Penn State women’s volleyball assistant coach Steve Aird has officially been named the head coach of the Maryland Terrapins program on Wednesday, Penn State announced today. Aird has been as assistant with the Nittany Lions national championship-winning program for the past two seasons, previously serving as Penn State’s Director of Operations during the 2007 season.

“I am forever grateful for the opportunity I had at Penn State both as a player and a member of the staff,” Aird said. “Coach Rose has been a mentor to me and he knows how much I respect him and the program. I truly appreciate the student-athletes, fans and boosters that I’ve been fortunate to know during my time at Penn State, and I am incredibly excited to get going in College Park.”

Aird was considered by many to be the head-coach-in-waiting at Penn State should Russ Rose retire, but with no indication that Rose was considering doing so it makes sense that Aird would accept his first head coaching job on the collegiate level. The former Penn State assistant was primarily involved with match preparation, athlete development, and recruiting over the last two seasons.

“We would like to welcome Steve, his wife Brandy and his two children to the University of Maryland,” said Maryland Athletic Director Kevin Anderson in a release. “Steve is a very accomplished coach who has been extremely successful in the Big Ten Conference and on the national stage. We will rely on Steve’s experience as both a coach and a student-athlete in the Big Ten as we transition into the conference this fall,” Anderson said. “He has an outstanding reputation for developing top-level talent and he is well respected in the volleyball community.”

Outside of volleyball, Aird is a very accomplished man in a number of fields. He previously served as the President and Chief Medical Officer of Complete Athlete Inc., an international volleyball training company. He is also a clinician and a featured writer for Volleyball Magazine and the American Volleyball Coaches Association Magazine. He also had a pretty great Twitter account.

While Aird will be missed as he was an integral part of the 2013 staff that led the Nittany Lions to a sixth national championship, we wish him the best as Maryland’s head coach.