Karch Kiraly named US women’s volleyball team coach

Anaheim, CA, United States (4E Sports) – After conquering the indoor and beach volleyball events of the Olympic Games, Karch Kiraly will face a new challenge as the new head coach of the US women’s national volleyball team.

The 51-year-old Kiraly replaces former mentor Hugh McCutcheon and takes over a team ranked No. 1 by the International Federation of Volleyball (FIVB) but has yet to win an Olympic gold medal.

McCutcheon is now headed to the University of Minnesota to assume the head women’s volleyball coach position after leading the US women’s team to silver medals in the past two Olympics.

Kiraly worked as assistant coach under McCutcheon with the US men’s volleyball team that captured gold medal in the 2008 Beijing Games.

“I have revered representing the USA and wearing the red, white and blue ever since my first experience with the Junior National Team at 16 years old,” Kiraly said in a statement.

“It is a tremendous honor to be asked to lead such a powerful volleyball program, and I am thrilled to be able to carry forward the effort expended by this hard-working and talented group of athletes–an effort led by my mentor and friend, Hugh McCutcheon, and his staff,” he added.

“I could not be happier with USA Volleyball’s decision to select Karch as the head coach of the USA Women’s National Volleyball Team,” McCutcheon said in a statement. “He’s a great man and a wonderful volleyball coach–this is a fantastic hire.”

Kiraly is the only American volleyball player to have won Olympic gold medals both in indoor volleyball (1984 and 1988) and beach volleyball (1996).

In beach volleyball, Kiraly won 148 beach tournaments, more than any other player and chosen six times as Association of Volleyball Professionals player of the year.

He was inducted into the Volleyball Hall of Fame in 2001 and after his retirement in 2007, worked as television commentator for NBC coverage of beach volleyball at the 2008 Summer Olympics.

In 2009, Kiraly accepted McCutcheon’s offer to join him on the sidelines for the national women’s team.

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