Associate head coach Kyle Exline enters his third season at Loyola Chicago in 2027.
Alongside head coach Shane Davis and assistant coach Dalton Solbrig, Exline helped guide the Ramblers to their second consecutive, fifth overall, NCAA National Collegiate Men’s Volleyball Championship appearance in 2026. In the new 12-team expansion era, Loyola secured the program’s first NCAA tournament win since 2015 with a 3-0 sweep of Saint Francis (Pa.) to advance to the regional finals against Long Beach State.
The Ramblers finished 21-9 overall and 12-4 in Midwestern Intercollegiate Volleyball Association (MIVA) play. Loyola defeated Hawai’i, 3-1, for its first win of the year (Jan. 9). Four months later, the Maroon and Gold were the MIVA Tournament runners-up, making consecutive championship appearances. Five Ramblers earned all-conference honors, three of whom went on to be American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA) All-Americans. Off the court, Loyola shined in the classroom as the entire team earned Academic All-MIVA accolades, and junior Aidan Klein tabbed a spot on the College Sports Communicators (CSC) Academic All-District Team. The program also secured its ninth all-time AVCA Team Academic Award.
In his first coaching season at Loyola, Exline helped guide the team to its fourth NCAA Tournament appearance and MIVA Tournament Championship, as well as the eighth regular season title. The Ramblers finished with their best MIVA record (13-3) in a decade and their first 20-win regular season since 2023. Loyola posted a 17-1 ledger at home and went 8-2 on the road – its best away mark in over 10 years. Exline assisted the Ramblers’ offense to the nation’s No. 1 kills per set leader (13.35) and the second-best hitting clip in the country (.368).
Under this coaching staff, Loyola collected 28 total postseason awards in 2025: 10 Academic All-MIVA picks, four All-MIVA First Teamers, four AVCA All-Americans, three All-MIVA Tournament selections – and the tournament MVP – three College Sports Communicators (CSC) Academic All-District members, one CSC Academic All-American At-Large First Teamer and the MIVA Player of the Year, as well as the AVCA Team Academic Award.
As the domestic recruiting coordinator, Exline helped sign two stateside commitments to the 2027 roster, Matt Kelly out of Manhattan Beach, Calif, and Caden Van Buren from Middleton, Wis.
Exline returned to Loyola, where he was a four-year letterwinner and three-year captain from 2008-11, as the men's volleyball associate head coach in December 2024. He rejoined his alma mater following a highly decorated tenure as the head coach of North Central College's men's volleyball program. With the Cardinals, Exline led the men's team from its inception in 2016, amassing a 139-74 record over nine seasons. He guided the program to its first-ever CCIW regular season and tournament titles in 2023, culminating in a national runner-up finish at the NCAA Division III Championship and earning Exline the CCIW and AVCA Region Coach of the Year awards. Exline was also the head coach of North Central's women's volleyball program from 2017 to 2022.
Prior to his time in Naperville, Exline served as a graduate assistant at Carthage College where he helped coach the men's volleyball team to the 2012 NCAA DIII Championship match and the women's team to an NCAA semifinal appearance. His coaching accolades extend to the USA Volleyball circuit where Exline has held various roles with national development teams for over a decade.
Exline earned a master of education with an emphasis in leadership teaching from Carthage in 2014 and his bachelor's degree in natural psychology from Loyola in 2011.
