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Woochifer
Joined: 12/15/11 Posts: 9,123
MVB: Coach Speraw leaving to take over USA Volleyball
Posted Wed, Sep 25 2:49 pm
Big news coming out of the men's volleyball program as HC John Speraw is leaving UCLA to take over as President and CEO of USA Volleyball. This effectively puts him in charge of the entire national program. The official release indicates that Speraw is stepping away from coaching, so presumably this means that he is also no longer coaching the US national team.

https://uclabruins.com/news/2024/9/25/mens-volleyball-john-speraw-departs-ucla-to-become-usa-volleyball-president-ceo

Speraw did the heavy lift in getting UCLA back on top after a long decline under legendary coach Al Scates that dated back the advent of rally scoring. The program is now coming off of back-to-back national championships, and the roster is deep. This will be a critical hire for UCLA's winningest sport. Speraw was only the 2nd head coach in program history.

At the time that Scates announced that he was retiring after more than 40 years at the helm, Speraw was the obvious choice to take over the program. He had just won his 3rd national championship as HC at UCI, and had previously won 2 titles as a UCLA assistant coach, and 3 titles as a Bruin player under Scates.

There is no obvious candidate this time around, but there should be no shortage of interest. The program is in its best shape in two decades, and a lot of talent is coming back and will be eager to make a run at becoming the first team in the NCAA to three-peat since the Karch Kiraly era.
Flat 4
Joined: 1/13/14 Posts: 3,906
What about Karch?
Posted Wed, Sep 25 3:14 pm
In response to MVB: Coach Speraw leaving to take over USA Volleyball (Woochifer)
Speraw was able to balance college and National Team duties. Maybe the all time greatest could do it too?
Woochifer
Joined: 12/15/11 Posts: 9,123
Karch is closer to retirement
Posted Wed, Sep 25 4:51 pm (Edited Wed, Sep 25 4:52 pm)
In response to What about Karch? (Flat 4)
You never know, but from what I've seen with Martin's hires, he tends to go with younger coaches that will stay at UCLA for a while. Karch is 63, and I can see his current run with the women's national team as his last hurrah, especially with LA28 looming.

I know that Karch was never a candidate for the UCLA women's volleyball job when that opened up a couple of years ago, because of how the national team and NCAA women's volleyball schedules overlap. But, I don't think that the national team schedule overlaps with the NCAA men's schedule. That's why Speraw was able to do double-duty with the national team as an assistant and HC for an extended time.

Hiring Karch is a possibility, but there are differences in the men's and women's game. And I don't think Karch has ever coached men's volleyball or even collegiate volleyball.

Speraw was a no-brainer hire. He was by far the best candidate out there, and UCLA began the process pretty much right after Speraw won the natty with UCI. This time will be different.

The most experienced Bruin assistant coach is Nick Vogel, who played under Al Scates and was an assistant at DePaul before coming to UCLA. Brandon Taliaferro is a former UCLA All-American and Olympian who also played under Scates, but like Vogel, he has never been a head coach.

This will be interesting because there are a lot of coaches out there with UCLA ties, most notably across town with former UCLA assistant coach Brad Keller coaching the Southern Cal women's team, and former UCLA AA Jeff Nygaard coaching the men's team. Keller was on Speraw's staff for 6 seasons before moving over to the women's team. Keller was widely viewed as the next in line for the UCLA women's job if/when HC Mike Sealy stepped down. But, Southern Cal made a play for Keller before that happened and he has had a mixed tenure so far.

Another long-time Speraw assistant who currently works as a HC is John Hawks, who was at UCLA for 8 seasons before taking over the HC spot at Loyola Chicago a couple of years ago.

Martin's pattern so far with the Olympic sports has been to go after top assistants. So, we'll see how he plays this without an obvious candidate out there.
Woochifer
Joined: 12/15/11 Posts: 9,123
MVB: Speraw stepping down as USMNT coach as well
Posted Thu, Sep 26 7:18 am (Edited Thu, Sep 26 7:21 am)
In response to MVB: Coach Speraw leaving to take over USA Volleyball (Woochifer)
Confirmed that the men's national team will also be looking for a new head coach as John Speraw takes over as the President and CEO of USA Volleyball. Speraw will now oversee all of the national teams and player development programs for men and women, indoor and beach, Olympic and Paralympic.

