Michael Lanera is entering his fourth year with the Lindenwood men's volleyball program as the assistant coach in 2026.
Under the guidance of Lanera in 2025, the Lions finished with a record of 10-15, including a 7-9 mark against conference foes. Lindenwood played well at home, posting an 8-4 mark inside Hyland Arena. During the season, three Lions earned MIVA weekly honors, while Zach Solomon garnered All-MIVA second team recognition
In 2024, Lanera assisted the Lions to one of the best seasons in Lindenwood history, which featured many firsts for the program. Lindenwood earned a ranking in the AVCA Poll for the first time in program history, finishing the year as high as 16th nationally. The Lions had one of the most potent offenses in the country, which featured four all-conference performers and three AVCA honorable mention All-Americans: Connor Sheehan, Ian Schuller, and AJ Lewis. Sheehan led the entire country in assists per set at 11.14
Lindenwood finished the year with 16 wins, the most since 2014. Of those 16 wins, seven came against ranked opponents, including two victories in the MIVA Tournament. As a result, Lindenwood advanced to the championship game for the first time in program history.
Under the guidance of Lanera, Lindenwood finished the 2023 campaign with a 10-13 record, including a 7-7 mark inside MIVA play. Those seven wins led to the six seed in the conference tournament. Lindenwood earned key wins over NJIT and No. 11 Ohio State during the year. A.J.Lewis, Kyle Deutschmann, RaShawn Bonner and Ian Schuller all went on to be All-MIVA selections.
Before coming to Lindenwood, Lanera was the Head Men's Volleyball Coach at Rockford University in Rockford, Illinois since the program began back in 2019. As the first coach in program history, he was instrumental in guiding the team through multiple record-setting seasons.
The former Rockford, Ill. resident was the USA Volleyball Great Lakes Region Select Head Coach during the summer of 2022, where he assisted with tryouts and athlete evaluations, and developed practices to get the team ready for the High Performance tournament. Lanera won a bronze medal coaching Boys Future Select during this time in his career.
In 2019, Lanera founded Sports Factory Volleyball Club, in partnership with the Rockford Park District, focusing on offering an affordable club experience for players in underprivileged communities. Lanera was also a USA Volleyball A2 Coach during the same year.
Prior to starting his career in the collegiate volleyball world, Lanera spent five years teaching high school health and physical education. He also spent four seasons coaching the boys varsity team at Auburn High School. Throughout his time at the helm of this program, Lanera steadily improved the team and was named the NIC-10 Coach of the Year for the 2018 season.
In addition to his high school coaching duties, Lanera also spent two years coaching at the club level. Lanera coached both of the boys eighteen year old teams at the Rockford Volleyball Club.
Lanera is a 2012 graduate of Purdue University in West Lafayette, Indiana, earning his Bachelor of Science in Health and Human Sciences. He is currently pursuing a Master of Education from Rockford University with a focus of special education.
