Oklahoma City University Athletics

Kristen Coventon has guided Oklahoma City University since 2019 and has a 109-61 record at OCU.

OCU has won two Sooner Athletic Conference regular-season championships, two SAC Tournament titles, had two NAIA Championship Opening Round wins and two appearances in the NAIA Championships in that time. She has been American Volleyball Coaches Association South Central Region coach of the year two times and SAC coach of the year twice.

Coventon has mentored five NAIA all-Americans, four AVCA all-Americans, nine all-region selections, two region player of the year honorees, one region defender of the year, three SAC most valuable player award winners, two league setter of the year honorees, one SAC defensive player of the year and 27 all-conference performers as OCU head coach. The Stars have also had three AVCA team academic awards, three NAIA scholar teams, three SAC scholar teams, 26 NAIA scholar-athletes, 26 SAC scholar-athletes, 33 academic all-conference nods, two CoSIDA academic all-Americans and two academic all-district recipients in those three years.

In 2021, Oklahoma City went 18-10 and tied for second in the SAC standings. Sophia Salak became the program’s all-time leader in assists. In 2020-21, OCU moved its conference winning streak to 36 matches while sweeping the SAC regular-season and tournament titles for the second year in a row.

In 2019, Coventon's first at OCU, the Stars (34-4) set school records with their .895 winning percentage and winning streak of 33 matches. Oklahoma City matched the most victories in a season and posted its fifth 30-win season in program history, and reached the round of 16 in the NAIA Championships.

Coventon returned to OCU after spending the previous five years as the head coach at Southwestern Christian University. She had served as an assistant coach with the Stars prior to becoming a head coach.

In five years at SCU, Coventon established many program benchmarks, including leading the Eagles to their most wins in a season (23), guiding their first winning season and mentoring their first NAIA all-American, and two National Christian College Athletic Association all-Americans.

Coventon led SCU to winning marks, including two 20-win seasons, in her last three years. She took the program from two wins in Sooner Athletic Conference play her first year to 13 league victories in her final year. She led Southwestern Christian to 86 victories in five years. In all, Conventon guided 17 all-SAC performers, four all-region choices, the 2017 SAC newcomer of the year, an NCCAA all-tournament recipient, eight NAIA scholar-athlete selections, seven NCCAA scholar-athlete award winners and 31 academic all-conference honorees at SCU.

In 2018, Southwestern Christian (23-11) reached the SAC Tournament semifinals and the NCCAA Championships semifinals. Her team succeeded in the classroom, ranking among the top 10 in the NAIA in team grade-point average. In 2016, SCU notched its first 20-win season (20-16) with appearances in the SAC Tournament and the NCCAA Central Regional.

Coventon has also been active coaching youth. She is vice president and founder of Rise Volleyball Club, and has been head coach of the USA Volleyball Oklahoma region high performance team.

In Coventon's two seasons as an assistant coach with OCU, she helped coach six all-SAC selections, including the 2013 NAIA Mid-South Region and SAC freshman of the year.

She began her coaching career as an assistant with Central Oklahoma after being a four-year standout there from 2006-10. She became one of only three players in school history to record 1,000 or more kills and digs in a career, finishing with 1,307 kills and 1,478 digs. She also notched 153 blocks and 97 aces while becoming a three-time all-Lone Star Conference player for the Bronchos. She helped lead UCO to two 20-win seasons and a 70-59 overall record in her four years. She has a degree in kinesiology from Central Oklahoma.

A graduate of Christian Heritage Academy in Del City, Okla., Coventon was an all-state selection in both volleyball and basketball at the high-school level. Coventon and her husband, Ryan, were married in June 2015.