If anyone has ambitions of coaching the national team, the UCLA job is particularly attractive because of its relatively close proximity to the national team training center in Anaheim. Because the international tournament schedules don't overlap with the collegiate schedule, NCAA men's volleyball allows for a coach to do double duty as the national team coach. So, anyone under consideration to take over for Speraw as HC of the men's national team could also be a potential candidate for the UCLA job.

https://www.nbcsports.com/olympics/news/john-speraw-usa-volleyball-ceo-head-coach
VB
Joined: 8/18/05 Posts: 1,572

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maybe Taliaferro or Vogel or Sullivan???
Posted Tue, Oct 01 11:55 am
In response to MVB: Coach Speraw leaving to take over USA Volleyball (Woochifer)
Taliaferro or Vogel seem to be good candidates as they have been assistant coaches in the program for years.
Hard to replace Speraw though.
Best wishes to Speraw in his new venture heading up USA VB.
Woochifer
Joined: 12/15/11 Posts: 9,123
Vogel's the most experienced assistant
Posted Tue, Oct 01 1:14 pm (Edited Tue, Oct 01 1:22 pm)
In response to maybe Taliaferro or Vogel or Sullivan??? (VB)
Taliaferro only joined the staff in 2022, but in his 2 years as an assistant, the Bruins won the natty both years.

Vogel has a longer coaching resume, dating back to 2015 when he was a UCLA volunteer assistant. Like Taliaferro, Vogel's most recent stint at UCLA began in 2022, and neither of them have been a head coach.

In my other post, I speculated that UCLA could also take a run at former Speraw assistants Brad Keller and John Hawkes, both of whom are currently HCs. Keller was on Speraw's staff at UCLA for 6 years, while Hawkes served as a Bruin assistant for 8 years. Keller moved over to the UCLA women's program for a year before Southern Cal poached him to take over as their women's HC. Hawkes is going into his 4th year as the HC at Loyola Chicago.

Or if you want another former Speraw assistant with championship pedigree, there's also UCI coach David Kniffin, who succeeded Speraw and won the national championship in his 1st season. UCI has remained a perennial title contender under Kniffin, and will challenge for the natty next season after pushing UCLA to the limit in the NCAA semifinal and both regular season matches. Kniffin though does not have the same Bruin ties, and might not be looking to move.

Speraw was the obvious no-brainer choice to succeed Al Scates in 2012 - coming off a 3rd national championship as HC at UCI after having won 2 titles as an assistant coach under Scates and 2 titles as a Bruin player. There's no such candidate this time around. So, it will be interesting to see what direction Jarmond goes. Internal promotion? Up and coming assistant? Current head coach at another program?
VB
Joined: 8/18/05 Posts: 1,572

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Nice summary of the Speraw tree.
Posted Thu, Oct 03 10:22 pm
In response to Vogel's the most experienced assistant (Woochifer)
UCI really had a tough team last year. That semi was a nail biter!

I wouldn't be surprised if Eric Sullivan or Jeff Nygaard also expressed some interest in the position.

Speraw really rallied the Bruin VB family to attend post-game events under Pauley and he gave a speech last year at one of the events and told a humorous story about Al Scates helping to bring mens VB into the NCAA and hosting an international exhibition with the Japanese National Team way back in the early days. I have it on video. Many Bruin VB alumni were in attendance in the Pavilion Club. He segued into talking about the needed fund-raising for the survival of NCAA VB programs in the modern age of college sports and NIL. That's going to be a significant part of the job as head coach and it will probably take a Ucla VB Alumnus to steer the ship.

"Failing to prepare is preparing to fail" JRW and Benjamin Franklin
Woochifer
Joined: 12/15/11 Posts: 9,123
As CEO of USA VB, Speraw's in position to do a lot
Posted Fri, Oct 04 11:14 am
In response to Nice summary of the Speraw tree. (VB)
Speraw was instrumental to expanding men's volleyball into HBCUs. As the men's national team HC, he was looking to expand the talent pipeline for the national team, especially as college teams increasingly looked overseas for talent. Speraw got USA Volleyball to provide funding to help start up men's volleyball programs at those schools. Expansion of collegiate men's volleyball will be crucial to keeping it in place as a NCAA championship sport (there have been discussions about contracting NCAA sports that don't have a lot of participating schools).

As CEO of the national program, I'm hoping that he's now in better position to more directly strengthen the sport at the collegiate level.

