Bill Ferguson Promoted To USC Men's Volleyball Head Coach
May 15, 2006 | Men's Volleyball
May 15, 2006
Bill Ferguson, an assistant this past season with the USC men's volleyball team, has been promoted to the Trojans' head coach, USC athletic director Mike Garrett announced today (May 15).
Ferguson, 35, replaces Turhan Douglas, who resigned on April 24 after guiding the Trojans for 4 seasons.
"We conducted a comprehensive search and talked to a lot of people in the volleyball community, and Bill Ferguson was highly recommended," said Garrett. "We believe he is the right person to get our program back to where it belongs, winning conference and national titles."
Said Ferguson: "This is the job I've always wanted. I've been around the USC program my whole life. I know about its strong tradition and history. There's a solid foundation to build on and I'll work hard to restore this program to its rightful place among the top of the collegiate volleyball world. Our standard every year will be to compete for the conference and national championships."
This is Ferguson's second stint at USC, as he was an assistant for 2 years (1997-98) under head coach Pat Powers.
He was one of the nation's most successful junior volleyball coaches and club directors before returning to USC last season. In his 15 years of coaching experience at the club level, he coached teams to 19 medals (including 12 golds) at national championships and the clubs he directed won 31 medals.
He spent 4 years (2002-05) as the co-owner, director and coach of the Southern California Volleyball Club. He was the head coach of the 2004 boys 18s team that won the gold at the Junior Olympics, as well as the 2002 16s and 2005 17s squads that took home bronzes. His SCVC girls 18s teams won a gold in the Junior Olympics Invitational division in 2003 and a bronze in the National division in 2005. Overall, SCVC teams won 9 medals at national championships.
Before that, he was with the Los Angeles Athletic Club for 5 years (1996-2001). He was the head coach of boys 18s teams that captured golds at the Junior Nationals in 1996 and 1999 and a bronze in 2000. He also was the co-head coach of the 2001 LAAC boys 18 team that won a Junior Nationals silver, and an assistant on the 1997 LAAC boys 16s squad that won a gold. He also coached LAAC men's teams at the U.S. Open National Championships, getting a gold in 1999 and 2001, plus a silver in 2000 (in 2001, he doubled as an assistant with a women's team that won a bronze there). In all, LAAC teams won 15 medals in his tenure there. He also served as an assistant with the USA Youth National Team in 2000.
Ferguson began his coaching career as an assistant for the Santa Monica Beach Club for 2 years (1991-92). He helped the boys 14s team to the silver medal at the Junior Nationals in 1991 and the 16s squad to the gold in 1992.
In 1993, he resurrected the Reebok Palisades club that was founded in 1983 by his father. He guided the boys to a pair of gold medals (16s in 1993 and 18s in 1994) and a silver (18s in 1995) at the Junior Nationals and also was an assistant on the 1993 18s team that won a bronze. As club director, Reebok Palisades took home 5 medals at the Junior Nationals.
Among the players he has coached over the years are Olympians Misty May, Brook Billings, Donald Suxho, Gabe Gardner, Jeff Nygaard, Ryan Millar, Brett Winslow, Brandon Taliaferro and Mark Williams, as well as current USC setters Jimmy Killian and Hunter Haley. Suxho (currently the U.S. national team's setter) and Taliaferro were named national Players of the Year in 2000.
Ferguson played for Palisades High in Pacific Palisades (Calif.), where he was a member of the 1988 L.A. City championship team. He then took a 2-year hiatus from volleyball. While enrolled at Santa Monica (Calif.) College, he pursued a competitive surfing career, where he was a member of the U.S. Surfing Federation's USA National Team in 1991 and 1992. He competed on the Bud Pro Tour from 1991 to 1995.
He comes from a volleyball family. His father, Tom (a USC graduate), was a 2-time (1961-62) All-American at Santa Monica College, which won the USVBA college national championship both years. His mother, Susie, was an avid volleyball player and helped Tom start the Palisades club team. His brother, Bob, played on the Palisades 17s team that won the 1984 Junior Nationals gold medal.
From 1987 to 1991, Ferguson was a familiar face on the Southern California collegiate volleyball scene, where he served as a linesman for men's and women's matches.
He was born Aug. 24, 1970. He is single.
Ferguson inherits a Trojan squad that was 11-18 overall in 2006 and finished in ninth place in the 12-team Mountain Pacific Sports Federation, USC's best overall and conference records since 2001.
In its history, the USC men's volleyball program has won four NCAA titles while finishing second six other times and third once. But the Trojans have not appeared in the MPSF post-season tourney since 2001 and have not advanced to the NCAA Final Four since 1991.
