John Speraw Position: Head Coach

John Speraw ends his seventh season as the head men's volleyball coach at UC Irvine guiding the Anteaters to its second national championship in the last three years. With the Anteaters' second national championship, UCI becomes just the fifth school to win more than one men's volleyball title all-time.

In 2009, UCI went 27-5 overall and ended the year ranked No. 1 in the country. The Anteaters were ranked No. 1 for eight weeks, the most of any team in the country. UCI also captured the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation regular season title.

Speraw has also been successful on the international level, serving as an assistant coach with the United States Men's Indoor Volleyball team that won the gold medal at the 2008 Olympics in Beijing.

With UCI's first national championship, Speraw joined Rod Wilde as the only individuals to have won a title as a head coach, assistant coach and player. Speraw, Wilde and Bob Yoder are the only three to have accomplished the feat as a player and head coach.

Along with the national championship in 2007, Speraw's team also won its first Mountain Pacific Sports Federation title, ended the year with the No. 1 ranking and had a school record 29 victories, a win total that was the most among all NCAA Division I-II schools that year.

Speraw, was named 2006 AVCA National Coach of the Year as well as Mountain Pacific Sports Federation and Volleyball Magazine Coach of the Year. He has been a finalist for National Coach of the Year three of the last five years.

In 2006, The Anteaters claimed their first-ever regular season Mountain Pacific Sports Federation title, finishing with a 20-2 league record. The team had a school-record 21 consecutive victories to end the regular season and held the number-one ranking for eight consecutive weeks.

Speraw, who is 139-74 overall as head coach of the Anteaters, has mentored both the AVCA Division I-II Men's National Player of the Year and the AVCA Division I-II Men's Newcomer of the Year in 2006. UC Irvine players have earned All-American distinction 14 times since Speraw arrived at UCI, including five first teamers. While at Irvine, Speraw's players have also garnered MPSF Player of the Year, MPSF Freshman of the Year, NCAA Championship MVP, NCAA All-Tournament Team, numerous national and conference Player of the Week honors as well as academic distinctions such as Academic All-American, MPSF & UCI Scholar-Athletes and Lauds & Laurels Athlete of the Year. Under Speraw's leadership, the men's volleyball team has had no fewer than five scholar-athletes each year.

Speraw, who has had a team ranked No. 1 in four different years, has had UCI sitting in the Top 10 final rankings all but one year.

In 2008, he received a Pillar Award, which showcases outstanding achievement in ethical leadershipat the12th Annual Ethics in America Awards. Speraw was also named to OC METRO Business Magazine's 18th annual list of the Hottest 25 Business People of Orange County and was tabbed No. 16 in the Daily Pilot's 2007 Top 103 Most Influential People in the Newport/Costa Mesa Area. Speraw was also one of their Most Influential People and the Sports Newsmaker of the Year in 2006.

Speraw was named an assistant coach with the U.S. National team in January, 2007 and helped Team USA to a gold medal in the 2008 Olympics in Beijing and World League Championship.

Speraw's other international coaching experience, includes being the head coach of the USA Junior National Team three times as well as the head coach of the Youth National Team. He also served as an assistant for the Youth National Team (1998 and 2001), the World University Games Team (1997 and 1999) and the Pan American Games Team (1999, 2007).

Prior to UCI, Speraw served in various roles with the UCLA volleyball program for 12 years. He played middle blocker for the Bruins from 1990-95 and was a member of two national championship teams. He was named to the NCAA All-Tournament team in 1995 when he had 11 kills and eight blocks in the championship victory over Penn State. Speraw became a volunteer assistant coach with the Bruins before assuming a full-time assistant's position in 1998. He graduated from UCLA in 1995 with a bachelor of science degree in microbiology and molecular genetics.

Speraw was elected to the AVCA Board of Directors as the men's representative in 2007.

He is the co-author of the book Exercise for Your Muscle Type: The Smart Way to Get Fit and had a cameo appearance in the movie Green Flash.