Caroline Walters

One of the top defensive players in West Coast Conference history, Caroline Walters enters her sixth season as head coach of the Cal Poly volleyball program in 2025 after being hired in December of 2018. Prior to being named head coach, she spent two seasons as the team's associate head coach and eight seasons as an assistant coach. Overall, Walters is in her 17th year with the program.

2024 was arguably her greatest at the Cal Poly helm, as Walters put together a season for the books. Under her leadership, the Mustangs not only clinched the top seed for the Big West Championships but also its first conference regular season title since 2018. Walters' first title since taking over full-time in 2019 comes in the same season the revered head coach reached the coveted 100 career wins milestone. Cal Poly ended the regular season as the only Big West team with 20+ overall wins in 2024, and this also marks the third straight campaign in which the Mustangs have earned 14 conference wins. The Mustangs also became just one of a handful of schools in the NCAA Division I this season to stack up double-digit wins on the road. Under her watch, Tommi Stockham became just the second Mustang in Big West history to make the Four-Time All-First Team list, backed by five other Mustangs garnering seven more All-Big West honors in 2025.

In 2023, Walters led the Mustangs to a top three finish in the Big West, the eighth consecutive season they have been in the top three standings for conference. Cal Poly wrapped the season up with an overall record of 21-11, including 14-4 in conference. She watched three of her athletes earn All-Big West honors - Tommi Stockham, Lizzy Markovska, Emme Bullis. Six of her players earned Big West All Academic honors. 

In 2022, Walters led the Mustangs to another top three finish in the Big West. Cal Poly ended the season 17-13 overall and 14-6 in Big West play, finishing third to mark the seventh consecutive season the program has been in the top three of the conference standings. Five of her players earned All-Big West honors, including two First Team All-Big West. Maia Dvoracek was also named to the AVCA Pacific North All-Region Team. As a team, the Mustangs ranked in the top three in the conference in service aces, hitting percentage, and blocks.

After having the 2020 season canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Walters returned for her second season in 2021 where she directed the team to a 15-16 overall record, 13-7 conference mark. The Mustangs finished third in the Big West standings to mark the sixth consecutive year the program has finished in the top three of the standings. She saw three players - Tommi Stockham, Meredith Phillips, and Peyton Dueck earn All-Big West honors. As a team, the Mustangs were second in the Big West in opponent hitting percentage after holding teams to a .195 hitting percentage and third in the Big West in service aces.

In her first season as head coach in 2019, Walters guided the program to a 21-9 overall record, a 13-3 conference record; good for a second place finish, its third consecutive NCAA Tournament appearance (first at-large berth since 2002) and a five-set comeback win over Georgia in the first round of the tournament. In addition, she also directed the team to an 11-0 home record to become the nation's active leader in consecutive matches won at home at 32 dating back to 2016. During the season, the team collected wins over No. 16 Utah, Pepperdine, UCSB, and Cal Poly's first-ever 3-0 sweep of No. 19 Hawai'i on Oct. 11. She also landed six players who earned All-Big West honors, including junior Maia Dvoracek who was also named an AVCA Third Team All-American. Her team finished the season tops in the conference and seventh in the nation in aces per set, as well as third in the conference in both blocks per set and opponent hitting percentage

Prior to becoming head coach, Walters’ primary on-court responsibilities as associate head coach and assistant coach with the Mustangs include working with Cal Poly’s serve receivers and down defenders while her off-court focus is geared toward the coordination of recruiting efforts. During the summer of 2014 alone, Walters helped compile PrepVolleyball.com’s 23rd-ranked recruiting class.

During her time with the program, Walters has coached 49 All-Big West Conference selections as well as 2011 Big West Player of the Year Jennifer Keddy, 2015 Freshman of the Year Adlee Van Winden, 2017 Big West Player of the Year Taylor Nelson, 2018 Big West Player of the Year Torrey Van Winden, and 2019 AVCA Third Team All-American Maia Dvoracek.

Walters also served as Cal Poly’s interim head coach for a majority of the 2011 season.

A four-year letterwinner and three-time All-West Coast Conference honorable mention selection at Santa Clara (2003-07), Walters remains second in league history with 1,932 career digs and ranks first in Bronco program history with a 4.59 career dig-per-set average.

A four-time team Defensive Most Valuable Player recipient, Walters owns four of the top five single season per-set dig marks in Santa Clara history. Walters enjoyed her top collegiate campaign as a sophomore in 2005 as her conference-leading 516 digs – the third highest single season total in Santa Clara history – helped propel the Broncos to a program-record 27 victories, a West Coast championship, a berth into the NCAA Tournament national semifinals and a final No. 4 ranking in the AVCA Coaches Top 25 Poll.

With Walters in the lineup, Santa Clara posted an 84-34 overall record, a 41-15 combined West Coast mark and failed to finish lower than third in the conference standings during any of her four seasons. Walters appeared in 421 of a possible 428 sets during her career. A native of Los Gatos, Calif., Walters earned an accounting degree from Santa Clara.

Walters arrived on the Central Coast in 2009 following a year stint as an assistant coach with the 18-Blue squad of the Los Gatos-based Vision Volleyball Club where she helped with practice planning and on-court techniques and strategies.