Rick Erickson, seen here during Senior Night at Hopkinsville High in 2018, is returning to coach the Christian County Lady Colonels
Rick Erickson is returning for a second stint as head coach of the Christian County volleyball program. The school confirmed his upcoming hiring to YourSportsEdge.com Thursday afternoon.
Erickson is Christian County’s winningest coach, amassing a 176-114 record in seven seasons from 2008-15. The Lady Colonels won the district title in Erickson’s first six seasons and advanced to the region championship three straight years (2010-12). The first year Erickson’s team didn’t win a district title was 2014 when they finished runner-up to University Heights. They bounced back to knock off UHA in the region championship match and win the school’s only region title.
The Lady Colonels were 13-11 in 2015 when Erickson was placed on leave by the school district pending the results of a school investigation. He never returned to the Christian County bench as the Lady Colonels advanced to the region championship under interim coach Kayla Wade. The reason for the investigation was never released by the school district, and Erickson’s contract was not renewed by the school after the 2015 season.
He has served as an assistant coach at Hopkinsville the past three seasons. Before taking the job at Christian County in 2008, he won 61 games as Trigg County’s coach from 2003-07 and led the Lady Wildcats to the program’s first district title.
He left Trigg County for the Christian County job in 2008 when Holly Harris resigned because her husband, who was in the military, was being transferred out of state.
Erickson faces similar circumstances today, taking over the Lady Colonel program from Ashleigh Sympson who resigned after the 2018 season because her military husband accepted a transfer to Texas. Christian County was 49-53 in Sympson’s three seasons and missed the region tournament the past two years.
