Jordan Bruere.

Former Cleveland High volleyball standout Jordan Bruere, a member of the Storm’s inaugural team in 2009, has a new coaching gig.
The three-year Storm player, who graduated in 2012, was announced Jan. 9 as the head volleyball coach at Western Colorado University in Gunnison, after leaving Dodge City Community College in Kansas.
In her three years as the head coach of the DCCC Conquistadors, she turned around a program that won four games the season before her arrival into a squad that finished 22-9 in 2022 and went on to play in the NJCAA Region VI Semifinals, producing six all-conference performers.
“Jordan is a rising star in the volleyball coaching world,” said WCU Director of Athletics Miles Van Hee. “She was relied upon heavily as a graduate assistant at NCAA Division I Louisiana Monroe, was the chief assistant with an Otero Junior College program that won its Regional title for the first time in history, then added the successful turnaround at Dodge City to her glowing résumé.
“She impressed in the interview process with a player-first mentality and the desire to connect with her student-athletes as individuals rather than only as players, while also establishing program standards that set up the program and those individuals for success,” Van Hee added.
Before arriving in Dodge City, as an assistant at Otero JC, the Rattlers won a region championship and became a national contender, finishing seventh at the 2019 NJCAA D-I national tournament.
Her successful recruiting background got much of its start at Otero, where she set up the recruiting database, created player evaluations and contact points, and built extensive connections in Colorado, Texas and New Mexico, while growing her international connections that proved important when transforming the Dodge City program.
At Louisiana Monroe, she assisted with the indoor and beach volleyball programs. Bruere handled the setters and was the offensive coordinator for the indoor program, and in the spring was in charge of the non-traditional indoor season while also spearheading the outdoor beach program.
No stranger to the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference, Bruere played four seasons (2012-15) for the Colorado State University-Pueblo volleyball team, appearing in over 80 matches and amassing over 1,000 assists and over 600 digs for the ThunderWolves.
Western also has a place within her history: Her younger brother Easton, a former Rio Rancho High School quarterback, was part of the Mountaineers football program from 2017-19.
Her father, Carl, was the Rams’ offensive coordinator then, so coaching is likely in her genes.
Ben Wallis, Bruere’s coach at Cleveland in 2009-10 and now the volleyball coach at UTEP, said he recently saw her at the NCAA volleyball tournament in Indianapolis.
“(I) told her that if she needed help with anything to let me know, and I’ll look forward to sharing around from afar and help sending recruits her way … from here in El Paso and southern New Mexico.”
Wallis said he knew “she would probably be a good coach.
“I’m excited for her; I’ve kept in good contact with her while she’s been in the junior college ranks. … It makes you feel good as a coach to see some of your former players continuing to follow in your footsteps ion the profession,” Wallis said. “I think she’s got the right temperament and ability to recruit to be successful there in Colorado.”
As Bruere noted on Facebook, “It’s a hard day to be leaving a place I hold close to my heart. I will always be so thankful for Dodge City! With that being said, a new adventure begins.
“I am so grateful for the opportunity to lead Western Colorado volleyball! (and) excited to get back to Colorado and to coach in a conference I played in. From the moment I stepped on campus and from the first conversations I had, it felt like home. This is about to be one heck of an adventure.”