Retirement of Long Beach State's storied volleyball coach surprises everyone

In the volleyball wing of the Walter Pyramid at Long Beach State, Brian Gimmillaro has been doing a lot of packing. The legendary coach has helmed the women’s volleyball team at the university for 32 years, achieving unprecedented success.

When Gimmillaro aounced his surprise retirement Wednesday afteoon, he had a lot of trophies and awards to box up.

“I thought I’d aounce the decision at the begiing of the season and go through one more year, but it’s not a good idea because of my health,” said Gimmillaro, who said he has non-life-threatening medical issues to address. “It breaks my heart to tell these kids I won’t be here to coach them next year. It was a really, really difficult decision.”

Since taking over the team in 1985, Gimmillaro has achieved success unmatched by any other coach in school history. His 49ers won NCAA championships in 1989, 1993 and 1998, totaling three of the university’s four NCAA titles.

“You’re talking about someone who is at the top in terms of collegiate women’s volleyball,” said first-year LBSU athletic director Andy Fee. “It’s staggering how much he’s won.”

Unmatched history

The numbers are indeed overwhelming. His win percentage at LBSU of .794 is 11th all-time in NCAA history, and his win total of 835 is also 11th best in NCAA history. There are only 14 coaches ever with over 800 wins.

Just as importantly as the eight Final Four trips and staggering statistics, however, is the stylistic and cultural impact he has had on volleyball by creating a program that valued speed, and was also among the first to recruit African-American players.

“I started going to Long Beach State camps when I was in sixth grade,” said Misty May-Treanor, the most prominent of Gimmillaro’s many successful recruits. “Antoinette White was one of my club coaches — I idolized the players at Long Beach State. Being a top recruit I tued down a lot of schools that would probably surprise people, but that was the program that Brian and Debbie Green built. I wanted to be a part of that.”

May-Treanor would lead Gimmillaro’s best team, the 1998 national champion squad that became the first in NCAA history to go undefeated, eaing Gimmillaro American Volleyball Coaches Association coach of the year honors (he is a Hall of Famer in the AVCA as well).

May-Treanor said that throughout her career, which included a record three Olympic gold medals as a beach player, she always respected Gimmillaro’s knowledge of the game.

“I love his vision,” she said. “I was recruited as an outside hitter and I became a setter. You wouldn’t find that at too many other universities. I definitely don’t think I’d be in the position I am now if it wasn’t for going through that program.”

Advertisement

While Gimmillaro is certainly the most accomplished coach in university history, longtime Press-Telegram sports editor Jim McCormack would take the superlatives even further.

“A strong case can be made that Brian is the greatest coach in Long Beach’s storied history,” he said. “His love for Long Beach has been unwavering. He tued down jobs at USC and Stanford and an offer to be the U.S. Olympic coach to stay with the 49ers.”

A hard decision

In 41 years of coaching the sport, Gimmillaro missed just one practice; it was because he was out recruiting. He started working and playing sports at the age of 14, and never took a single sick day in his life. Which is why his decision to leave surprised so many.

“I know it’s a shock to everybody,” he said. “It was a really, really difficult decision. I think this will be our best team in 15 years.”

In addition to health, Gimmillaro said he’s interested in pursuing business interests inside and outside of the sport, broadcasting, and getting involved in the political arena, where he’s acted as a behind-the-scenes advocate for women’s sports throughout his career.

Hard timing

Nobody saw the decision coming, including Gimmillaro himself. The coach has two more full seasons on his contract and had frequently talked about serving out the rest of that deal before stepping down.

“It’s a really big surprise to me too, but it wouldn’t be smart for me to push through, health-wise right now,” he said.

“I didn’t anticipate this happening this week, certainly,” Fee said.

“I’m very surprised and it was very sudden,” said May-Treanor.

Erika Chidester, who’s been an assistant at the school for 10 years, found out shortly before a press release came out with the aouncement Wednesday. The team leaed that day as well.

Fee will have to act fast to find a replacement, given that the 2017 season is slightly over two months away.

What’s next?

On Long Beach State fan message boards, posts of appreciation for Gimmillaro’s accomplishments quickly gave way to speculation about who will replace him. There’s no doubt that 49er fans have a favorite in mind. One poster on a message board put up a poll asking who people’s top choice would be, with May-Treanor listed in all six spots to vote for.

May-Treanor is currently director of volleyball at Long Beach City College, where she’s preparing to coach her second season this fall. She and her husband, Matt, live with their daughter near the university, and she wasn’t surprised to hear her name come up.

“Matt took my phone away and tued it off,” she said, adding that she’s committed to LBCC and “I haven’t even thought about Long Beach State as an option right now.”

Fee said the school will conduct a national search but acknowledged that the closest candidate geographically, May-Treanor, is certainly an appealing one on all levels.

“I reached out to Misty after I got the job, she’s an alum and someone we care about,” he said. “She’s obviously someone who, if you talk to anyone that loves our school, they’re going to say her name. We need to talk and see where she and Matt are in their lives and the life of their family — it’s got to work for everyone. I haven’t had that conversation with her.”

Other candidates will likely include Chidester, Joy McKienzie-Fuerbringer (an alum who coached at UCLA and on the national team and owns the popular Long Beach Mizuno club), Brent Hilliard (an Olympic beach player, alum, and associate head coach at UC San Diego), and Tyler Hildebrand, an alum and longtime men’s volleyball assistant at the school who recently accepted a job as Nebraska’s top assistant women’s coach.

The 49ers will open their season at home in August against Stanford, the defending national champions.

sport world...