Ahen Kim Volleyball Camps Coaching Staff

Head Coach Ahen Kim

With a legacy of success including five NCAA Tournament appearances in six years at American University, Ahen Kim returned to Washington, D.C. in June, 2023, to lead a program where he has deep ties. Kim, the 2021 Ivy League Coach of the Year, took over as head coach of AU volleyball following his mentor and friend, the legendary Barry Goldberg.

In his first season as head coach of the Eagles in 2023, Kim guided the team to a 20-win season for the first time since 2019. American won seven of its final eight regular season matches before winning another two in the Patriot League Tournament and advancing to the title match at Colgate. Kim coached 2023 Patriot League Player of the Year and AVAC Honorable Mention All-American Zeynep Uzen, as well as 2023 Patriot League Setter of the Year Esma Sipahi. In December following the sesaon, Kim was named one of Volleyball Magazine's Coaching Hotshots Under 40.

Kim was an assistant at American from 2012-17 before leaving to take the head coaching spot at Brown University. In his five seasons in Providence, he quickly turned around a struggling program. In 2021, Kim was named the Ivy League’s Coach of the Year after leading the Bears to their first NCAA Tournament and first 20-win season in 23 years. Following the 2022 season, he left Brown to coach a professional team in South Korea. When the AU job opened, Kim welcomed the opportunity to return to the AU community.

During his first stint at American, Kim helped lead the Eagles to five straight Patriot League titles and was on the bench for AU’s NCAA Sweet Sixteen run in 2013 as well as the NCAA First Round victory in 2015. In 2013, American defeated Georgia and No. 14 Duke to reach the regional semifinals, and in 2015 the team beat No. 22 Kentucky to advance to the NCAA Second Round.

Over Kim’s six seasons, the Eagles posted a 162-42 overall record and an 83-8 mark in Patriot League contests. The program achieved a ranking of No. 19 in the final AVCA Coaches Poll of 2013 and finished the 2015 season with a perfect 18-0 record in Patriot League play.

While at American as an assistant, Kim coached and recruited three AVCA Honorable Mention All-Americans, six AVCA All-Region performers, and three Patriot League Players of the Year. He has guided five Patriot League Tournament MVPs, 15 First Team All-Patriot League selections, and 17 Patriot League All-Tournament honorees. Off the court, he mentored three Patriot League Scholar-Athletes of the Year, three CoSIDA Academic All-District selections, and one CoSIDA Academic All-American.

Kim became the fifth head coach in the 41-year history of the Brown volleyball program in 2017, taking over for Diane Short who retired from coaching after leading the Bears for 25 years. In his first year, Kim guided Brown to an 11-13 overall record, marking its most wins since the 2014 season. In just his second season, Kim had Brown up to 13 wins, its most since 2001, and a fourth-place finish in the Ivy League standings.

Following the team’s return from COVID, Kim completed the turnaround with a 20-6 overall record, an 11-1 Ivy League record and the Ivy League Player of the Year in Cierra Jenkins, who also earned honorable mention All-America honors. Under Kim's leadership, Brown became just the second team in Ivy League history to sweep the four yearly awards and the first team in league history to have five players named First Team All-Ivy.

Prior to his time American, Kim served as an assistant coach at Houston Baptist University during the 2011 season, as an assistant coach at George Washington University in 2010, and as an assistant coach at the Catholic University of America in 2009. He also coached with Metro Volleyball Club in Washington, D.C., from 2013-17, acting as the head coach of the U17 team.

A 2007 graduate of Franklin & Marshall College, he earned bachelor’s degrees in Sociology and American Government.

In 2022, Kim married Amy Pauly, a former standout volleyball player at Alabama who was an assistant and associate head coach at the University of Southern California from 2020 until 2023 before recently being announced as the head coach of the Orlando Pro Volleyball Federation.