Raychelle “Ray” Ellsworth is a sports performance coach at Texas A&M. She holds the most prestigious honor awarded in her profession: Master Strength and Conditioning Coach through the Collegiate Strength and Conditioning Coaches Association (CSCCa). At the time of her induction in 2007, she was one of only 60 coaches in the country to hold the esteemed honor, and she remains one of only a few select females to have earned the distinction.
After completing her collegiate volleyball career at Texas A&M, she was promoted to Restricted Earnings coach. Her first full-time collegiate coaching gig was at the University of Washington from 1995 to 1996. She returned to her alma mater in ’96 and now serves as the Director of Sports Performance as well as a Professor of Practice in the A&M kinesiology department master’s exercise physiology program.
Throughout her career, Ellsworth has coached football, volleyball, softball, tennis, track and field, golf, soccer, and cheer. Currently, she oversees volleyball, softball, and the intern program, as well as the collaboration between athletics and the master’s practicum program, which she helped start in 2000.
Ellsworth has earned tremendous respect from the A&M coaching staffs and student-athletes over her 25+ years with the A&M athletic department. She was recognized for her leadership, dedication, and inspiration by being voted the 1999–2000 Texas A&M Coach of the Year by the student-athletes. Ellsworth became the first non-head coach and first support staff member to receive the honor.
