The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
Beach Volleyball
- Title:
- Head Coach
- Email:
- beachvb@utexas.edu
- Phone:
- 512-471-9148
After building a program that won two NCAA Championships and played for the title two other times in his 11 seasons as head coach at UCLA, Stein Metzger has been named the Head Beach Volleyball Coach at The University of Texas, Vice President and Athletics Director Chris Del Conte announced on Tuesday. A former standout men's indoor and Olympic/pro beach player himself, Metzger comes to UT fresh off a Pac-12 Championship, NCAA runner-up finish and an NCAA record-tying 40 wins in 2023.
"We're absolutely thrilled that Coach Metzger will be joining our illustrious group of elite coaches here at Texas," said Del Conte. "He built a Beach program from the ground up at UCLA, has had extraordinary success, won many championships in short order and is so highly respected in his sport. As an elite player as a student-athlete, pro and Olympian, he really understands what it takes to compete at the highest level and achieve greatness. That very obvious in how his teams grow, develop and consistently play at their very best. He's also a coach who is relationship-driven, cultivates a great team culture and takes a holistic approach with his student-athletes. Like Coach Elliott's indoor program, we know Coach Metzger will build our beach program into a force to be reckoned with. We're so lucky to have him."
After announcing it was adding the rapidly growing Olympic and collegiate sport of Beach Volleyball in August 2022, Texas played its inaugural season in 2023 with a roster of current Longhorn indoor players. Longtime UT Volleyball associate head coach Erik Sullivan served as head coach for that season, and Metzger takes the reins for the program going forward.
"Volleyball is very important at Texas," Texas Volleyball head coach Jerritt Elliott said. "This hire shows how supportive our administration is and I want to thank Chris Del Conte, Sarah Baumgartner and Kathy Harston for the unity we showed in this process. The goal was to find the best coach, that had a proven record of building a Beach Volleyball program into a National Champion. With Stein, we hit a home run and we are ready to support him to do what he does best – win championships. I love his energy, the value he places in developing women on and off the court and his ability to train at the highest level. Texas and Stein will change the landscape of Beach Volleyball with the support of the best fan base in the country. I look forward to seeing all of our indoor volleyball fans fully support our Texas Beach program on their path to being the best in the country."
Metzger, a three-time NCAA Volleyball Champion and two-time All-American as a player at UCLA as well as a highly-successful pro and U.S. Olympian on the beach, has led the Bruins beach program since its inaugural season in 2013. The 2017, 2018, and 2023 Pac-12 Coach of the Year, and 2017 and 2018 USMC/AVCA National Coach of the Year has led UCLA to a final Top 10 in all 11 seasons at the helm of program. Under Metzger guidance, UCLA won back-to-back NCAA Championships in 2018 (40-4) and 2019 (35-3), while also leading the Bruins to Pac-12 Championships in 2018, 2021 and 2023. He completed his UCLA career with an overall record of 266-61 (.813), including a 224-33 (.872) in the last seven seasons (2017-23).
"I'm excited by the unique opportunity to lead Texas Athletics' newest sport," Metzger said. "The Longhorns Volleyball fanbase is second to none, and I'm determined to help create a competitive Beach Volleyball program that is worthy of their passion. I want to thank President Hartzell, Chris Del Conte, Sarah Baumgartner, Jerritt Elliott, and everyone involved for their vision of building a Beach Volleyball program that, like all Longhorn sports, embodies excellence and provides a first-class student-athlete experience. My passion is to mentor and teach championship caliber people and to see them fulfill their dreams. I came to Texas because I know our student-athletes will have the support and resources to achieve their goals, and that we can establish a tradition and culture that future Longhorn Beach Volleyball alums will value long after they wear the burnt orange and white uniform."
In his 11th and final season at UCLA in 2023, he led the Bruins to a Pac-12 title and NCAA runner-up finish. UCLA's 40 wins on the year tied the Bruins, Pac-12 and NCAA record that Metzger's national championship squad set in 2018. The Bruins were 7-0 in conference play and only a thrilling 3-2 defeat to USC, who UCLA was 3-1 against on the season, separated them from a third NCAA crown. He helped the court one pair of Maggie Boyd and Lexy Denaburg earn AVCA first-team All-America recognition, the third straight first-team honor for Denaburg. The court two duo of Abby Van Winkle and Peri Brennan earned second-team accolades, matching the most All-Americans in a season in school history and marking the second time the Bruins achieved that feat in the last four seasons.
In 2022, UCLA was Pac-12 runners-up, came up one victory short of advancing the NCAA title match and posted a 34-9 record. Court one tandem Savvy Simo and Denaburg earned AVCA first-team All-America honors on the season. The 2021 squad won the Pac-12 Championship and finished as NCAA runners-up with a 32-5 record, including a 10-0 conference mark. The court one pair of Van Winkle and Denaburg were AVCA first-team All-Americans. That year also was memorable as Metzger produced his first Olympian in 2021 when Sarah Sponcil qualified for the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games.
