Edric Poitier is an experienced volleyball coach from the Bahamas, currently serving as the head coach of the women’s volleyball program at Bowie State University. He began his tenure at BSU in June 2022 and is set to enter his fourth season in 2025. Poitier has 45 years of coaching experience, an FIVB Level II certification, and nine years as a national team coach, including significant tenures at institutions such as St. Augustine’s College (now St. Augustine University), Bluefield State College, Winston-Salem State University, Savannah State University, and Florida State College at Jacksonville.
At St. Augustine’s, he achieved a remarkable 115–35 overall record, led the team to four consecutive Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association (CIAA) championships, and three NCAA Tournament appearances, earning CIAA Coach of the Year honors three times. Notably, he is the first HBCU coach to win an NCAA Tournament First Round match. Internationally, Poitier played as a setter for the Bahamas Men’s National Team from 1979 to 1992 and later coached the Bahamas Women’s National Team from 1992 to 1999, securing two gold and three silver medals at the Regional Caribbean Volleyball Championships. As a player, he competed in the first Commonwealth Volleyball Championship in London, England, in 1981, helping the Bahamas reach the bronze-medal match and finish fourth behind Canada, Nigeria, and India. His leadership at Bowie State has already yielded positive results, including a return to the CIAA conference tournament in 2023 after a four-year absence and the development of seven All-CIAA honorees, including that year’s Rookie of the Year. In 2024, Poitier was appointed to a four-year term on the NCAA Division II Women’s Volleyball National Committee and serves as the Chair of the Atlantic Region Advisory Committee, contributing to the governance and advancement of the sport at the national level.
