John Kosty Named MPSF Coach of the Year
April 30, 2014
2014 MPSF Men's Volleyball Coach of the Year
2014 MPSF Coach of the Year
JOHN KOSTY- EIGHTH YEAR- HEAD COACH - STANFORD
Stanford eighth-year head coach John Kosty has guided the 2014 Cardinal to 23 wins (.742 win percentage) entering the 2014 NCAA Tournament, where after coasting through the play-in, the team is two wins from a third national championship. In reaching the MPSF Championship match on April 26 at BYU, Stanford went on a 2014 conference-high 13-match win streak, a stretch which began with a 6-7 MPSF record entering March. In that month, the team picked up six wins over the nation's top-10, and three over the top-six, to head into April with seven straight wins and a 13-7 conference mark. From there, the Cardinal tacked on six additional victories in succession, including another trio of w's against the nation's top-six, leading to the opportunity to compete for the league title before an electric 4,367 in Provo's Smith Fieldhouse. The third-seeded Cardinal had won their quarterfinal and semifinal conference tournament matches to further strengthen their case for a trip to Chicago. Entering the national semifinals Thursday (May 1), Stanford owns the second-best team hitting percentage in the nation and No. 1 in the MPSF at .337, while allowing its opponents to hit just .233.
Kosty has brought the Stanford men's volleyball program an incredible distance since taking over at the helm in 2007. In his fourth year in 2010, as part of the three-year transformation "worst to first" campaign, he coached a national championship team which won 24 games. The squad improved its overall and conference win total after each of his first four years. The 2010 season resulted in his other MPSF Coach of the Year honor, prior to also earning the AVCA National Coach of the Year recognition. The 2014 season marks the seventh-straight year the Cardinal will finish ranked in the nation's top-10, making a postseason appearance each of those seasons. Stanford has now been represented on the first-team AVCA All-American list six straight years, the latest being senior outside hitter Brian Cook, who is also a three-time All-MPSF selection.
Prior to being named Stanford's head coach, Kosty was an assistant under Ruben Nieves with the 1997 squad which won the program's first national championship, and later under Don Shaw. Kosty holds the distinction of having been part of the U.S. national-team program as a player and a coach. He toured Europe as a member of the U.S. junior national team during his UCSB playing days and later served as an assistant for the U.S. at the 1995 World University Games in Japan. Kosty was a technical advisor to the 1996 U.S. Olympic team, scouting opponents at the 1995 European Championships in Greece and the 1996 Olympic qualifiers in Portugal. In addition, he was an assistant for the U.S. Junior team during the summer of 1998.