Southwest Mississippi Community College Women's Volleyball

Chris Laird enters his first season as Southwest's Head Volleyball Coach. A seasoned veteran of the sport, he brings nearly 30 years of coaching experience to the Bears.  Laird, a Tylertown native, comes to Southwest following a brief run as an assistant coach at Jones College. Prior to that he spent eight seasons as the head coach at Pensacola State College. During his run as the Pirates coach, he led them to 133 wins and was selected as conference coach of the year five times.  From 2005-2010, Laird was in Thibodaux, LA leading the Nicholls State Volleyball team. His run with the Colonels came following a two-year stint as an assistant at South Alabama and one season at Alabama-Huntsville.  Laird began his coaching career as a student assistant at Southern Miss in 1994. While in at USM, he earned both his bachelor's and master's degrees.  In addition, Laird was also responsible for starting multiple USA juniors volleyball clubs and was an indoor and outdoor volleyball official in the NCAA, NAIA and USA Volleyball leagues. 

Lainey Brumfield is in her first season as assistant coach of the Southwest Volleyball Team. Despite this being Brumfield’s first collegiate job, she brings almost a decade’s worth of experience as a player and coach. The Foxworth-native and West Marion High School-graduate came to Summit after a successful playing career at William Carey where she played both indoor and beach volleyball for the Crusaders. It was at this time that she also began her coaching career with Mississippi Matrix Club Volleyball for two years before spending the 2024 season as an assistant at Petal Middle School. In addition to playing for her high school team, Brumfield also suited up for Mississippi Matrix as a player during her sophomore, junior and senior years.