LOS ANGELES -- USC men's volleyball head coach Bill Ferguson has been named the 2012 American Volleyball Coaches Association Division I-II Men's National Coach of the Year.
It is the second time in his 6-year USC career that Ferguson has been named the AVCA National Coach of the Year. He also was honored in 2009.
He will be presented with his award at the AVCA?s annual convention in Louisville, Ky., on Dec. 12.
In 2012, Ferguson took a Trojan team that lost 4 starters from 2011 (including the National Player of the Year, 2 other All-Americans and the school hitting percentage record holder) and, despite being picked fifth in the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation pre-season poll and starting off with a 5-4 mark, turned it into a squad that went 24-6 overall with a No. 2 final national ranking and won a second consecutive MPSF regular season title (for its first time ever) with an 18-4 mark. Troy was the runner-up in the NCAA Championship (appearing in its third NCAA Final Four in 4 years) and played in its sixth consecutive MPSF Tournament (advancing to the semifinals).
Along the way this season, the Trojans had an 18-match overall winning streak (their longest since 1990-91), a 14-match MPSF winning streak (the longest since 1991-92) and an 11-match home winning streak. USC held the nation's No. 1 ranking for 4 weeks. The Trojans posted 3-0 sweeps in 17 of their 24 victories, while 11 of the 27 sets they lost were by the minimum 2 points (including 2 sets in the NCAA final). USC was second nationally in winning percentage (.800) and third in blocking (a school rally scoring era record 3.13), and led the MPSF in opponent hitting percentage (.192).
Tony Ciarelli was the 2012 AVCA National and MPSF Player of the Year (the first time USC had back-to-back honorees) while leading the nation in aces (he set the USC career record and MPSF match standard), Micah Christenson was the AVCA National Newcomer of the Year and MPSF Freshman of the Year, Robert Feathers led the nation in blocking and Steven Shandrick broke the school career hitting percentage record.
Ferguson, who notched his 100th career win midway through the 2012 season, has a career mark of 109-64 in his 6 years at USC.
