Former BYU Men's Volleyball Coach Inducted Into AVCA Hall of Fame

LEXINGTON -- The American Volleyball Coaches Association is proud to announce the eighth annual AVCA Hall of Fame class, featuring Carl McGown, Irene Matlock, Dave Shoji and Sports Imports, Inc. The 2010 AVCA Hall of Fame class will be inducted in ceremonies December 16 at the jostens Coaches Honors Luncheon, held in conjunction with the 2010 AVCA Annual Convention in Kansas City, Mo.

"This Hall of Fame class is wonderfully representative of the broad community that is the AVCA," said AVCA Executive Director Kathy DeBoer. "The four inductees have been leaders in completely different sectors of our sport, yet all bright stars in our volleyball galaxy."

The induction of these four honorees will bring the total number of AVCA Hall of Fame honorees to 52 in its eight years of existence. For more information on the AVCA Hall of Fame, visit the AVCA Web site, www.avca.org.

The AVCA Hall of Fame committee consists of: Nona Richardson, UC Davis (former coach, chair); Arnie Ball, IPFW (NCAA Coach); Debby Colberg (AVCA Hall of Fame member); Chad Purcell, Omaha World-Herald (media); Bren Stevens, University of Charleston (administrator); and Brenda Williams, Olivet Nazarene University (NAIA/Two-Year College coach).

Carl McGown

Carl McGown has over 30 years of international coaching experience under his belt. After serving as an assistant coach for the United States in the 1970 World Championships in Bulgaria, he went on to become head coach of the U.S. Men’s National Volleyball Team from 1973-1976, later taking on the role of technical advisor to the National Team in 1980. Since then, McGown has mentored teams in seven different Olympic Games and has also coached the National Team in seven different World Championships, including 1974, '82, '86, '90, '94, '98 and '02. In addition, McGown has coached in the World University Games, as well as the Pan American Games. His most recent head coaching experience was in the 2007-08 Swiss A League, where he led LUC to the regular season title, the Coppe Suisse Championship and the Swiss League Championship.

McGown is also the first coach in Brigham Young University men's volleyball history, having led the Cougars through 13 seasons of NCAA competition. He compiled a career record of 225-137 (.622) while at the helm, in addition to winning two NCAA Men’s Volleyball Championship titles and twice garnering Tachikara/AVCA National Coach of the Year honors. McGown is the founder of Gold Medal Squared, a provider of volleyball camps and clinics across the United States and Canada, and is a member of the FIVB Coaching Commission.

McGown graduated from Long Beach City College in 1961 and earned a master’s degree in physical education in 1964 from BYU. He went on to obtain his Ph.D. in both Motor Skill Learning and Administration from the University of Oregon in 1971. He is also an accomplished author, having worked on six books and appearing in numerous scholarly publications and journals.

“I consider Dr. McGown the greatest mind if the game of volleyball today,” wrote University of Washington head women’s volleyball coach Jim McLaughlin in his endorsement letter of McGown. “In fact, in my estimation, because of his practice methods, systems and match preparation, he is the best volleyball coach in the United States, and, probably, in the world today.”

Irene Matlock

Irene Matlock was head women’s volleyball coach at Community Colleges of Spokane from 1986-2004, where she amassed 715 wins and captured four Northwest Athletic Association of Community Colleges (NWAACC) championships. Prior to coaching CCS, she won over 100 matches and four state championships with Sandpoint High School in Idaho.

Matlock won numerous awards during her head coaching tenure, highlighted by the Tachikara/AVCA JC/CC National Coach of the Year honor in 1994. The 2001 Tachikara/AVCA West Region JC/CC West Region Coach of the Year was also named NWAACC East League Coach of the Year eight times and NWAACC Coach of the Year three times.

Matlock earned a Bachelor of Science degree in physical education from the University of Washington, and a Master of Science in physical education from Eastern Washington University. In addition to her coaching duties at CCS, she spent 10 years as its athletic commissioner, and is still a physical education instructor there to this day.

