Chris Kilmer returned to his alma mater in 2011 as head women’s volleyball coach, before transitioning into a newly created role as Assistant Director of Communications for Athletics in January 2018. In the spring of 2022 he was elevated to his current role as Assistant Athletic Director, Athletic Communications.
Kilmer is responsible for all aspects of communications related to Plymouth State athletics, including media relations, website maintenance, athletics social media, web-streamed broadcasts, in-game statistics, program records, athletics-related photography and athletics archiving. He serves as the chair of the Plymouth State Athletic Hall of Fame Committee and is a member of the Athletics Leadership Team.
Kilmer spent a large portion of the summer of 2020 working on the PSU Athletics Fall 2020 Reopening Committee to establish return-to-play protocols for student-athletes on campus after the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. That fall he served as a team leader for the university’s COVID Rapid Response Team, helping to manage weekly testing procedures and contact tracing efforts for students and staff at PSU. Kilmer and the rest of the COVID RRT were honored by the PSU Alumni Association with the 2021 Faculty/Staff Award of Excellence. Kilmer also serves on the school’s Title IX team, filling roles as an advisor and panel member, and was formerly adjunct faculty for the Health and Human Performance department.
Kilmer has been an active member of CoSIDA (College Sports Information Directors of America) and D3SIDA (Division III Sports Information Directors of America) since 2017. Under his direction the communications office has made multiple advancements. He directed two website redesigns, including a transition to SIDEARM Sports in the summer of 2020, while making significant investments in the department’s web-streamed broadcasting. Kilmer oversaw the creation of a new position, Athletics Communications Assistant for Broadcasting, in January 2019, and helped transition the school to BlueFrame Technology to improve the quality of its broadcasts. In 2025, he helped usher the department into a new era of webstreaming as the Little East Conference (LEC) moved to FloSports.
A 1999 graduate of Plymouth State, Kilmer piloted the women’s volleyball team for seven seasons where he compiled a 131-93 record. He was voted LEC Coach of the Year in 2011 after leading the team to a share of the regular season title and the top seed for the LEC Tournament for the first time in program history. The Panthers made appearances in the championship games of the LEC and Eastern Collegiate Athletic Conference (ECAC) New England tournaments that fall, ending the year with a 25-11 mark. He led the team back to the conference title match in 2016 in the second of back-to-back 20-win seasons for the Panthers.
Kilmer got is start in coaching as a student assistant at Plymouth State when women’s volleyball premiered as a varsity sport in 1996, spending two years under head coach John Garneau. He was also a four-year member of the men’s volleyball club team, serving as captain and president from 1997-99 and being named Most Valuable Player in 1999. After stints at Moultonborough Academy and Plymouth Regional High School, he returned to the college ranks in 2005 as the assistant coach at NCAA Division II Saint Michael’s College, a role he filled for three seasons before being promoted to head coach in 2008.
Kilmer is also an active member of local youth sports, as President of Plymouth Area Babe Ruth Baseball and a board member of Pemi Baker Soccer. As head coach of the Thundercats 10U All-Stars, Kilmer piloted the team to the NH State Cal Ripken Tournament after winning the District 3 Championship in 2023, then returned to the district championship game in 2024, becoming the first coach in the program to lead a Thundercats team to consecutive district championship games. His 12U All-Star team also advanced to the title game of the District 3 Championship in 2025. As an assistant coach, Kilmer's PBSC U13 Boys team went a perfect 7-0 in the regular season before capturing the NHSL Division 3 title with two playoff victories in 2024. As a U14 team in 2025, the team repeated as NHSL champs.
A native of Essex, Vt., Kilmer and his wife reside in Campton with their two sons.
