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CONGRATULATIONS TO ASSISTANT ATHLETIC DIRECTOR ERIK EASTMAN
Saint Ignatius College Prep is hosting the dinner and reception for the Girls Catholic Athletic Conference Hall of Fame for its 50th anniversary on Sunday, April 21. And that's not the only big news. Athletic Director Mike Hurley says he is excited to share that Assistant Athletic Director and Assistant Girls & Boys Volleyball Coach, Erik Eastman, will be inducted into the Hall of Fame during the event, along with eleven other individuals and two teams from GCAC member schools.
"Please join me in congratulating Erik on his wonderful honor! We do have limited spots available at tables that our athletic department has purchased," said Hurley, 'If you are interested in attending on Sunday, please reach out to me ASAP."
Erik Eastman joined the Saint Ignatius athletics department in the Spring of 2005 while still acting as the boys’ volleyball head coach at Marist High School and after starting the girls’ volleyball program there in 2003. In the fall of 2005, Coach Eastman took over as head coach of the Saint Ignatius girls’ volleyball program, where he has been a part of the varsity program for 18 years, acting as head coach for 16 of those seasons. During his tenure, he helped lead the Wolfpack to a 2012 GCAC Red Championship, 11 IHSA Regional Championships, 4 IHSA Sweet 16 appearances, an IHSA Sectional Championship, an IHSA Super Sectional Championship and a 3rd Place finish at the IHSA State Finals.
Coach Eastman has recorded 353 wins as head coach, making him the winningest coach in program history and placing amongst the winningest coaches in school history. Coach Eastman’s teams have also produced thirty student-athletes who went on to play at the collegiate and collegiate club levels with two girls earning GCAC Player of the Year honors and three girls earning Saint Ignatius Female Athlete of the Year. He was named Sports Town Chicago Coach of the Year in 2012 and named to the American Volleyball Coaches Association 300-win club.
Coach Eastman has also been a part of the Saint Ignatius boys volleyball program for 16 years, serving as head coach for five years from 2016-2020, with the 2020 season being canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. In his eight seasons at the varsity level, he helped the Wolfpack to four Chicago Catholic League titles (including the first in school history in 2017), ten IHSA Regional titles, four IHSA Sweet 16 appearances, an IHSA Sectional title and an Elite Eight appearance at the 2022 IHSA State Finals. Coach Eastman recorded 126 wins as head coach of the boys program making him the winningest coach in program history. He has also helped out with the girls bowling program for three seasons with one as head coach, during which three girls qualified for the IHSA Sectional.
In total, Coach Eastman has amassed 479 victories as a volleyball head coach at Saint Ignatius College Prep. Reflecting on his time as a coach at Saint Ignatius, Eastman said “I would like to thank all of the assistant and head coaches I have worked with along with all of the athletic department colleagues who have supported me over the years but I would mostly like to thank my family, especially my wife Donna, son Michael and daughter Sydney. They sacrificed for me to pursue my love of volleyball. They got the highs of the wins and the agony of the defeats! I was trying to make them proud of me!”
Coach Eastman has recorded 353 wins as head coach, making him the winningest coach in program history and placing amongst the winningest coaches in school history. Coach Eastman’s teams have also produced thirty student-athletes who went on to play at the collegiate and collegiate club levels with two girls earning GCAC Player of the Year honors and three girls earning Saint Ignatius Female Athlete of the Year. He was named Sports Town Chicago Coach of the Year in 2012 and named to the American Volleyball Coaches Association 300-win club.
Coach Eastman has also been a part of the Saint Ignatius boys volleyball program for 16 years, serving as head coach for five years from 2016-2020, with the 2020 season being canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. In his eight seasons at the varsity level, he helped the Wolfpack to four Chicago Catholic League titles (including the first in school history in 2017), ten IHSA Regional titles, four IHSA Sweet 16 appearances, an IHSA Sectional title and an Elite Eight appearance at the 2022 IHSA State Finals. Coach Eastman recorded 126 wins as head coach of the boys program making him the winningest coach in program history. He has also helped out with the girls bowling program for three seasons with one as head coach, during which three girls qualified for the IHSA Sectional.
In total, Coach Eastman has amassed 479 victories as a volleyball head coach at Saint Ignatius College Prep. Reflecting on his time as a coach at Saint Ignatius, Eastman said “I would like to thank all of the assistant and head coaches I have worked with along with all of the athletic department colleagues who have supported me over the years but I would mostly like to thank my family, especially my wife Donna, son Michael and daughter Sydney. They sacrificed for me to pursue my love of volleyball. They got the highs of the wins and the agony of the defeats! I was trying to make them proud of me!”
Saint Ignatius College Prep
Saint Ignatius College Prep, a Jesuit Catholic school in the heart of Chicago, is a diverse community dedicated to educating young men and women for lives of faith, love, service and leadership.
