BYU's Chris McGown Named MPSF Coach of the Year
May 1, 2013
2013 MPSF Coach of the Year in PDF Format
2013 MPSF Coach of the Year
CHRIS McGOWN - SECOND YEAR - BYU
Chris McGown is completing his second year as head coach at Brigham Young University, with a 49-11 (.817) career record entering the 2013 NCAA Tournament. Backed by a 25-4 record and an MPSF Championship for the first time since 2004, the Cougars also return to the national semifinals for the first time since that year. The Cougars won the conference title on April 27 in Smith Fieldhouse before a packed 4,190, reaching that match with comeback wins in the MPSF Quarterfinals and Semifinals.
With an NCAA Semifinal victory on Thursday (May 2), BYU's 26th win will be the third most all-time for the program and most since '04, its last national title season. While only the `99 and `04 Cougar squads held a higher MPSF win percentage in program history, no other MPSF team since the inaugural season of the conference in 1993 has clinched the tournament's overall No. 1 seed as quickly as the 2013 Cougars did on March 30. Furthermore, BYU has been ranked as the nation's No. 1 team in 11 of the 16 AVCA Coaches' Polls, and in all but one week, in the top-two.
McGown's coach of the year honor results in a Cougar sweep of the three major MPSF individual awards, as prior to the postseason tournament junior outside hitter Taylor Sander was named player of the year and opposite Ben Patch freshman of the year. This marks the first time since 2008 (Long Beach State-Paul Lotman, Mike Klipsch, Alan Knipe) that each major award went to the same team. In addition, BYU had seven other honors on the all-conference lists, including three first-team selections.
Prior to his hire in June, 2011, McGown worked as the volunteer assistant coach for the BYU Women's Volleyball team from 2009-11. He came to BYU from Gold Medal Squared volleyball camps, where he has been involved since its inception in 1998, working as both an administrator and a coach/clinician. During the course of his career with GMS, McGown has worked with hundreds of schools and clubs and thousands of volleyball players and coaches. He was a three-year letterman at BYU from 1990-94, and since the late 80's, has witnessed the program evolve from the club level to NCAA Championship contenders.