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Arizona volleyball alum Charita Stubbs was named Arizona's fourth head volleyball coach in January of 2023. Stubbs played at Arizona for Dave Rubio from 1992 to 1994 and spent 19 total years (1997 to 2005, 2013 to 2022) on Rubio's coaching staff at Arizona.
During Stubbs' 22 seasons on staff, Arizona has made the NCAA Tournament in 15 of those years.
In 2025, Stubbs led Arizona to its first NCAA Tournament appearance since 2018 with a record of 17-13 (10-8 Big 12). During the regular season, the Wildcats upset three top 25 teams over No. 13 TCU, No. 16 Baylor, and No. 21 BYU and finished in a tie for sixth place in the Big 12. In the NCAA Tournament, Stubbs coached Arizona to a four-set win over seventh-seeded South Dakota State in the first round. Under Stubbs' guidance, senior Jordan Wilson earned AVCA All-American honorable mention, AVCA All-Pacific Region (first-team), and first-team All-Big 12 honors while cementing her career in the Arizona record books. Sophomores Carlie Cisneros and Avery Scoggins earned All-Big 12 second team accolades with the help of Stubbs.
In 2024, Stubbs led Arizona to one of the biggest turnarounds in program history and guided the Wildcats to the NIVC Championship. Arizona finished the 2024 season with a 24-9 record, a 16-win improvement from 2023. In the Wildcats’ first season in the Big 12, Arizona finished seventh in the conference with a 9-9 Big 12 record. En route to a seventh-place finish in the Big 12, Stubbs coached Arizona to two top 20 wins. The first was a five-set win over then-No. 20 BYU and just over a month later, Arizona beat then-No. 8 Kansas in five sets. Additionally, Stubbs guided the Wildcats to two 11-match win streaks in the 2024 season. The Wildcats started the season 11-0 in non-conference, the first time since 2009 that Arizona went undefeated in non-conference play. Arizona closed out the season 11-0 beginning with the Cats’ upset over Kansas. In the NIVC, Arizona went 4-0 to win the first championship in program history.
Stubbs helped three players earned AVCA All-Region honors, highlighted by Avery Scoggins’ Pacific Region Freshman of the Year award, and coached four players to All-Big 12 recognition. During the regular season, Stubbs led Scoggins to four Big 12 Rookie of the Week honors.
In her first season as head coach, Stubbs finished with an 8-23 record. Three Wildcats – Jaelyn Hodge, Sofia Maldonado Diaz, and Jordan Wilson – totaled 300 or more kills during the season under Stubbs’ guidance. Arizona’s defense averaged 1.77 blocks/set led by Nicole Briggs with 0.77 blocks/set and Alayna Johnson with 0.69 blocks/set.
During her earlier stint as assistant/associate head coach (1997-2005), Stubbs helped Arizona reach the NCAA Tournament all nine years, developed multiple All-Pac-12 middle blockers, and helped land the nation's top recruiting class in 2002. In between, she was head coach at NC State (becoming the school's first African American female head coach), then founded Club Red Volleyball in Raleigh, NC. After rejoining Rubio's staff in 2013, she helped coach standouts like Madi Kingdon, Penina Snuka, Devyn Cross, and Zyonna Fellows to All-America and all-conference honors, including Arizona's 2018 NCAA Tournament return and 2014 Sweet 16-caliber season (24-10, No. 16 national ranking).
The first player in Arizona history to record 300 kills, 300 digs and 100 blocks in one season, the former Charita Johnson led the Wildcats to back-to-back Sweet 16 appearances at the 1993 and 1994 NCAA Tournaments. A four-year starting middle blocker from 1990-94, she earned All-Pac-10 and All-West Region honors as a senior and still holds school records for career (117) and single match (8) solo blocks.
A member of the 1993 and 1994 United States Olympic Festival volleyball, Stubbs played professionally in France in 1995. Stubbs earned a bachelor of arts degree in political science from the University of Arizona in 1994 and received her master's in language, reading and culture from Arizona in 1995.
A CAP II certified coach, Stubbs is also a graduate of the Women’s Coaches Academy (WCA). She graduated from Emory in 2005, and followed up with WCA Dimension II Inverness in 2007.
Stubbs also serves as the head coach for the AZ High Performance Youth team.
A lifetime member of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc., Stubbs is also very involved with her church, Mt. Calvary. She hails from Cleveland, Ohio and is married to Melvin Stubbs. They are the proud parents of son, Melvin Jr. and daughter, Bethaina.
