Coaching Record at Madonna

Year W  L  PCT  CW  CL  PCT  Postseason  1987  35  18  .660  --  --  --     1988  40  17  .702  --  --  --     1989  43  12  .782  --  --  --     1990  32  19  .627  --  --  --  WHAC Tournament Champs, Region VIII Runner-up   1991  42  11  .792  --  --  --  Region VIII Runner-up   1992  43  10  .811  --  --  --  Region VIII Tournament Appearance   1993  46  8  .852  --  --  --  NAIA National Tournament Appearance   1994  29  20  .592  --  --  --  WHAC Tournament Champs, Region VIII Runner-up   1995  48  14  .774  --  --  --  NAIA National Tournament Appearance   1996  52  6  .897  --  --  --  NAIA National Tournament Appearance ^&*  1997  34  15  .694  10  2  .833  WHAC Tournament Champs, Region VIII Tournament  Appearance   1998  44  7  .863  12  0  1.000  WHAC Tournament Champs, Region VIII Runner-up   1999  29  14  .674  11  1  .917     2000  40  8  .833  11  1  .917  WHAC Tournament Champs, Region VIII Champs,  NAIA National Tournament Appearance   2001  32  10  .762  11  1  .917  WHAC Tournament Runner-up, Region VIII  Tournament Appearance   2002  48  4  .923  12  0  1.000  WHAC Tournament Champs, Region VIII Champs,  NAIA National Tournament Final Four   2003  44  4  .917  10  0  1.000  WHAC Tournament Runner-up, Region VIII Champs,  NAIA National Tournament Quarterfinals   2004  42  5  .894  9  1  .900  WHAC Tournament Champs, Region VIII Runner-up,  NAIA National Tournament Appearance  2005  48  2  .960  12  0  1.000  WHAC Tournament Champs, Region VIII Champs,  NAIA National Tournament Final Four   2006  38  5  .884  14  0  1.000  WHAC Tournament Champs, Region VIII Champs,  NAIA National Tournament Appearance   TOTALS  809  209  .795  112  6  .949