Volleyball coach Kevin Renshler has left Northwestern and accepted the head coaching position at Auburn, according to a statement on Auburn’s Web site.

Renshler, NU’s head coach for the past three seasons, resigned as the Wildcats’ coach early last week.

In his three seasons with the Cats, Renshler helped the Cats improve from 175th to a high of 31st in the American Volleyball Coaches’ Association/Sagarin power rankings.

The Cats are coming off the worst season of Renshler’s NU tenure, finishing 4-26 overall and 2-18 in the Big Ten.

In 1997, the Cats went 13-18 under the first-year coach. A year later, they finished 15-17.

His three year total in Evanston is a record of 32-61, and NU’s best finish during that time was 9th place in the Big Ten — in 1997 and 1998.

Until Renshler left, the Cats were in the midst of a highly successful spring season, which doesn’t count in the official record. NU compiled a 14-2 record this spring in several tournaments across the country.

Prior to his tenure at NU, Renshler coached for four seasons at Kent State. He spent one season as an assistant at Florida.

The NU coaching position remains vacant.