Five years after his arrival at UCSD brought the Tritons to a national championship, men’s volleyball head coach Ron Larsen has decided to resign in order to take a position as an assistant coach to the USA Men’s Volleyball Olympic Team.
Farewell:
Larsen, who announced his resignation on April 14, was the men’s volleyball coach from 2000 to 2005, and aided the UCSD volleyball program in its move from Division III to Division II in his first year as coach.
He began at UCSD during the team’s last year in Division III, and led the Tritons to the national championship. After winning it all, Larsen became the first coach to lead the Tritons over nationally ranked powers such as Penn State, UC Irvine and UC Santa Barbara. This season, in which the Tritons went 2-24-0, Larsen led the team to wins over the University of Southern California and Cal Baptist.
Although this season’s record was not the team’s best, Larsen worked hard to increase the quality of the volleyball program at UCSD.
Before beginning at UCSD, Larsen spent seven years at the University of Rutgers-Newark, where he went 97-80 with the men and 117-79 with the women. His team was consistently ranked among the top 15 teams in the nation, and he was named New Jersey Athletic Conference Coach of the Year in 1996 and 1998. In 1998, he was also named Eastern Intercollegiate Volleyball Association Coach of the Year.
From 1989 to 1993, Larsen worked at UC Davis, both as an assistant coach for the women’s team for four years and as head coach of the men’s team from 1991 to 1993. At Davis, Larsen led his team to a 65-31 record, enough for a fifth-place finish at the 1993 club volleyball tournament.
Larsen began his coaching years at UC Berkeley, where the Bears went 102-29 at the club level. He also worked at St. Mary’s College from 1987 to 1988 as assistant coach for their women’s team.
Now Larsen will coach the USA Men’s Olympic Team, 10 years after winning a silver medal in the 1995 USA Olympic Festival as head coach of the North Men’s team. He also headed the 1996 USA Boys’ Youth National Team, made up of the top-18 high school players in the nation.
Larsen’s past coaching experience showed in his tenure at UCSD, and now he will progress to a new level when he coaches the Olympic team. However, his years at UCSD were important to the program and he will be remembered for his help to Triton volleyball.
