HALL OF FAME FEATURE: Nicole Barringer '15/'17

Nicole Barringer’s legacy at Averett University stretches far beyond her athletic prowess. Not only did she produce hall of fame numbers on the volleyball court, she also showcased hall of fame attributes off it. Now, she can officially add being an Averett Athletics Hall of Famer to the long list her accolades as a member of the 2020 class.

“I was very honored and had a lot of mixed emotions and I didn’t know how to get them out into words, but I said, ‘Thank you,’” Barringer said after receiving the call from Averett Director of Athletics Meg Stevens.

Barringer recalled when she first came to Averett and seeing all of the other storied volleyball players who are members of Averett’s Hall of Fame. She never expected to be listed among those names.

“It’s one of those things that you think is not in the cards for me,” she thought. “That’s someone who is elite, top of the talent and it’s just awesome to be a part of a program that had volleyball players like that. So it’s never anything that you think about. It’s not what is on your mind while you are playing. You just work hard and you want to win, so you do what you can to make sure your team gets there. And I just took every opportunity that came my way.”

Opportunities were one staple that Barringer took the most advantage of during her time at Averett. With her playing career flourishing on the court, it was what she did off the court that helped distinguish herself even more. She served as Averett’s Student-Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC) president and was recognized as a national SAAC representative by the NCAA.

“I think being on national SAAC taught me a lot about how the NCAA works as a whole, how decisions are made and how changes are made,” Barringer said. “I got to be a part of a campaign, an ‘NCAA If You Can Play’ campaign and those are opportunities that I don’t know if I would have ever been able to be a part of without Averett.”

Playing for the Cougars from 2011-14, Barringer was a four-time USA South All-Conference setter who was named to the American Volleyball Coaches Association (ACVA) Honorable Mention All-America team as a senior, earned Averett’s prestigious Frank Campbell Sportsmanship Award as a junior and the Barbara Kushubar Female Student-Athlete of the Year as a senior. Furthermore, Barringer also earned two of the USA South’s most prestigious awards in the Don Scalf Award and the Rita Wiggs Woman of the Year Award, cementing herself as one of the most well-rounded student-athletes in Averett athletics history.

Her time at Averett planted a strong foundation that has helped Barringer succeed in her current roles. Barringer is the volleyball head coach at William Peace University, where she also serves as the assistant director of athletics, the senior woman administrator and the director of compliance for the USA South Conference school located in Raleigh, North Carolina. She credits her experiences gained during her six years at Averett — four as a student-athlete and two as a volleyball graduate assistant coach — with helping her ascend the ladder and be able to multitask her various roles.

“Basically there would be no way I would be where I am today and doing things that I am doing, making the decisions that I make without the people I met or the opportunities I got and who I interacted with at Averett,” Barringer added.

However, Barringer’s journey to the top of the mountain grew out of early freshman struggles and developed into career marked by consistency and a competitive drive that pushed teammates and led to the 2013 USA South North Division regular season championship.

“I remember earning the starting spot in our first conference match as a freshman and it’s ironic because it was against William Peace,” Barringer added. “We drove to Raleigh and I don’t think I knew yet that I would be the starter, but coach Danny Miller tells me as we are warming up that I’m going to be the starting setter and I was like, ‘Alright, let’s go!’ Well in my mind I was actually really, really nervous and it showed. I went out there and you would have thought that I had never touched a volleyball before. I doubled every other ball, I couldn’t put a ball in front of a hitter, I was setting the ball over the net, it was spinning out of my hands and I was just mentally not there and just not mentally tough. … It’s just funny because you always talk about when you get the opportunity to start you need to make the most of it and boy, did I not make the most of it.”

Thankfully for Barringer, that first start didn’t define her. She went on to produce at an alarming rate, racking up 4,654 career assists for a 9.99 assists per set average in 466 career assists. Meanwhile, she helped produce one regular season championship and helped her team advance to the USA South Tournament finals in two of her four years.

“I had to learn really early on to be consistent to make sure my teammates where successful,” Barringer stated. “It was also a lot of communication, making sure I communicated well with my hitters to make sure I was giving them what they wanted. I think my teammates and Coach Miller really helped me with that. I think one thing that, when you talk about what contributed to my success, it was that my parents always taught me to do whatever the team needs.”

Following her graduation in 2015, Barringer opted to remain at Averett as a graduate assistant coach, working under her mentor Miller. She quickly fell in love with the world of intercollegiate athletics.

“I instantly fell in love with being in an athletics department and especially one like Averett that is so tight-knit, where everyone got along and everyone helped out,” Barringer described. “You’d walk past someone and say I need help with this and boom, they’re dropping the hat and helping you and it was just something that you want to be a part of and that’s just how it is in athletics. I think a lot of that contributed to why I stayed in college athletics and I feel like an athletics department is where I can come help change and affect student-athletes’ lives, because my life was changed at Averett and I think that I can help other student-athletes have that same type of experience.”