Featured Testimonial About Creighton University
By Jon Nyatawa
It did not take long for either of Creighton’s two newest head coaches to recognize how well the campus culture and athletic department vision aligned with their own approach to building successful programs.
A phone call three years ago did the trick for volleyball coach Brian Rosen. A text message exchange last year got the ball rolling for baseball coach Mark Kingston.
Rosen and Kingston are both in charge now, tasked with replacing two Creighton coaching legends and building off the winning blueprint previously established in their respective programs. Rosen made his debut with the nationally ranked Bluejay volleyball team in August, and helped Creighton win BIG EAST regular season and tournament titles. Kingston will open his first season as head baseball coach in February.
But neither has felt a need to change too much. They had already endorsed each of their program’s paths to prominence.
“I knew this was my kind of place,” Kingston said during his introductory press conference this past summer. “I’ve just been thrilled with how it’s felt ever since. It’s been the right fit, a breath of fresh air.”
Said Rosen: “There’s just no place on Earth that I would rather be than right here, with this team and this program.”
And now, the challenge has begun.
Rosen’s replacing Kirsten Bernthal Booth, who, in 22 seasons, built Creighton’s volleyball program from the ground up, regularly went toe-to-toe with bigger-budget powerhouses and capped off her tenure with a historic 2024 campaign that ended in the NCAA Tournament’s Elite Eight.
For Kingston, he’ll be trying to solve the puzzle that every Midwestern school faces: how to maintain consistency in a sport with built-in climate disadvantages. Plus, he’s replacing Ed Servais, the program’s all-time winningest coach who retired after taking Creighton back to an NCAA Regional last year for the first time since 2019.
But he’s been sold on Creighton’s potential since his first few texts with McCormick Endowed Athletic Director Marcus Blossom. Then he joined the staff as an associate coach and head coach in waiting.
The elite education. The chance to help young men grow, on the field and off. The fan base. The program’s partnership with the College World Series and connection with a baseball community that’s transformed Omaha into the sport’s mecca. There’s a legacy of leadership here, too.
“(Servais) wanted to win and he wanted to do it with class and dignity,” Kingston said. “That’s what you’ll continue to see with our program.”
Rosen’s carrying his predecessors’ team-building hallmarks into his first Bluejay season as well.
He’s a Florida native who spent his previous volleyball coaching stops at institutions in the South — no one in his family even owned a winter coat until they’d booked their flight for their first trip to Omaha. Yet an hour-long phone call with Booth was all that Rosen needed to realize Creighton was perfect for him.
Rosen joined the Bluejays as an assistant in 2022. He watched as the team embodied Booth’s persona — the joy, the honesty, the humility, the work ethic, the passion. He just wants to carry that forward.
“I promised the student-athletes that Coach Booth’s core values are what will continue to define this program,” Rosen says. “Culture is who we are at Creighton. That’s our identity. That isn’t going to change.”
