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GMS Volleyball coaches

Our team of world-class volleyball coaches includes many of the giants in our sport. Today, our staff has been a part
of a combined 30 Olympic Games, 25+ Collegiate Championships, hall of fame honors, and so much more!
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International Medals
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Olympic Medals
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Collegiate Championships
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NCAA Conference Titles

Meet Our world-class team of Volleyball Coaches

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Chris McGown
Co-Founder / Head Coach
Chris is a founding member, and a former head coach in the Japanese Men’s Professional League. As a former Head Coach for the BYU Men, Chris led the squad to the MPSF Championship and runner up at the NCAA National Tournament. Chris was named the MPSF and AVCA Coach of the Year.
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Courtney Thompson
2-Time Olympic Setter

Courtney is currently a director of Coach Development at LOVB. As a player, Courtney participated in both the 2012 Olympic Games, winning Silver, and in the 2016 Olympic Games, winning Bronze. In 2005, Courtney led the UW Huskies to their first-ever NCAA championship.

Rob Neilson, one of the best volleyball coaches, talks to his team.
Rob Nielson
Head Coach - Utah State University

Rob Neilson is in his fourth season as the head coach at Utah State. Rob was named the 2021 Mountain West Coach of the Year and has led the Aggies to 3 consecutive conference titles. Rob has spent the last three years as the first assistant with the U.S. Men’s National Team.

Jason Watson volleyball coach
Jason Watson
Head Coach - University of Arkansas

Jason was named the head coach of the University of Arkansas volleyball team in 2016. In 11 prior seasons as a head coach at BYU (2005-07) and Arizona State (2008-15), Watson closes the 2020-21 season with a 264-222 (.543) record and has guided his teams to seven NCAA Tournament selections.

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Luka Slabe
Head Coach - NC State

Luka was a part of history in Tokyo, helping the USA Women’s team to their first-ever Olympic Gold Medal. Currently, Luka is the Head Coach of the women’s program at NC State University. A native of Slovenia, Luka came to the USA in 2000, playing for Carl McGown and the BYU Men’s program.

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Keegan Cook
Head Coach - University of Minnesota

Keegan is currently the head coach of the University of Minnesota.  Formerly the head coach at the University of Washington, his first two seasons resulted in two Pac-12 Championships and two trips to the Elite Eight of the NCAA Championships. Keegan’s teams had five different Huskies earning AVCA All-America honors covering every position on the court and a Pac-12 Player of the Year award.

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Tom Black
Head Coach - Georgia

Tom is currently the head coach for the University of Georgia Women. Since 2013 Tom has also served as an assistant coach to the Women’s National Team, helping Team USA capture it’s first ever World Championship Gold. Tom was also on the bench when the women won the Bronze at the 2016 Rio Olympic Games.

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Chris Tamas
Head Coach - Illinois

Like many of our advisory staff members, Chris’ coaching career began working summer camps with Gold Medal Squared. In 2017, Chris helped the Nebraska Women’s Team to yet another NCAA Championship. In 2018, Tamas took over as the head coach at Illinois, guiding his team to final four in his first year.

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Rob Browning
Head Coach - St. Mary’s College

Rob enters his 14th season as the head women’s volleyball coach at SMC. Browning has led the Gaels to sustained success throughout that has seen Saint Mary’s volleyball grow both on and off the court. In addition to his duties as head indoor coach, he helped establish sand volleyball as SMC’s 17th intercollegiate sport.

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Ryan McGuyre
Head Coach - Baylor

In his 5th season, Ryan led Baylor to a 29-2 record and the national semi-final match. With multiple coach-of-the-year honors, along with 6 NAIA National Championships while with Cal Baptistis, Ryan has become one of our sport’s most successful (and humble) coaches. We are honored to have him on board!

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Jose Gandara
Head Coach - University of Miami

Jose “Keno” Gandara is the head coach for the University of Miami Women’s Volleyball Team. The Hurricanes returned the NCAA Championship in 2017 for the fourth time in five seasons under Gandara’s leadership. Prior to taking over at Miami, Keno was an assistant coach at the University of Washington.

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Joe Trinsey
GMS Staff

Joe Trinsey has established himself as one of, if not the most talented statistician in the world. Joe has a unique ability to analyze the game of volleyball and provide coaches with powerful information. Both USA and GMS are extremely lucky to have Joe on staff. He’s no doubt the smartest guy in the room.

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Giovana Melo
Head Coach, Cal State Bakersfield

In her first six years at the helm of CSUB, Melo has led the indoor volleyball program to a pair of Western Athletic Conference Tournament titles and two NCAA Tournament appearances. Along the way, she has accumulated a record of 85-94 record (.475), including a 19-14 record in 2017.

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Rob Holley
Staffing Coordinator/Clinician

Rob coordinates our camp staff during the summer and serves as a coaching clinician throughout the year.  He’s been coaching for 34 years and has experience working with every age group, gender, and level from 5 year old beginners to 35 year old professionals.