Santa Barbara will always be a special place for legendary UCLA men’s volleyball coach Al Scates.
Scates, who is retiring at the end of this season, his 50th at the helm of the Bruins, makes his final visit to UCSB’s Rob Gym on Friday. His team comes in 11-1 and ranked No. 1 in the country. UCSB is 3-6 and coming off an upset win at Pepperdine.
Al Scates has a record 117-32 against UCSB, including two wins in national title matches. Scates, who has led the Bruins to 19 national championships, is retiring after 50 years of coaching.
UCSB will pay tribute to the sport’s winningest coach in a ceremony before the match. Scates has guided UCLA to 19 national championships.
When asked about his most memorable moment of playing at Rob Gym, the 1974 NCAA Championship against the Gauchos is No. 1. The match was played before a packed house and was nationally televised on ABC’s Wide World of Sports.
UCLA was trailing 6-1 in the fifth game when Scates made one his greatest substitutions of all time. He inserted serving specialist Sabin Perkins who went on to serve three aces during a six-point run that gave momentum back to the Bruins. They went on to win the game, 15-12, for their fourth national championship.
UCLA beat the Gauchos again in the 1975 title match at Pauley Pavilion.
Other reasons why Scates is so fond of Santa Barbara: Karch Kiraly, Doug Partie, Don Dendinger, Tim Kelly, Mark Knudsen, Cameron Mount, Nick Scheftic and Jeremy Casebeer.
They are all players from the local high schools who have contributed to UCLA’s success. Kiraly, a Santa Barbara High Hall of Famer, three-time Olympic gold medalist and considered the greatest player of all time, won three national titles as a Bruin (1981-83).
Dos Pueblos alum Doug Partie outdid Kiraly, winning titles all of his four years at UCLA (81-84). DP’s Dendinger (’87), Kelly (’93) and Mount (2000) and Bishop Diego’s Scheftic (2006) were starters on national championship squads.
Former Santa Barbara High star Jeremy Casebeer leads the Bruins in kills with 120. (Photos by Don Liebig/ASUCLA)
Casebeer is a starting outside hitter on this year’s team and leads the team in kills with 120. The 6-4 senior out of Santa Barbara High said the players are bound and determined to send Scates off into retirement with his 20th title.
“Coach Scates has been around the sport longer than anyone,” Casebeer said. “He invented most it, and he deserves to retire with 20 NCAA championships in 50 years of coaching,”
The Bruins are a senior-laden squad, and Casebeer noted the upperclassmen haven’t hoisted a national title trophy in their careers.
That has created a different vibe on the team.
“Many of us have been in the program 4 and 5 years without winning a championship. We are playing with confidence and desperation to take advantage of every practice and match to be prepared when playoffs come,” Casebeer said.
Casebeer said he feels grateful to play for the legendary Scates.
“I have been quite fortunate to have access to that wealth of knowledge over the past five years. I will be proud to culminate my career at UCLA with what will hopefully be the proper ending to an illustrious career.”
