"Taylor [Whittmer] and Duane [Hill] are both excellent people and understand the process in building a championship program on and off the court," said Filar. "Taylor has the experience of seeing a championship program come together from the student-athlete perspective, while Duane has seen the process work at the club and high school level."

Wittmer will be responsible for working with the middle blockers and the team's blocking system along with coordinating the team's community involvement. She is additionally working towards her master's degree in Public Administration at UTC.

"Taylor was a part of an incredible turnaround at Indiana that concluded with her captaining them to the Sweet Sixteen as a senior," said Filar. "She is going to be able to help mentor our student-athletes, because she understands what it takes to be a leader."

Wittmer helped lead the Hoosiers to the program's first NCAA Sweet Sixteen appearance in 2010 as a middle blocker and right side hitter. She played in 128 matches during her four years at Indiana, while registering 1.67 kills and 0.92 blocks per set.

The Loogootee, Ind., was honored with the Big Ten Sportsmanship Award during the 2010 season voted upon by the league's coaches. Wittmer was acknowledged with the Coaches' Award in 2007 and the Player's Inspiration Award in 2009 by the Indiana volleyball program.

She received three Academic All-Big Ten selections and earned her degree in exercise science in May 2011.

Hill will work with the Mocs outside hitters and assist with setting up the team's offensive system. He began his coaching career working with Junior Olympic volleyball in the Atlanta, Ga., area in 1993 coaching teams between the ages of 14 and 18.

This experience began with Volleyball Atlanta, which transformed into A5 Volleyball, one of the top programs in the Southeast.  He has coached six different teams (1994, 1996-97, 2006-08) that have qualified for the National Championships.

The 1997 team was the first 18-year old team from Atlanta, Ga., to qualify for Nationals at a Junior Olympic Qualifier tournament.

"I have known Duane [Hill] for a long time." said Filar. "We met him during my first year at North Carolina, when I started recruiting the Atlanta area. He provides our staff with a wealth of knowledge and has been around volleyball his entire life. His coaching philosophy of being super upbeat and positive with a lot of energy matches the rest of the staff."

Additionally, he has coached at Milton High School (1993-95) and the Marist School (1996-99, 2005). During the five years at Marist, Hill was involved with three State Championship and two State runner-up teams.

Hill worked as the assistant coach at Brenau College in 2004.

In the Chattanooga area, Hill has been the head coach at Notre Dame High School (2007) and Ringgold High School (2009), while also working with the Choo Choo City Volleyball Club. He took Notre Dame to the District Championships in Tennessee and Ringgold to the Elite Eight in Georgia.

The Los Angeles, Calf., native earned an associates degree in history from Georgia Perimeter College. He is currently working towards his bachelor's in history education at UTC.

The Mocs have been practicing every day since Aug. 10 during their pre-season camp. The Blue-Gold game played at 4 p.m. inside Maclellan Gym on Aug. 21 concludes the camp.It will also be the team's Bone Marrow Donation Awareness Match.  Materials will be handed out on the "Be A Match" registry in honor of Heather Parman's father and Dr. Caroline Thompson, wife of Chancellor Dr. Roger Brown.