University of California - Los Angeles - UCLA Men's Volleyball

Speraw, winner of three NCAA titles as a head coach, just completed his fourth season at the helm of the Bruin program. He was named UCLAs third head coach on June 5, 2012. Speraw, who assumed the duties of his collegiate mentor, Al Scates, has been a part of eight NCAA mens volleyball championship teams (1993-player; 1995-player;1996-asst. coach; 1998-asst. coach; 2000-asst. coach; 2007-head coach; 2009-head coach; 2012-head coach). Speraw, 44, also serves as the head coach for the U.S. Mens National Volleyball Team, a position to which he was named on Mar. 25, 2013. The team qualified for the 2016 Olympic Games after winning the 2015 FIVB World Cup. It marked the first time the U.S. Men had won the World Cup since 1985 and the first time it had qualified for the Olympics at the World Cup competition. For 10 seasons prior to his return to Westwood, Speraw served as head coach at UC Irvine and transformed the program into a national power. Under his direction, the Anteaters won three NCAA titles in his final six years and advanced to the NCAA Championship match a total of four times. UCI won two MPSF regular season titles and captured a pair of MPSF Tournament championships. He had the Anteaters ranked as high as No. 1 in the nation in five different seasons. The 2016 season saw UCLA return to the NCAA Tournament for the first time since it captured the 19th national title in the programs history. The 25 wins were the most since that same 2006 season and the Bruins, who tied for second in the league during the regular season, advanced to the championship match of the MPSF Tournament. Freshman Micah Maa earned first-team AVCA All-America honors and Jake Arnitz and Mitch Stahl were second-team selection for the Bruins. UCLA finished ranked third in the nation after spending four weeks at number one in the polls. The 10-0 start to the season was the best since 1998. The Bruins ranked among the nations top 10 in aces/set, blocks/set, kills/set, set assists/set and hitting percentage.  In 2015, Speraw guided a Bruin team which featured four freshmen starters for most of the season to an eighth-place finish in the MPSF. JT Hatch earned MPSF Freshman of the Year honors and second-team All-MPSF accolades. He was joined on the All-MPSF Freshman team by Arnitz. Stahl and Trent Kersten were chosen honorable mention All-MPSF. Kersten posted the ninth-best hitting percentage in the NCAA. The Bruin team ranked among the nations top 15 in service aces (1.46), set assists (11.58), blocks (2.49) and kills per set (12.07).  In 2014, Speraws Bruin team peaked at #1 in the AVCA polls after winning the Outrigger Hotels Invitational and posting a win over then top-ranked Stanford. Multiple injuries led to several lineup adjustments over the balance of the season and the team tied for fifth in the MPSF with a 15-9 league record. Late wins down the stretch over Long Beach and BYU down helped rally the team for post-season. However, the Bruins dropped a hard-fought five-setter at UC Santa Barbara in the opening round of the league tournament to finish the year with an 18-11 overall mark.  Three players earned AVCA All-America recognition - Gonzalo Quiroga - 1st team; Spencer Rowe and Robart Page - HM. Each earned All-MPSF honors as well, Quiroga on the first team and Rowe and Page on the second-team. Stahl and Jackson Bantle made the MPSF All-Freshman unit. Rowe repeated as a Capital One third-team Academic All-America selection. In 2013, Speraw won his 200th career collegiate match, defeating UCSB on Jan. 4, 2013 in his first regular season match as coach at UCLA. Speraw guided the Bruins to an  21-11 overall record and a fourth-place finish in the rugged MPSF, where UCLA compiled a 16-8 conference record. Team accomplishments included a tournament championship at the Outrigger Hotels Invitational, league sweeps over rivals USC and Pepperdine and a first-round MPSF playoff victory the Bruins first since 2006. Individually, UCLA produced a pair of AVCA All-Americans in first-team selection Quiroga and second-team choices Rowe and Evan Mottram. The three players also earned All-MPSF honors. In addition, Rowe became the first UCLA mens volleyball player in 13 years to earn CoSIDA Academic All-America honors.   