As far as the UCLA coaching search, the geographic proximity to the training center in Anaheim has to be a draw for anyone with ambitions of coaching the national team. The timing of Speraw's departure makes this coaching search intriguing, because UCLA has the greater urgency to find a new head coach. Whoever gets hired at UCLA instantly becomes a candidate for the national team vacancy.

Erik Sullivan's name came up when UCLA was looking to replace Mike Sealy as the UCLA women's HC. But, he supposedly has a high price tag because of how much Texas pays their assistants and the lower cost of living in Austin compared to the Westside.

Jeff Nygaard has the UCLA pedigree and the connections to Al Scates. But, he hasn't exactly lit things up across town as the Southern Cal HC. And he has presided over some historically bad teams.

If you look at AD Jarmond's hiring pattern, he has mostly gone after up and coming assistant coaches. That's how UCLA wound up with Alfee Reft as the women's coach.

Speraw's assistant coaches on the men's national team were Matt Fuerbringer and Javier Weber. Fuerbringer is an assistant with the Long Beach State women's team, while Weber has been a club coach in Europe and South America. Not sure if either of them would be HC candidates for either UCLA or the national team.
VB
Joined: 8/18/05 Posts: 1,572

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Reft
Posted Fri, Oct 04 11:52 am
In response to As CEO of USA VB, Speraw's in position to do a lot (Woochifer)
Well Alfee Reft had the endorsement from Karch. I hope Reft's team has a good year and shows significant improvement over last year when their serve receive game was poor. I don't think I've ever seen such poor passing.

It'll be interesting to see who takes over a loaded Ucla men's program.
Woochifer
Joined: 12/15/11 Posts: 9,123
Another rumor is the GCU head coach
Posted Tue, Oct 01 1:52 pm (Edited Tue, Oct 01 2:01 pm)
In response to maybe Taliaferro or Vogel or Sullivan??? (VB)
Matt Werle has been the HC at Grand Canyon for 10 seasons. GCU moved up into that second tier of good but not yet great teams years ago, and they made the big breakthrough this past season by winning the MPSF tournament over UCLA. GCU was a top contending team all season long, and pushed Long Beach State to the limit in an epic 5-set NCAA semifinal.

A couple of GCU's top players transferred to UCLA in the offseason, so the Lopes were poised to take a step down next season. Werle built GCU into a top program, and the rumors on the Volleytalk board indicate that the talks with him are getting serious. The 24/7 board also mentioned the one factor that could keep John Hawkes from taking the UCLA job is that he does not have a four-year degree. Whoever lands the UCLA job will inevitably also become a top candidate to join the national team staff.

Things are getting interesting, and they'll have to move fast with the regular season less than 4 months away.
VB
Joined: 8/18/05 Posts: 1,572

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Grand Canyon University
Posted Thu, Oct 03 10:10 pm
In response to Another rumor is the GCU head coach (Woochifer)
Yes, they (GCU) had a really good tough VB squad.
But their education is suspect. Doesn't GCU offer several online degrees?

I like Vogel. He's been with the program for years, played in the program, recruited for the program, and knows the Ucla culture and campus first hand. Vogel is very active in team huddles and coaching from the sidelines during matches. I hope the powers that be hire the right coach after consulting some of the key members of the Ucla VB Fraternity. I would think they would also consider Jeff Nygaard if he shows interest.

On a side note: I was at the Hall of Fame dinner 2 years ago (I think it was 2 years ago) at the Luskin Center, when DeShaun Foster was inducted, as was Dave Saunders. I was a guest of the Saunders family as Dave's younger brother, JB, was a former roommate of mine. I sat at the table next to Speraw and Vogel, along with my son, who was one of student athletic trainers for football at the time. What an honor that was. Speraw is such a great guy and VB ambassador.

Last year, after a Ucla VB game, I was hanging out at the Luskin Center bar with a few friends and ex Bruin VB players. It happened to be the day that Bienemy was announced as the new OC. He was sitting at the end of the bar eating a late dinner alone. I recognized him and was standing 3 feet away so I chatted with him and he was super nice and gracious. I congratulated him on his new job and welcomed him back. He was staying at the Luskin Center. Anyhow, Speraw comes up and there were just a few of us and we chatted. I asked him if he had met the new OC Eric Bienemy and he replied he had not, so I introduced the two of them and we took a photo together. Such a cool moment for me as an alumnus and sports fan. The Luskin Center Bar is a great meeting place after a home sporting event.
VB
Joined: 8/18/05 Posts: 1,572

