Carl McGown joined the University of Hawaii at Hilo volleyball team as an assistant coach on July 27, 2015.
Success has been a constant throughout his college and professional career. McGown has left his mark on schools and programs everywhere, from the Church College of Hawaii to the USA men’s national team.
Over the last 40 years McGown has been a part of 11 National Championship teams and has been named an All-American seven times. In his senior year at BYU, McGown led the Cougars to a fifth-place finish at the Collegiate National Championships while garnering All-America honors. That year became a springboard into a historic coaching career.
For the last 47 years, McGown has coached a number of storied programs. He started at the Church College of Hawaii, guiding them to a second-place finish in the USVBA Collegiate Championships in his last year. Shortly after finishing his coaching experience in Hawaii, McGown was named the assistant coach of the USA National team. His first international experience came during the 1970 world games in Bulgaria. Following the World Games, McGown was named the head coach of the national team and led them from 1973-1976.
The next 20 years of his life, McGown was in and out of the coaching ranks of the USA national team. From 1982 to 2008 he would be a part of four gold medal teams, three of which were during the Olympics. During that time, he returned to BYU and led the team for 13 years. During that time he won several awards including the MPSF Coach of the Year twice, AVCA National Coach of the Year twice, and the 1999 and 2001 NCAA Championships. Coaching never seemed to leave his side, as he came back to the USA national team again in 2004 and 2008, helping them to a Gold Medal in the Beijing Olympics. Due to the great experience and success he had as a coach, McGown was inducted into the American Volleyball Coaches Association hall of fame in 2010. He is now the temporary coach of the Swiss men’s National Volleyball team.
McGown coached the BYU men’s volleyball team for 13 years between 1989 and 2002 where he led the team to two national championships (1999 and 2001), twice earned National Coach of the Year honors and compiled a 225-137 record. McGown and BYU began NCAA competition in 1990 after the club team won three national club titles and finishing second in 1986 and 1989. He paced the Cougars to nine top-10 finishes in his 13 years and coached 18 different All-Americans. In addition to their competitive success, BYU lead the NCAA in regular season attendance in 1990, 1993 and 1994.
McGown also served as the head coach of the USA men’s team from 1973 to 1976 and became a technical advisor to the National Team in 1980. Since then, McGown has coached in seven different Olympic games, including the 1984 games in Los Angeles, the 1988 games in Soul, the 1992 game in Barcelona, the 1996 games in Atlanta, the 2000 games in Sydney, 2004 game in Athens and the 2008 game in Beijing. McGown has also coached the National Team in seven different World Championships, including 1970, ‘74, ‘82, ‘86, ‘90, ‘94 and ‘98. McGown has also coached in the World University Games, as well as the Pan American Games.
Because of his extensive knowledge and experience, McGown has been published in a number of journals such as the Journal of Motor Behavior, the National Strength and Conditioning Journal and The Physician and Sportsmedicine. He has also published several books.
