Leslie Flores was hired as an assistant volleyball coach at Drake University in June, 2013 and promoted to associate head coach following the 2015 season.
Flores-Cloud is set to begin her fifth season with the Bulldogs and has helped oversee the Bulldogs' on-court renaissance.
In 2016, she helped the team post its most successful season since 2010 with a 17-15 record to earn the program's first winning season in six years. The team's 17 wins and its eight Missouri Valley Conference wins were also the most by the Bulldogs since 2010.
She carried that momentum into the offseason as the program's recruiting coordinator by securing a class that received honorable mention honors from PrepVolleyball.com and was one of just two Missouri Valley Conference programs recognized by the organization.
Her accomplishments and success have not gone unnoticed by her peers as she was selected as a presenter for the 2017 AVCA Convention and was selected by the organization to be a member of the NCAA Minority Coaches Forum.
“Coach Flores-Cloud is incredibly invested in our program, Drake University and the development of our student-athletes,” McBroom said. “Our student-athletes recognize and respect that investment and she is more than deserving of having a greater influence in our program. She is incredibly organized, focused, task oriented and has the foundation and preparation to continue to advance her career.”
Prior to joining the Bulldogs’ program, Flores-Cloud was the girls’ volleyball coach at Maranatha High School in Pasadena, Calif. She guided the team to a second place finish in the conference and a spot in the SCIF Olympic league playoffs.
She has nine years of combined experience coaching as a head coach or assistant at the club, high school and collegiate level. Prior to Maranatha, she was a graduate assistant coach at the University of Southern California in 2011 and a volunteer assistant coach at Loyola Marymount University in 2010. During her season at USC, the Trojans advanced to the Final Four of the NCAA Tournament.
“Leslie has sound experience in the game,” said Drake head coach McBroom. “She worked for two outstanding Division I programs in USC and Loyola Marymount and played at a great Division III school, La Verne, in southern California. We share similar coaching influences and her playing experience as a setter is beneficial for our setters.”
Flores-Cloud also spent two years as an assistant coach at Pasadena City College, which included a highly successful 2009 season as the team won the South Coast Conference championship.
“I’m excited to work with Darrin because he has been successful at every school he has coached at and has tremendous volleyball coaching knowledge,” Flores-Cloud said. “I think Drake is a special place and I’m so happy to be here.”
The California native was a two-year All-SCIAC setter at Division III powerhouse the University of La Verne (Calif.). She helped La Verne reach the NCAA Division III national Final Four in three of the four years she was on the squad. Flores was a member of the All-Tournament team at the 2005 Final Four. She was a four-year varsity letterwinner for Temple City High School and in 2002 was an All-CIF setter for Temple City's CIF championship team.
Flores-Cloud has been an official lines-person for the SCIAC, Big-West, Pac-10, and various postseason tournaments and has served as the head coach of the Club Troy volleyball team since 2010. She earned her bachelor’s degree in social science from La Verne in 2007, and a master's degree in physical education from Azusa Pacific in 2009.
She married Aaron Cloud in January, 2014, and the couple has a daughter Kamryn, born in 2016.
