Libby Boyles has gone full circle in the Princeton High School volleyball program.

The 2022 PHS graduate, who played for and coached under newly retired coach Andy Puck, was officially hired as the Tigresses’ new head coach at Wednesday’s school board meeting.

The 21-year-old Boyles has put together an extensive coaching resume in a short time.

She has coached three years at the club volleyball level, served as a PHS assistant, gaining first-hand knowledge of the program’s culture, and currently leads the seventh grade team at Logan Junior High.

“This was always the dream. I just feel like it’s come full circle,” Boyles said. “It’s something that definitely came along earlier that I or maybe anybody would have expected. I’m young, so I may have caught some people off guard. I knew not applying for it when the opportunity came is something that I would have regretted not doing.

“I put myself out there. In my interview process, I was honest. I’m young, but I have a lot to bring to the table.

“I don’t expect to go into it not making mistakes. I’m going to have to be patient with myself. I have a real good support system with Princeton High School athletics behind me. That’s all the way around with all the coaches in all the sports. I know I have people around me.”

Athletic director Jeff Ohlson said PHS couldn’t be happier to welcome Boyles as the Tigresses’ new head coach.

“Coach Boyles brings a wealth of experience and a deep understanding of the game to our sidelines. Her unique perspective as a former PHS athlete, combined with her technical expertise and infectious energy, makes her the perfect leader for our student-athletes,” he said. “We look forward to the competitiveness, passion and elite energy she will bring to the court leading the blue and gray.”

After her career as a defensive specialist at Princeton, Boyles took her talents to the collegiate level at IVCC before transitioning into her true passion: coaching.

Outside of the gymnasium, Boyles serves as a BSA/Fraud Specialist at Central Bank in Princeton.

Puck finds it only fitting to see his protege take over his chair.

“Libby has always had a passion for the game of volleyball. Her knowledge, attention to detail and positive demeanor are second to none,” he said. “I’m so proud and honored to have witnessed Libby’s journey as her coach to now watch from the stands as she becomes the promising coach. It’s such a full circle moment.”

Boyles knows she has big shoes to fill following Puck, but she’s not going to try to fill them.

“Nobody is ever going to fill his shoes. There is a reason he is the all-time winningest volleyball coach in Princeton volleyball history and that’s because he knew what he was doing,“ Boyles said. ”I’m never going to hold myself to try to be Andy Puck. But there’s a lot of things he did in his years of coaching that I absolutely admire. It’s really, really cool to play for him, coach with him and now take over.”

The things Boyles said she learned most from Puck was to have passion for the sport and now as a coach to be strong in your ways.

“That’s one thing he never lacked telling me and (fellow assistant) Anna (Murray) that especially coming in as a young coach, have my backbone. I’ve got to go in there and not roll over when it comes to the hard things,” she said.

The new coach wants to continue to build on the volleyball community in Princeton.

“It’s just an overall great community in the Princeton volleyball program. Andy Puck built that and we’re going to keep it,” Boyles said. “It’s not just a freshman team and a sophomore team and a varsity team. It’s a whole program. It goes all the way down to the grade school camps that Puck put on for so many years. It’s a program. It’s a family.”

Boyles becomes the sixth coach in program history. She is the youngest at 21 to become head coach in not only volleyball, but likely any sport at PHS. Rita Placek, who took the program to great heights in her storied career from 1974-98, was 22 when she took the job out of college.

Other PHS volleyball coaches over the years include Julie Nagel (1973), Julie Sherbeyn (1999-2000) and Courtney Sapp (2001) with Puck taking over in 2002.