She’s arguably the greatest athlete ever to come out of Leelanau County, and now, she’s going to be a major league coach. Such is the latest news about Alisha Glass Childress, a 2006 graduate of Leland High School who last month was named the head coach of the San Diego Mojo, a professional women’s indoor volleyball team. Childress will be the second head coach in the history of that Major League Volleyball (MLV) franchise, which formed in 2023.

Locals may remember Childress from her high school career, when she made a name for herself as one of the finest volleyball players ever to come out of Michigan. Coached by her mother (Laurie Glass, who retired from Leland High School in 2023), Childress earned first-team all-state honors during each of her four high school seasons, setting both state and national high school records for season aces (296), career aces (937), and career kills (3,584). In 2006, she led Leland to a Class D state championship and earned major individual accolades, such as being named the state of Michigan’s “Miss Volleyball” and winning the Michigan Gatorade High School Player title for volleyball. 

After her high school successes, Glass followed a scholarship to Penn State University, where she played as setter – and led the team to consecutive NCAA titles in 2007, 2008, and 2009. When all was said and done, Glass’s college teams had amassed a 142­–5 win-loss record, and Glass herself earned All-American honors three times.

Since college, Childress has played for numerous international volleyball clubs (including teams based in Brazil, Poland, Turkey, and Italy), as well as for the United States women's national volleyball team. With Glass on the team, USA earned silver and bronze medals at the FIVB Volleyball Women's World Cup (in 2011 and 2015, respectively), a gold medal at the 2014 FIVB Volleyball Women's World Championship, and a bronze medal at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro. Childress also earned Best Setter honors at the 2016 Olympics.

Though she retired from professional play after the 2016 Olympics, Childress has made a comeback in recent years thanks to the formation of MLV, which had its inaugural season in 2024. According to the press release announcing her hire with the San Diego Mojo, Childress “spent the 2024 and 2025 seasons with the Vegas Thrill, collecting All-League accolades in 2024 while also earning Most Inspirational Player honors from the league’s coaches, and playing in the league’s inaugural All-Star Match in 2025.”

Beyond her playing career, Childress served as an assistant coach for the U.S. Women’s National Team in 2018, and spent two seasons on the coaching staff for the Stanford University women’s volleyball program in 2019 and 2020. The Mojo job will mark her first turn in the head coach role, which she’ll take over from Tayyiba Haneef-Park. The Mojo finished third in the league during the inaugural 2024 season, but fell to sixth (out of eight teams) this past season.

“Alisha’s ability to build deep, meaningful relationships and her passion for the sport make her the ideal candidate to lead our team going forward,” said Mojo president Billy Johnson in the aforementioned press release. “We couldn’t be more excited to welcome Alisha to San Diego as we continue to grow professional volleyball in the United States.”

“I’m grateful for the opportunity to step into the next chapter of my career as Head Coach of the San Diego Mojo,” Childress said in the release. “Having competed against this team in recent years, I’ve seen the connection they’ve built with both the volleyball and San Diego communities. I look forward to building on that foundation and leading a competitive, culture-driven, hard-working team that the community can be proud of.”