In the summer of 2014, Coach Speraw guided the U.S. mens volleyball team to an upset win over top-ranked and three-time reigning World champion Brazil in the FIVB World League gold-medal match. Brazil had won gold or silver at each of the previous three Olympics. The U.S. finished with an overall record of 6-4, including three wins over teams ranked among the top six in the world. Prior to his appointment as the USAs head coach, Speraw enjoyed a wide variety of experience and success on the international level, serving as an assistant coach with the  U. S. Mens National Team that captured the gold medal at the 2008 Olympics in Beijing.  In 2011, he was given the U.S. Olympic Achievement Award, an honor that recognizes the colleges and universities whose coaches and student-athletes have won Olympic medals in the past two Olympiads. Speraw also served as assistant coach to Alan Knipe for the 2012 U.S. Mens Olympic Team, which finished fifth after winning its pool. Earlier that year, he returned as the assistant coach for the FIVB World League and filled in as head coach for the 2012 World League team for four oversees pool play matches. The U.S. men won the silver medal in the FIVB World League Final Round. Speraw joined the U.S. mens staff in 2007, serving under Head Coach Hugh McCutcheon. After winning the gold medal, Speraw worked with the U.S. men, as needed, including a stint as the head coach of a young team that finished fifth at the 2011 Pan American Games. In 2004, Speraw had served as head coach of the U.S. Mens Junior National Volleyball Team that took home the silver medal at the NORCECA Mens Junior (U-21) Continental Volleyball Championship to qualify for the 2005 Championships. He also served as an assistant for the U.S. Boys Youth National Team (1998 and 2001), the World University Games Team (1997 and 1999) and the Pan American Games Team (1999 and 2007). In the collegiate ranks, Speraw directed UC Irvine to a 27-5 overall record in 2009 and ended the year ranked No. 1 in the country. During the year, the Anteaters were ranked No. 1 for eight weeks, the most of any team in the nation that season. UCI also captured the MPSF regular season title. With UC Irvines first national championship in 2007, Speraw became the only individual to win a title as a head coach, assistant coach and player in collegiate mens volleyball history. Along with the 2007 title, Irvine also won its first MPSF tournament championship, ended the year with the No. 1 ranking and recorded a school record 29 victories, a win total that was the best among all NCAA Division I-II schools that season, Speraw was named 2006 AVCA National Coach of the Year, as well as, MPSF and Volleyball Magazine Coach of the Year. He has been a finalist for National Coach of the Year three times. In 2006, the Anteaters claimed their first-ever regular season MPSF title, finishing with a 20-2 league record. The team won a school-record 21 consecutive matches to end the regular season and held the top ranking for eight consecutive weeks. Speraw, who compiled a 199-106 (.652) overall record at UCI, mentored both the AVCA Division I-II Mens National Player of the Year and the AVCA Division I-II Mens Newcomer of the Year in 2006 (Jayson Jablonsky). UC Irvine players earned All-America distinction 21 times during Speraws tenure at UCI, including nine first-teamers. While at Irvine, Speraws players also captured MPSF Player of the Year, MPSF Freshman of the Year, NCAA Championship MVP, NCAA All-Tournament Team, numerous national and conference Player of the Week honors as well as academic distinctions such as Academic All-American, MPSF & UCI Scholar-Athletes and Lauds & Laurels Athlete of the Year. Speraw, who had a team ranked No. 1 in five different seasons at UCI, placed the Anteaters in the Top 10 of the final rankings all but one year while at the helm. In 2008, he received a Pillar Award, which showcases outstanding achievement in ethical leadership at the 12th Annual Ethics in America Awards. Speraw was also named to OC METRO Business Magazines 18th annual list of the Hottest 25 Business People of Orange County and was tabbed No. 16 in the Daily Pilots 2007 Top 103 