The Bruins' three losses in 2019 were all to USC by a score of 3-2. Seeded No. 2 for the NCAA Championship after the Trojans won the Pac-12 Championship, UCLA used it as fuel to the fire and defeated top-seeded USC in the NCAA title match, 3-0, without dropping a single set. The Bruins had four All-Americans for the first time in school history in 2019 as Megan and Nicole McNamara from court one and Sponcil and Lily Justine from court two were all honored by the AVCA. Additionally, the McNamara twins became the first tandem in the history of the NCAA to earn first-team All-America honors all four years.
UCLA also won a school-record 31 consecutive duals during the 2018 campaign and claimed its first-ever Pac-12 Conference Championship, defeating the defending champions USC twice on the same day to win the title. The Bruins beat the best all season long with 33 of their 40 victories coming in wins over nationally-ranked teams and going 5-1 on the year against the defending NCAA Champions, USC. Additionally, all four losses on the year were to teams ranked in the top four.
In 2017, the Bruins picked up a lot of firsts, but none were larger than knocking off crosstown rival No. 1 USC in the semifinals of the Pac-12 Championship. UCLA also posted its first-ever win over then-No. 2 Florida State, 3-2, in the final game of the Inaugural East Meets West Challenge, hosted by UCLA at legendary Manhattan Beach Pier in Manhattan Beach, Calif. Along the way, UCLA finished with a then-school-record 30 wins compared to just six defeats and won a then-school-record 24 consecutive duals, finishing second at the Pac-12 Championship.
In 2016, the Bruins finished third at the inaugural NCAA Beach Volleyball Championship in Gulf Shores, Ala. UCLA ended the season with a 22-8 overall record, including going 3-2 at NCAA's, defeating 8th-seeded Stetson (3-2), 3rd-seeded Pepperdine (3-2) and 5th-seeded Hawai'i (3-0). The Bruins fell in the elimination bracket to No. 1 Florida State (3-1).
Beach volleyball saw several changes in 2015, when UCLA announced that Metzger would transition from his duties as assistant indoor coach to focus solely on beach. In addition, the Pac-12 Conference announced during the summer of 2015 that beach volleyball would become a Pac-12 sponsored sport and host a championship effective the 2016 season. Additionally, the NCAA officially sponsored its first national championship in 2016.
Metzger has guided UCLA Beach Volleyball since its inaugural season in the spring of 2013. Debuting the sand team competitively just two months after the sport was added to UCLA's athletic program, Metzger guided Kelly Reeves to the program's first sand All-America award that first year, while two pairs (Reeves and Meg Norton and Zoë Nightingale and Becca Strehlow) each made the AVCA National Championships.
Over the first three seasons of Bruin sand volleyball, Metzger, led the program to 20 dual wins (10 in 2015) and coached three sets of pairs' teams to the AVCA National Championships, including Zoë Nightingale and Kamila Tan in 2015. In the first two years, members of the Bruin indoor team populated the beach roster, but the 2015 campaign brought the first-ever sand-only players.
A standout on the Bruin men's team from 1993-96 who won three National Championships and twice earned All-American honors, he returned to his alma mater as an assistant women's indoor coach in 2012 under current head coach Michael Sealy after a lengthy pro beach volleyball career. Metzger and Sealy were teammates on the 1993 national title-winning squad, and ranks second all-time in UCLA history in assists (5,158) and sixth in aces (110). He went on to win two more National Championships in 1995 and 1996, getting named to the NCAA All-Tournament Team both times. He earned AVCA First-Team All-America honors both seasons, while earning AVCA Co-Player of the Year along with conference player of the year accolades as a team captain during his senior campaign. The future coach was also named to the all-conference team three times, including First Team in 1996.
Following his days in Westwood, Metzger competed professionally on the AVP Tour, winning 16 times with partners Kevin Wong (two times), Jake Gibb (four), Mike Lambert (nine) and Mark Williams (one). Metzger was twice a part of the AVP Team of the Year with Gibb (2005) and Lambert (2006), ranking as the Tour's top player both seasons. He earned the Crocs Cup title in 2006.
In 2004, Metzger earned a spot on the U.S. Olympic Beach Volleyball team, finishing in fifth with partner Dax Holdren. A year prior, the duo won the silver medal at the 2003 Beach Volleyball World Championships in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Metzger also has two international titles to his credit with Wong in 2001 and 2002, as well as a Bronze medal at the 2001 Goodwill Games.
In addition to his collegiate coaching accolades, Metzger has trained U.S., French and Israeli National Beach teams. He has also coached with the USA Volleyball Elite Development Program.
A 1996 graduate of UCLA with a degree in environmental studies, he was inducted into the UCLA Athletics Hall of Fame in 2009. Metzger and his wife, Emily, have a daughter, Quinn, and son, Otto.
