Hope Neargarder begins her second season as the assistant coach of the Illinois College Lady Blues women's volleyball program in the 2022 season. 

Neargarder joins the IC volleyball team after spending the past two seasons at Wilmington College as an assistant coach. There she served as a primary recruiter helping coordinate student-athlete visits and assisting the head coach in daily practice and travel operations. Neargarder has also been the head coach of multiple club teams in the Ohio area. Before working at Wilmington, Hope was the volleyball graduate assistant at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio from 2017-2019.

Neargarder graduated from Defiance College in 2017 with her bachelor's of science in athletic training. There she was a four-year member of the Defiance Yellow Jackets women's volleyball team totaling 376 kills in her career. She then continued her education receiving her master of science in sports leadership at Miami University in 2019.