Most Influential People in the Newport/Costa Mesa Area. Speraw was on the Most Influential list his last four years at UCI, including the Sports Newsmaker of the Year in 2006. Prior to his appointment at UC Irvine, Speraw was involved with UCLAs program for 12 years as a player and assistant coach. He lettered four seasons as a middle blocker, was a member of two NCAA championship teams (1993, 1995), and earned NCAA All-Tournament honors for the Bruins in 1995. As a senior in 95, he started 29 matches as the Bruins rolled to a 31-1 record and swept Penn State for their 15th NCAA title. In the final against the Nittany Lions, Speraw hit .625 (11-1-16) with eight blocks. For the tournament, he hit .586 (18-1-29). In his four-year career, Speraw hit .421 with 394 kills. He boasted a career blocking average of 1.3 bpg. After earning his undergraduate degree in Microbiology and Molecular Genetics from UCLA in 1995, Speraw served three seasons (1996-98) as a volunteer assistant coach while also working at the UCLA Hospital before being elevated to a full-time position in the summer of 1998. He remained in that post until taking the UC Irvine job in 2002. Overall, he was involved with five NCAA title teams (1993, 95, 96, 98 and 2000) during his playing and coaching tenure at UCLA. The Speraws welcomed their first child, Brooklyn, to the family in 2015.       JOHN SPERAW'S COLLEGIATE COACHING RECORD JOHN SPERAW'S COLLEGIATE COACHING RECORD

Hawks is no stranger to the MPSF, most recently spending three seasons at Long Beach State (09-11), where he was responsible for recruiting, day-to-day operations and either offense or defense. Hawks spent the 2007 and 08 seasons at USC with Coach Brad Keller, as the top assistant coach after serving four years as an assistant at UC Irvine (2003-2006) under current UCLA Head Coach, John Speraw. During his time at LBSU, the 49ers made the tournament both years and had ten All-Mountain Pacific Sports Federation selections and four AVCA All-America picks.  John also served as an athletic department representative on the Academic Integrity Committee. In his two years at USC, Hawks was responsible for recruiting the top classes in the country and helping the Trojans to two consecutive playoff appearances, while compiling the most wins for the program since 2000. Those recruiting classes went to play in two final fours during their career. During his four seasons at UC Irvine, the Anteaters won 70 matches (more than the programs first 11 years combined), and qualified for the MPSF playoffs three times. He was on the sidelines during the 2006 campaign when UCI won the programs first conference title, led the nation in wins (27-5) and reached the national semifinals, after spending eight weeks at No. 1. Hawks helped to recruit classes that went on to win two National Championships under Coach Speraw. In August 2011, John led the US Junior National team to its best finish ever, fourth place, at the FIVB World Championships in Brazil. In May 2010, John served as assistant coach at the Pan American Cup in Canada where the team beat Argentina to capture the Gold Medal. Later that summer, Hawks was head coach of the U.S. Mens Junior National Team which competed in the NORCECA zone qualifier in Quebec. His team won USAs first ever Gold Medal at the Junior National level and qualified for the 2011 FIVB World Championships to be held this summer in Brazil. In September 2010, he also served as a scout for the Mens National team during the 2010 World Championships in Italy.  During the summer of 2009, Hawks was an assistant coach with the U.S. Mens National Team for the 2009 World League, where they finished in fifth place in Belgrade, Serbia picking up wins versus Netherlands, Italy and China along the way. In May of 2008, Hawks headed up a small group of USA National Team players that trained at the Japan Institute of Sports Science (JISS), successfully helping the Japanese to qualify for the Olympic Games in Beijing. In June 2008, Hawks spent time as an assistant to Alan Knipe with the U.S. National Team at the Pan American Cup in Winnipeg, Canada, where the Americans defeated the hosts, won gold, and qualified the team for the Americas Cup later that year. He was also an