Brian Rushmer is in his seventh year as the head men's volleyball coach at Lakeland in 2025-26 school year.
Rushmer is the longest-tenured coach in the Muskies’ men’s volleyball varsity history, now having coached six of the program’s first 12 seasons at the NCAA level. His teams have won 36 matches in his time, including a 7-17 mark in 2025.
That season came after Lakeland qualified for the Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference Tournament for the first time in his tenure in 2024. Lakeland finished 4-8 in conference, a two-win improvement in league from the year before, and finished eighth in the conference standings, its best finish in the NACC since 2019.
Rushmer’s first six years included leading the program through the COVID-19 pandemic, which resulted in shortened schedules his first three years. Lakeland finished 6-12 in 2022, including a 3-9 mark in the NACC. The year before the Muskies played just 12 matches in 2021 due to the coronavirus, finishing 3-9 overall and 3-7 in the NACC. And in Rushmer’s first year in 2020, the Muskies posted a 6-14 overall record before their season was ended early in March due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
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Rushmer came to Lakeland after spending four years as an assistant at Marian University just down the road in Fond du Lac. He was an assistant coach with both the men's and women's volleyball programs at Marian, the Muskies' NACC rival. He assisted with the men's team, joining just before the program's first varsity season in 2015, and also assisted with the Sabres women's volleyball team in the 2018 season.
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Rushmer assisted head coach Tyler Frings in making Marian's men's team competitive immediately, with the Sabres winning nine matches in their first season and improving to 13 wins two years later. In his final season Marian finished fifth in the NACC and as the fourth seed in the NACC Tournament hosted a conference tourney match for the first time.
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Rushmer is a native of Wauwatosa, Wis., and has coached volleyball at a host of different levels, from college and high schools to clubs and recreation and both indoor and on sand. He has coached the Germantown High School boys volleyball varsity team since 2006, starting the program from scratch, making it to state six times and winning a WIAA state championship in 2018.
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He also has been a coach with the Milwaukee Volleyball Club since 2010, and has directed camps and programs for the Germantown Parks and Recreation Department since 2007. He also coaches with the sand volleyball program with the Ozaukee Volleyball Club, leading summer camps.
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| Brian Rushmer Lakeland MVB Coaching Record |
|
| Year |
Overall |
Conf. |
NACC Finish |
|
| 2020 |
6-14 |
2-4 |
9th |
|
| 2021 |
3-9 |
2-7 |
10th |
|
| 2022 |
6-12 |
3-9 |
tie-9th |
|
| 2023 |
7-17 |
2-10 |
tie-11th |
|
| 2024 |
7-17 |
4-8 |
tie-8th |
|
| 2025 |
7-17 |
1-11 |
12th |
|
| Career (6 seasons) |
36-86 |
14-49 |
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