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Former Colorado State associate head coach Jesse Mahoney has been named the new Pioneer volleyball head coach, the university announced earlier this month.
“I am very excited to be here,” said Mahoney. “It’s definitely a special opportunity here at DU, working at such a prestigious university in my home state. When I was here on my visit, what stood out was how much pride everyone has here. I’m excited to be a part of that.”
Mahoney spent seven seasons at Colorado State, helping the Rams to a 188-55 (.744) record, seven NCAA Tournament appearances and five Mountain West Conference championships.
“I was very lucky in my time at Colorado State to work under Tom Hilbert, one of the best coaches in the United States. He had what it takes to really run a championship program,” said Mahoney.
Mahoney succeeds Beth Kuwata, who resigned at the end of November, as the sixth head coach in the program’s history. Kuwata, who led the Pioneers to a 13-16 record in 2011, was the all-time winningest coach in program history. Kuwata has been reassigned to DU’s development staff.
“We are thrilled to welcome Jesse into the Pioneer family,” said Peg Bradley-Doppes, Vice Chancellor for Athletics and Recreation and Ritchie Center Operations. “Jesse is a well-known, respected coach at the regional and national levels. He is a teacher of the game and is a very articulate coach. Jesse has a strong understanding of the student athlete and the expectations here at the University of Denver. He has the competitive drive and passion to take our volleyball program to the next level.”
Mahoney, who put together three recruiting classes ranked in the nation’s top-25 by PrepVolleyball.com while at CSU, has already gone on several recruiting trips since being hired.
“We’re looking to get some more elite student athletes into the program for the short term and the long term as well,” said Mahoney.
Despite the successes of his career at Colorado State, Mahoney said that the position at DU was “exactly what I was looking for.”
“I enjoyed my time at Colorado State, and I had one of the best assistant coaching jobs in the country, in my opinion,” said Mahoney. “I didn’t want to move on until I could find another situation like that, where my family and myself could be very comfortable and I would have the opportunity to be in a championship situation as well. I think DU has that. It was an easy decision.”
Mahoney announced last week that he is meeting with current staff and other potential candidates and hopes to decide on a 2012 staff shortly.
“Jesse will be sorely missed since he’s been here longer than any other assistant I’ve had, and he’s been a huge asset to our program,” said Hilbert, head coach at Colorado State. “He’s really been like a second head coach. There have been areas that I’ve been able to turn over entirely to him. He’s a great coach and has all of the tools. Jesse’s a great recruiter, a great tactician, a great teacher and we’ll definitely miss him.”
Before working at CSU, Mahoney was the head coach at Fort Hays State in Hays, Kan., from 1999-2004. During his time there, he tallied a record of 107-82, including a 56-12 mark from 2003-04. His Lady Tigers went 31-5 in 2004, as they posted the best record in NCAA Division II competition and finished the season ranked No. 11 nationally.
Prior to that, Mahoney was assistant coach at Colorado Christian in 1998, helping lead the Cougars to a tie for first place in the RMAC East Division with a 17-2 record. Mahoney was head coach of the University of Colorado men’s club team for two years and also helped coach the under-18 Front Range Volleyball Club team that captured the USA Junior Rocky Mountain Region championship.
Mahoney, who is a native of Colorado, said he is happy to continue working in his home state and is excited about all of the talent available.
“If you look per capita at Division I volleyball players, Colorado is in the top five in the country,” said Mahoney. “There is a lot of really good talent close here. Denver is one of the nicest cities in the country, so you can recruit from the West Coast, the Midwest, internationally. Finding people that want to come here and play at a high level, that will be our charge.”
The Pioneers, who competed in their final season in the SBC in 2011, will be moving into the Western Athletic Conference in 2012 for their first season of competition in the highly competitive WAC.
“Transitioning to the WAC was exciting for me and is going to be great for the volleyball program,” said Mahoney. “There are some great teams in there, teams that are very competitive. One of the things we’re looking forward to in this program is not just competing at the conference level, but also at the national level.”
