After four successful seasons with UC Santa Barbara’s women’s volleyball team, Greg Gibbons is leaving the program to become the head coach at Big West rival Pacific. Gibbons served under legendary Head Coach Kathy Gregory for four season, the last two as Associate Head Coach.
Gibbons was an integral part of the Gaucho program in his time at UCSB, leading the recruiting efforts to assemble much of the 2009 squad that went 22-8 and earned an NCAA Tournament berth. He helped land Big West Player of the Year and All-American Rebecca Saraceno as well as All-American setter Dana Vargas and First Team All-Big West player Stacey Schmidt.
While at UCSB Gibbons coached three All-Americans, three All-Region players, 10 All-Big West players and six All-Freshman players. Twice he helped lead UCSB to the NCAA Tournament and has helped assemble a 2010 squad that is loaded with talent and could challenge for the Big West title.
“We will really miss Greg,” Gregory said. “He has been such an integral part of the UC Santa Barbara volleyball program the last four years. But I realize an opportunity like this doesn’t come around everyday. This is one of the premier jobs in the country because of their national recognition, their tradition and their commitment to volleyball.”
Gibbons will take over a Pacific team that went 17-11 overall and 7-9 in the Big West in 2009. It is his first Division I head coaching position, but not his first job at the helm of a program. Gibbons went 41-29 as the head coach at Cal Lutheran University from 2003-05, leading the Regals to an 18-3 mark, a conference championship and a final NCAA Division III national ranking of No. 18 his final season. He guided CLU to the Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference title in 2005 while mentoring a First Team AVCA All-American, Mo Coverdale. In 2004, Cal Lutheran finished with a West Region ranking of 7th and was ranked as high as No. 25 in the national poll.
He has also worked extensively on the club circuit and spent three seasons with a Pepperdine’s men’s volleyball program that won a national title, was a national runner-up and went to a Final Four in all three years he was there.
A search for a replacement at UCSB will begin immediately.
