USD hires first-ever beach volleyball coach, and he has San Diego ties

The head coach of USD’s newest intercollegiate sport isn’t new to San Diego.

Derek Olson, named Friday as the Toreros’ beach volleyball coach, got his start in San Diego as the beach director and indoor head coach for Coast Volleyball Club. His wife, Steph, played collegiately at UC San Diego.

Olson most recently was the head coach at the University of Washington, where he transformed the Huskies into a nationally ranked program. UW made its first appearance in the NCAA Championships in 2024.

Before that, Olson spent four seasons at Cal — two as the Golden Bears’ interim head coach.

Now he moves to the West Coast Conference and a program that has yet to play its first match. The Toreros will make their debut in the spring of 2027, becoming the first San Diego-area college to play the sport.

“I’m incredibly honored to be named the first head coach of USD women’s beach volleyball,” Olson said. “The opportunity to build a program from the ground up in a place like San Diego — with its volleyball tradition, community support, and world-class student-athlete experience — is special. There is great momentum at USD right now, and I’m excited to get to work creating a culture that reflects the standard of excellence this university stands for.”

Olson’s objective is clear. “We want to recruit and develop student-athletes who can compete for championships in the West Coast Conference and on the national stage,” he said, “and there’s no better place to do that than here at USD.”

Beach volleyball will become the 18th sport and 10th women’s program at USD. The team will play at a new, on-campus “beach” that is still in development stages.

Olson should know what makes for a good playing surface — and program. After graduating from Oregon in 2007, Olson played professionally in more than 40 AVP Tour Events, earning multiple top-10 finishes in the United States and abroad. He qualified for the Rio Grand Slam in 2016. As a coach, he’s worked for multiple clubs and colleges and ran Morocco’s national team as a doubles pair qualified for the Tokyo Olympics.

USD athletic director Kimya Massey said Olson’s hire “sets the tone for where we want to go” as a program.

“He has the vision,” Massey said, “to establish USD as a national presence.”