For Wooster’s Jen Snowbarger, 24 years of coaching was never about the wins

Wooster volleyball coach Jen Snowbarger has put her players first for 24 years.

The former Wooster and Kent State volleyball standout has piled up 349 wins, nine Ohio Cardinal Conference titles and two Final Four trips but never reflected on those accolades along the way.

Instead, Snowbarger coaches in the moment, trying to make the most out of her present team.

“I never found coaching to be redundant because every season is different,” Snowbarger said. “Every group of girls is different. Though it was just volleyball, there's so much more to it: personality, success, expectations, positions that are handed to me, positions I'm creating. I've always enjoyed those challenges at the high school level.”

After quietly announcing this would be her last season coaching the Generals, school administrators and parents decided to honor Snowbarger at Wooster’s last home match Oct. 11.

T-shirts with the words “End of an Era” were handed out commemorating Snowbarger’s last season.

That slogan also could refer to her daughter, 6-foot-1 senior outside hitter Sara Snowbarger, who will graduate as one of Ohio’s all-time top players before suiting up for Indiana University.

Jen Snowbarger waved to the crowd at that final home match, but she was uncomfortable being in the spotlight.

“When we went back and talked as a team, my mom told us, ‘This day's about you all, not me,’” Sara Snowbarger said. “I was like, ‘Girl, every day has been about us, leading up until today. Let this be about you!’

“That just kind of shows how she is as a coach. She wants everything for all her girls and not for her.”

Coach Snowbarger is stepping away from coaching to spend more time with her family: husband Michael Snowbarger and children Luke, Sara and Will. She also will be freed up to watch Sara compete in the Big Ten next year.

Snowbarger didn’t know she was Wooster’s all-time winningest volleyball coach until research was done for this story. In fact, she had no idea of her win total.

First-year Athletic Director Joey Day checked the Wooster archives and found Snowbarger’s overall record was 349-195 after Monday’s win over Berea-Midpark.

That victory total easily surpassed Snowbarger’s former coach and the woman she took the program over from in 2002, Anita Jorney-Gifford, who had a 243-64 mark over 12 seasons.

“I control my schedule, so if I worried about wins, I could have easily made us have more by scheduling teams that we could beat,” Snowbarger said. “Becoming better and finding out how to beat the best is way more important than any win-loss stat.”

The 2025 Generals improved to 17-4 after beating Midpark on Oct. 14. Wooster finished 12-2 in the OCC and had its six-year streak of winning the league snapped by Dover.

Captains Sara Snowbarger (475 kills, 57 aces, 293 digs), Maddy Lee (122 kills, 42 blocks) and Lucy Franks, along with classmates Bri Hewitt (688 assists), Bailey Hahn (238 digs), Lily Klein and Alivia Elias form a strong senior class.

Junior Anna Melrose and sophomores Hope Jones (382 serve receptions) and Jillian McCloud (41 blocks) also have made key contributions.

“We have seven seniors, and I’ve been a little closer to them because I have my own kid in that class,” coach Snowbarger said. “It's a great group of girls, who truly just love volleyball. Mix in a few sophomores and some juniors that love it as well and I think it's just a good dynamic.”

The Generals are turning their attention to making a run in the OHSAA tournament. They’re seeded No. 9 in the eight-county Northeast Ohio Division II super-district and will have a district opener against Solon (2-18) at Olmsted Falls on Oct. 20 at 7 p.m.

“Even though we might have lost the league, I think there's so much more to come,” Lee said. “We're working hard right now, and we'll continue to do that."

Asked about playing for coach Snowbarger, Lee said, “She has just put so much in this program. She cares about us and is willing to come back every year and give us the best she has.”

Franks has missed time due to an injury, but the defensive specialist said she’s continued to learn a great deal even when sidelined.

“Just hearing (coach Snowbarger) talk to the girls and watching has been so amazing,” Franks said. “She's very confident, slightly intimidating, but in the best way possible. She is very straightforward, and she'll tell you how it is. As a player I definitely appreciate that.”

No one has benefited more from the guidance of coach Snowbarger than her daughter Sara, whose 1,859 career kills and counting rank second in area history behind all-time Ohio leader Kara Koch (2,196, Northwestern, 2005-08). Sara will wind up in the top 10 in Ohio history as well.

“I wouldn't have been a volleyball player if it weren't for my mom,” said Sara Snowbarger, who’s traveled throughout the U.S. for Mintonette Volleyball Club and won three national titles at the highest level. “She's just supported me through everything — even if it's hard for her.”

When Sara Snowbarger told her mom she wanted to play Div. I college volleyball, Jen said she’d support her trying out for nationally ranked Mintonette based out of Columbus.

“Sara just has a great drive to compete,” Jen Snowbarger said. “She’s a good all-around player with a high IQ. She can put a ball away but can also pass and serve-receive.

“You exhaust all possibilities (with travel volleyball), and at the end of the day, it is what it is. Just always dream big and put yourself in position to do the biggest thing possible.”

And the same can be said for Jen Snowbarger’s coaching career. She put everything she had into it, became one of the area’s all-time top coaches and never stopped to count the wins along the way.