“Although it is hard to believe, wins were never a motivation for her. Teaching was at the core of her passion,” said Pamela Parks, Associate Athletics Director and Senior Woman Administrator at Eastern Washington University in her nomination of Matlock. Her philosophy was that if her athletes “understood why they were doing something they would be able to do it on their own and master it.”

Dave Shoji

In 2009, University of Hawai’i coach Dave Shoji became just the second head coach in NCAA Division I women’s volleyball history to reach the 1,000-win milestone, as he now has accumulated 1,016 career victories, ranking second all-time in Division I. The campaign was the ninth NCAA Division I Women’s Volleyball Championship to which Shoji has marched the Rainbow Wahine, and the program’s 28th NCAA Tournament appearance overall. Hawai’i, under Shoji’s guidance, has also made 25 NCAA Regional Appearances and have totaled 18, 30-plus win seasons. During his time at the helm, Shoji and the Rainbow Wahine have captured four national championships: an AIAW title in 1979 and three NCAA Division I crowns (1982, ’83 and ‘87).

The accolades for Shoji have poured in over the years. He is a ten-time conference coach of the year and has twice been selected the AVCA National Coach of the Year (1982 and 2009). Shoji was honored with an All-Time Great Coach Award in the Donald S. Shondell Contemporary Division by USA Volleyball in 2002. He has also recently been inducted to Hawai‘i Sports Hall of Fame and was named as the coach of the NCAA 25th Anniversary team.

Shoji was a two-sport athlete at UC Santa Barbara, where he played baseball for a year, along with three years of volleyball. He earned All-America honors as a volleyball player in 1968 and '69 and earned his bachelor's degree in physical education. After spending two years in the U.S. Army, Shoji returned to Hawai‘i to coach the Kalani High School girls' and boys' volleyball teams and later took an assistant coaching job at Punahou School. In 1975, a 28-year-old Shoji took over the then-second-year volleyball program. In 1981, Shoji became UH's first full-time coach for a women's program. Shoji was also responsible for the start of the men's volleyball program in 1978, serving as the men's coach at UH from 1978-85, compiling a record of 81-48 and leading the team to a Western Collegiate Volleyball Conference title in 1980.

“Dave is a great and gracious competitor,” says AVCA Hall of Fame member and former University of Nebraska head coach Terry Pettit in an endorsement letter of Shoji’s nomination. “The Hawai’i fans, I believe, reflect his demeanor and sportsmanship. As last year’s participation in the NCAA semifinals gives evidence, no one has maintained a top-level program for as long as Dave Shoji at the University of Hawai’i."

Sports Imports, Inc.

Sports Imports, Inc., is the official net system of the AVCA, and has been a supporter of the association since the association’s inception in 1981. Founded in 1976 by Ken Dunlap, Doug Beal and Mark Watson, all former volleyball coaches, Sports Imports set out to provide the industry with a safe volleyball net system. It was the first to replace dangerous guy wires with an in-ground sleeve system.

The company has since installed more than 19,000 systems in gyms and arenas across the United States. The exclusive distributor of Senoh net systems in North America, Sports Imports is the official net system of the both the NCAA Championships and the Olympic Games via the FIVB.

Sports Imports is based in Columbus, Ohio, and is a recognized leader in the volleyball community. By educating volleyball coaches and administrators on the value and safety of the sleeve and upright system, Sports Imports has helped transform the quality of volleyball equipment across the country.

“They have been one of the first sponsors of the AVCA and have been through thick and thin with our coaches’ organization,” said Terry Liskevych, Oregon State University head volleyball coach, and co-founder of the AVCA, in his nomination letter. “In addition, under the leadership of the Dunlap family – both the late Ken Dunlap and son Dave Dunlap and now President Brad Underwood, Sports Imports has done many extraordinary things for the sport of volleyball – as an event facilitator, sponsor, benefactor, contributor, innovator and most importantly as a loyal friend to everyone in this great sport.”

Darnell Dickson of the Daily Herald featured McGown on Wednesday June 9, 2010.