Thais Yancey enters her third season with the North Alabama beach volleyball program. She took over head coaching duties in July of 2021 after helping lead the UNA beach program to its first-ever winning season the previous spring.
Born in Sao Paulo, Brazil, Yancey graduated from Palm Beach Atlantic University with a bachelor's in marketing and master's degrees in business administration. She lettered her final two seasons in indoor volleyball for the Sailfish and received all-conference and all-region honors. She started for National American University her freshmen year, leading the Mavericks in digs before transferring to Northern Michigan her sophomore season.
Yancey began her indoor coaching career with Palm Beach Club in 2001 while still representing the Sailfish as a student-athlete for the indoor team. She coached for PBC for two seasons before joining Volei-Tech, where she became a private volleyball trainer specializing on the development and coaching of Division I and II future athletes ages 16 and up.
After completing her degree and indoor career in 2003, Yancey returned to beach volleyball where she competed on the open division of several South Florida tours for five years. In 2006, she began her career as a club beach volleyball coach representing Beach Dig Volleyball Club for two years.
After moving to Tennessee in 2009, Yancey coached Central High School where she received Coach of the Year honors in 2011 after leading the Lady Lions to a regional championship. She also coached at Decatur Heritage High School in Alabama from 2014-15 and won a conference title.
Yancey lives in Pulaski, Tenn., with her husband, Jim and twin sons, David and Imre.
