Fresno State interim athletic director Steve Robertello announced on Tuesday that four-time All-American Jonathan Winder will be the new head volleyball coach.
Winder will be filling the shoes of former Fresno State head coach Lauren Netherby-Sewell. The university previously announced in November that Netherby-Sewell would not return for an 11th season after a 12-18 campaign.
“Making a coaching change is never easy,” Robertello said in November. “However, at this time we feel a new voice is needed to continue to move the program forward within the Mountain West Conference.”
Winder is that new voice. He was the assistant coach for the University of Washington women’s indoor volleyball program and the head coach of its beach volleyball team.
Winder helped lead the Washington Huskies to a Pac-12 championship in his first and second seasons as well as a No. 1 national ranking for several weeks.
He also improved the Huskies’ beach volleyball record from 4-7 to 11-7 to finish last season No. 16 in the NCAA. Winder helped the team take third place in the Pac-12 championship.
Throughout his coaching career, Winder has coached six All-Pac-12 student-athletes on beach and eight All-Pac-12 selections. He recruited several Top-25 student-athletes throughout the 2017-18 and 2018-19 seasons for indoor, including five Top-80 players.
Winder also has a history with the game as a player.
A Pepperdine alum, Winder helped the Waves win the NCAA championship during his freshman year and was named a second-team All-American as well as the AVCA Newcomer of the Year. He went on to become the AVCA National Player of the Year and a first-team All-American by his senior year.
Winder holds the career-assists record at Pepperdine with 5,118 and is No. 5 all-time with 656 digs.
Following his collegiate career, Winder joined many rosters including the U.S. National Team; Team USA in the 2012 London Olympics; FIVB World League; the Pan American Cup and the NORCECA Men’s Continental Championships.
“I’m confident that we have made a great selection,” Robertello said Tuesday. “With Jonathan’s pedigree as an All-American player and his coaching success, he had everything we were looking for. I look forward to having him meet the Red Wave and lead our program.”
