National Collegiate Coach of the Year

MIKE IANDOLO, BALL STATE UNIVERSITY

• It has been a memorable debut season as Ball State’s head coach for Iandolo, who becomes the school’s third AVCA Coach of the Year winner, joining Don Shondell (1995 and 1996) and Donan Cruz (2022).
• He brings his team to the 2026 NCAA Championship semifinals with a 26-4 record, which marks the program’s most wins in a season since earning 27 in 1997.
• The MIVA regular-season and tournament champs have 12 victories over ranked opponents, including against No. 4 Pepperdine in a five-set thriller in Saturday’s regional final.
• Iandolo’s offense is the nation’s most efficient, as the Cardinals’ hitting percentage—.385 through of the NCAA regionals—tops that category on the NCAA lists.
• The 2026 MIVA  Coach of the Year helped this year’s Cardinal squad rise up the AVCA Poll rankings. They opened the season ranked No. 16, and they quickly moved into the top-10, where they’ve been for the past 14 weeks.

bio information current as of May 6, 2026

 

National Collegiate Assistant Coach of the Year

MILAN ZARKOVIC, UCLA

• Zarkovic continued his successful ways and enjoyed an impactful first year at UCLA as the team’s associate head coach.
• The veteran coach helped the Bruins to a 29-2 record, which included the team being  ranked No. 1 in every AVCA National Collegiate Men’s Poll this season.
• In his role with the UCLA coaching staff, he assists with implementing systems,  planning and executing practices, and game tactics.
• He helped seven Bruins earn 2026 AVCA All-America honors, including four players who were named to the first-team.
• This is the third time in the past six years that Zarkovic has been named the AVCA Assistant Coach of the Year. He also picked up the award in 2020 and 2023 when he was at Hawai‘i.

bio information current as of May 6, 2026

 

AVCA NATIONAL COLLEGIATE COACHES OF THE YEAR

1991: Ray Ratelle, Long Beach State University
1992: Ruben Nieves, Stanford University
1993: Al Scates, UCLA
1994: Tom Peterson, Penn State University
1995: Don Shondell, Ball State University
1996: Don Shondell, Ball State University
1997: Ruben Nieves, Stanford University
1998: Al Scates, UCLA
1999: Carl McGown, Brigham Young University
2000: Peter Hanson, Ohio State University
2001: Carl McGown, Brigham Young University
2002: Mike Wilton, University of Hawai‘i
2003: Dave Deuser, Lewis University
2004: Alan Knipe, Long Beach State
2005: Marv Dunphy, Pepperdine University
2006: John Speraw, UC Irvine
2007: Arnie Ball, IPFW
2008: Mark Pavlik, Penn State University
2009: Bill Ferguson, University of Southern California
2010: John Kosty, Stanford University
2011: Peter Hanson, Ohio State University
2012: Bill Ferguson, University of Southern California
2013: Chris McGown, BYU
2014: Shane Davis, Loyola University Chicago
2015: Dan Friend, Lewis University
2016: Peter Hanson, Ohio State University
2017: Alan Knipe, Long Beach State University
2018: Alan Knipe, Long Beach State University
2019: Charlie Wade, University of Hawai‘i
2020: Rick McLaughlin, UC Santa Barbara
2021: Rick McLaughlin, UC Santa Barbara
2022: Donan Cruz, Ball State University
2023: John Speraw, UCLA
2024: Matt Werle, Grand Canyon University
2025: Nickie Sanlin, McKendree University
2026: Mike Iandolo, Ball State University

AVCA NATIONAL COLLEGIATE ASSISTANT COACHES OF THE YEAR

2010: Matt Martin, Loyola University Chicago
2011: David Kniffin, UC Irvine
2012: Brian Rofer, UCLA
2013: Kevin Furnish, Ball State University
2014: Mark Hulse, Loyola University Chicago
2015: Matt McCarthy, Lewis University
2016: Cullen Irons, UC Santa Barbara
2017: Tyler Hildebrand, Long Beach State University
2018: Nick MacRae, Long Beach State University
2019: Josh Walker, University of Hawai‘i
2020: Milan Zarkovic, University of Hawai‘i
2021: Bryan Johnwick, Lewis University
2022: John Hawks, UCLA
2023: Milan Zarkovic, University of Hawai‘i
2024: Nick MacRae, Long Beach State University
2025: Bryan Dell’Amico, Grand Canyon University
2026: Milan Zarkovic, UCLA