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Welcome to new Ucla Mens VB Head Coach John Hawks
Posted Fri, Oct 11 11:52 am
In response to MVB: Coach Speraw leaving to take over USA Volleyball (Woochifer)
former assistant coach at Ucla.
coming from Loyola Chicago Head Coach and National Team U21.

link:

https://uclabruins.com/news/2024/10/11/mens-volleyball-john-hawks-named-ucla-mens-volleyball-head-coach?fbclid=IwY2xjawF2X6RleHRuA2FlbQIxMAABHfxXO1xJC8tpoCxBLTAP25BE1ef2tzyfZJ9SEGsbCwTFFRO0b74k5vMuwg_aem_bZw1PDQXFdnYZHjDEeha5A
TrueBlue82
Joined: 6/29/18 Posts: 158
Wow, did anyone see this hire coming?
Posted Fri, Oct 11 2:35 pm
In response to Welcome to new Ucla Mens VB Head Coach John Hawks (VB)
Thoughts? He just got handed a national championship roster - expectations will be astronomical!!!
Woochifer
Joined: 12/15/11 Posts: 9,123
Last NCAA three-peat dates back to the Kiraly era
Posted Fri, Oct 11 4:16 pm (Edited Fri, Oct 11 4:28 pm)
In response to Wow, did anyone see this hire coming? (TrueBlue82)
John Hawks indeed inherits a loaded roster, and the Bruins will likely be in the championship hunt this season. But, while every NCAA champion since 2012 has gone back-to-back (UCI, Loyola Chicago, Ohio State, Hawaii, Long Beach State, and UCLA), no one has three-peated since Al Scates' Bruin squad won their 4th straight national championship in 1984 (a run that began with AA Karch Kiraly leading the way).

UCLA has a lot of returning talent, but they lose senior AAs Merrick McHenry and Ethan Champlin. UCLA also loses senior Alex Knight, who helped turn the season around by switching positions to play libero. The libero position will remain an issue this upcoming season, unless the Bruins found someone via the portal (or they have someone else on the roster who can step up). Some of the returning players were originally recruited by Hawks, so there is some familiarity here. But, it will be a tall order. Going into the season, UCI looks like they'll be on a mission.

John Hawks is a solid hire, but there were no home run hires out there. When Al Scates stepped down, John Speraw was the obvious no-brainer top candidate. He'd just won his 3rd national championship as HC at UCI, and he'd previously won 2 nattys as a UCLA assistant and 2 as a Bruin player under Al Scates. There was no coach of that caliber ready to step up this time.
VB
Joined: 8/18/05 Posts: 1,572

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Hawks is from OC and went to Edison in the 90's
Posted Fri, Oct 11 8:44 pm
In response to Last NCAA three-peat dates back to the Kiraly era (Woochifer)
sounds like a decent hire. We shall see.

Lots of local ties and he knows the local recruiting circles in LA and OC.

He will have to generate NIL $$$ so I hope he can rally the VB alumni to contribute to the program, and general alumni population that love Bruin Volleyball.
Woochifer
Joined: 12/15/11 Posts: 9,123
This will be interesting
Posted Fri, Oct 11 4:02 pm (Edited Fri, Oct 11 4:19 pm)
In response to Welcome to new Ucla Mens VB Head Coach John Hawks (VB)
Hawks was not the obvious candidate in a year where there were no obvious candidates. Solid choice. The only potentially exciting choice might have been Texas women's assistant coach Erik Sullivan, who was an AA and national champion at UCLA under Al Scates. But, Texas is still in the middle of the season and Sullivan would not have been available until at least late-November.

Out of Speraw's assistants with both UCLA and the national team, Hawks has the most experience on the men's side (Brad Keller just finished his 5th year as Southern Cal's women's HC). He was already a UCI assistant for 4 years and a UCLA assistant for 7 years under Speraw, and just finished his 3rd year as the HC at Loyola Chicago.

A lot of the earlier posts on the 24/7 board were pointing towards Hawks, but there was some question about whether he would be able to take the UCLA position because he purportedly did not have a 4-year college degree. From his bio, it looks like he indeed got his bachelor's degree from University of Phoenix (likely an online degree).
VB
Joined: 8/18/05 Posts: 1,572

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Congrats to Karch!
Posted Thu, Oct 24 11:43 am
In response to MVB: Coach Speraw leaving to take over USA Volleyball (Woochifer)
Announced as the new Head Coach of USA Men’s VB! The GOAT!