assistant for the USA Boys Youth National Team, which went undefeated at the NORCECA Youth Continental Championship en route to the gold medal and qualification into the 2009 FIVB World Championship. Hawks served as the head coach at the 2006 USA Volleyball Boys Select A2 Training Camp, and was an assistant coach for the 2006 Mens Junior A2 Team, 2007 Junior National team and the 2007 World University Games team. The Junior Team finished seventh at the World Championships in Morocco with wins coming against Russia, Brazil and Cuba, while the World University Games team defeated Italy for the bronze medal in Bangkok, Thailand. Hawks began his college coaching career as an assistant coach at Grossmont Junior College in San Diego, where he also played, from 1995 to 1997. He was the boys head coach at Santa Margarita High School from 2001 to 2002, after serving four years as an assistant. The Eagles went undefeated in 2001, winning the CIF Southern Section, before reaching the semifinals the next year. He was named the 2001 CIF Southern Section Coach of the Year and the 2001 Orange County Register Coach of the Year. Hawks also spent five seasons as an assistant at his alma mater, Edison High School (1990-94) and moved into assistant coaching duties at San Dieguito High School (1995) and Francis Parker High School (1996). Both squads won CIF San Diego Sectional Championships. He then moved to Santa Margarita High (1997-2000), assisting the boys (1997-2000) and girls (1997-1999) squads. The boys won a pair of CIF Southern Section titles (1997 & 1998) and the girls won three (1997-1999). The girls team also won the 1999 state championship, after finishing second in the state in both 1997 and 1998. On the club level he has coached Balboa Bay Volleyball Club for 12 years (1998-2011), winning nine medals at the Junior Olympics (1998, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2009, 2011), including Gold in 2000, 2009 and 2011, and silver in 2005. He was also a coach for Seaside Volleyball Club (1995-1997), winning gold in 1997 and bronze in 1995.  On the girls side, Johns team most recently won the 2015 AAU National Championship in the 17 Open division making him one of the very few coaches who have won Gold medals in Boys and Girls volleyball. Thirty-one Junior Olympic All-Americans have played for Hawks since 1995. He has had a hand in coaching numerous Freshmen of the Year and Players of the Year as well as multiple All-Americans. John is married to Julianne and they have a beautiful little girl named Giavanna.

Keller has spent the last 10 seasons on the collegiate level, including helping to lead USC to the 2009 NCAA mens volleyball title match.     In his first four seasons at UCLA, Keller has rounded up some of the nations best recruiting classes. He was credited with signing the nations top recruiting class in 2013 a group of eight student-athletes, all of whom earned Volleyball Magazine Feb 50 honors. Two, Mitch Stahl and Jackson Bantle, earned 2014 All-MPSF Freshman team honors. 2014's class included Volleyball Magazines top-two ranked players. All of the newcomers in the class were included in the nations Fab 50 recruits as listed by Volleyball Magazine. JT Hatch went on the be named the MPSF Freshman of the Year. This past November, the Bruins inked another highly ranked class which included top Canadian player, Daenan Gyimah, and Corona del Mar standout Sam Kobrine, who was a training team member of the USA Youth National team.          During the summer months, Keller was once again active as a coach with the U.S. Junior National team. He helped guide the Youth National Team this past summer to a seventh place finish in the World Championships, which matches the squad's best finish ever in the event. Incoming freshman recruit Micah Ma'a was a starting member of that team. Fellow recruits Dylan Missry and Sam Kobrine were training members of that team. He also helped to guide the Youth National Team at the 2015 FIVB Boys U19 World Championship. In the summer of 2014, he was on the coaching staff of the U.S. Boys Youth National Team which defeated Cuba, 25-23, 25-21, 25-20 to win the NORCECA Boys Under-19 Continental Championship in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Team USA finished the tournament 4-0 and 12-0 in sets.              