Jesse Mahoney has been named the fifth head volleyball coach in University of Colorado history, athletic director Rick George announced Wednesday.
Mahoney, a Boulder native, will make the move up U.S. Highway 36 in returning to where he began his coaching career.听 He has spent the last four seasons at the University of Denver, where he guided the Pioneers to an 88-41 mark, including back-to-back NCAA Tournament appearances (2014, 2015).听
The Pioneers finished with a 27-8 mark this past fall after falling to No. 5 Washington in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.听 In 2014, DU was 27-7, its season ending in the first round of the tournament, on that occasion to No. 13 Colorado State, also in the first round.
鈥淲hen I met with our volleyball student-athletes, I told them that we would go out and hire the best coach, mentor and leader for them, and I feel like we accomplished all three,鈥� George said.听 鈥淚 am excited that Jesse is back home again as a Buff.鈥�
George was alluding to the fact that Mahoney got his start in coaching as the head coach of the CU men鈥檚 club volleyball team from 1995-98.听 His teams were ranked in the top 20 his entire time here and finished fifth in the 1996 national club championship.
The Pioneers accumulated a 46-18 conference mark with Mahoney at the helm, winning the Summit League regular season championship the last two seasons with identical 13-3 league records; Denver also claimed the postseason tournament title both years.听 The 2014 crown was the school鈥檚 first in the sport after joining the league in 2013, in which Mahoney coached the Pioneers to a 10-4 league mark and runner-up finishes in both the regular season and in the postseason tourney.听 That team was 17-13 overall, as was his first team at DU in 2012, when the Pioneers were members of the Western Athletic Conference (with a 10-8 mark in conference play).听
While at Denver, Mahoney coached 17 all-conference selections, including a pair of 2014 AVCA Division I Honorable Mention All-Americans. His 2014 recruiting class was tabbed No. 28 by prepvolleyball.com. Nationally, the Pioneers鈥� offense was ranked in the top 25 in hitting efficiency three times (2013-15) and this fall the defense cracked the top 25 in opponent hitting efficiency.听 Mahoney also helped the Pioneers to the AVCA Team Academic Award from 2012-14 (those honored for 2015 will be announced early next year).
Prior to his success at DU, Mahoney served as an assistant head coach at Colorado State (2005-11), including four as the associate head coach.听 In his time there under head coach Tom Hilbert, the Rams participated in seven consecutive NCAA Tournaments and won five Mountain West titles.听 CSU compiled a 162-51 record during his time on the staff.
While with the Rams, he helped to assemble three recruiting classes ranked in the top 25 by prepvollyball.com.听 His primary responsibility in practice was working with the middle blockers, and Colorado State was ranked nationally in the top 10 in blocking five of his seven seasons.听 He tutored two All-American middle blockers as well as multiple All-Conference and All-Region performers.
Mahoney joined the staff at CSU after six seasons as the head coach at Fort Hays State, where the Tigers recorded a 107-82 overall record under his direction.听 FHSU tallied an impressive 56-12 record over his last two years there (2003-04), which included a 31-5 mark and No. 11 final national ranking in 2004.
His first varsity coaching position was as an assistant coach at Colorado Christian after his time as CU鈥檚 club coach.听 Mahoney has also coached in the club circuit as a member of the Front Range Volleyball Club, guiding the 18-Black to the 1998 USA Junior Rocky Mountain Region title.
Mahoney is no stranger to the University of Colorado, having earned a bachelor鈥檚 degree in Psychology in 1995 and a Juris Doctorate degree from CU鈥檚 Law School in 1999.听 He is married to the former Gwen McEntyre, and the couple has three children: Macy, Griffin and Declan.
Image and story courtesy of Colorado Athletics.