Prior to his appointment at UCLA, Keller served at UConn for the 2011 season working with the Huskies womens volleyball team. Before moving to Storrs, CT, Keller helped guide the UC Irvine mens team to an 18-11 regular season record, and a No. 3 national ranking. The Anteaters finished sixth nationally in 2011. In 2010, his first season at UCI, the Anteaters finished eighth nationally.     Before his stint at UC Irvine, Keller served as an assistant coach at USC from 2007-10 with the mens volleyball team. As the offensive coordinator during the 2009 season, Keller helped guide the Trojans to the NCAA Final, as the Trojans ended the year ranked second nationally in kills and assists as well as fifth in hitting percentage. USC lost 15-12 in the fifth set to UC Irvine. In four seasons with the Trojans, he coached two All-Americans as well as six All-Mountain Pacific Sports Federation honorees. Keller also helped USC ink some of the best recruiting classes in the nation during his tenure there during 2007 and 2008.     In addition, Keller has worked in several capacities for USA Volleyball. In 2010 he was an assistant coach with the USA Volleyball Mens Junior National Team, guiding it to its first gold medal in USA Volleyball history. That fall, Keller helped prepare the U.S. Mens National Team for the 2010 FIVB World Championship as an advance scout, developing reports for use during World League competition.     Keller, 36, founded the Bay to Bay Volleyball Club in San Jose, Calif. which is a youth boys volleyball club created to serve the needs of the South Bay community. He served as the chief director from 2001-06 and was heavily involved in all aspects of the organization. Bay to Bay has produced more than 75 varsity collegiate athletes in the past 14 years.     As a student-athlete, Keller played two seasons at Loyola Marymount where he graduated in 2002 with a Bachelors degree in Graphic Design and a minor in Marketing.

Thurlby played collegiately at the University of Hawai'i from 2002-06, as the Rainbow Wahine advanced to a pair of Final Fours in '02 and '03. After redshirting in 2002, Thurlby played in 118 matches in her four years, totaling 421 assists (1.89 per set), 16 aces and 207 digs (0.93 per set). She averaged over a dig a set in each of her last two seasons (1.24 in 2005 and 1.19 in 2006) when she was named a team co-captain, seeing action at setter, right-side hitter and defensive specialist during her four years. Thurlby graduated from Hawai'i in 2007 with a bachelor's degree in broadcast journalism and business marketing and was a three-time All-WAC Academic selection. After her days at Hawai'i, Thurlby played professionally in Cordoba, Spain with Cajasur in 2007, also playing in Argentina that year. In 2008, she played in six events on the AVP Tour with partner Renee Bizzieri, advancing from the qualifier at the Manhattan Beach Open. In 2009, she played with three different partners over seven events, making the main draw again in Manhattan Beach. She also made her international debut as a member of the USA U-26 Beach National Team and competed on the FIVB World Tour in Aland, Finland. In 2010, she finished fourth at the NORCECA tour events in Boca Chica, Dominican Republic and Puerto Vallarta, Mexico. On the AVP Tour that season, she competed on the Young Guns Tour, finishing first in Milwaukee and second in Long Beach, N.Y. and Hermosa Beach. Thurlby also finished fifth in the Monte Carlo Invitational in Monaco and ninth in the Manhattan Beach Open. She ended the 2010 season as the 64th-ranked player on the AVP Tour. In 2011, she finished 13th at both the Manhattan and Hermosa Jose Cuervo tour stops with partner Morgan Beck. The Naperville, Ill. native began coaching club in 2007 with Sports Performance Volleyball in Aurora, Ill, coaching a 16's team and the Sports Performance Setting Academy along with other Summer camps. She was also the assistant varsity volleyball coach at Naperville Central High School that year, helping them to an ILHSA 4A State Championship. Thurlby has coached club with two teams in Los Angeles; Sunshine Volleyball Club in 2011 and Long Beach Mizuno Volleyball Club in 2012.