Chris Gonzalez, who joined the Chanticleer coaching staff on April 1, 2015, is entering his first season as an assistant coach at Coastal Carolina.
Gonzalez brings over 20 years of both college and international coaching experience to the Chanticleer volleyball program.
Gonzalez's international coaching career began as an assistant for the 2001 and 2003 U.S. Women's National A2 Team. During that time, he was also an assistant for the World Championships, World Grand Prix and World Cup teams. In 2003, he was named head coach of the A2 Team, which earned a silver medal in the 2003 U.S. Open National Championships and culminated in a bronze medal at the 2003 Pan American Games.
The majority of Gonzalez's NCAA coaching experience came early in his career, though he did spend 2006-08 as an assistant coach and recruiting coordinator for the University of Arizona, and was an assistant coach at the University of Iowa in 2003.
Gonzalez spent five years at Long Beach State from 1997-2002, assisting the 49ers to the NCAA Final Four on four different occasions and the first undefeated season in NCAA volleyball history in 1998. Gonzalez's final record at Long Beach State was an amazing 134-6, including a 19-3 record in the NCAA Tournament. While there, Gonzalez assisted in the development of nine American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA) and Volleyball Magazine All-Americans, including 2004 Olympian Tayyiba Haneef, Cheryl Weaver and two-time NCAA Player of the Year and three-time Olympic gold medalist Misty May-Treanor.
He began his coaching career in 1995 at Cal Juniors Volleyball Club in Long Beach, Calif. While at Cal Juniors, Gonzalez was the head coach and court trainer for the 18- and 16-and-under Elite programs. During his tenure, Gonzalez trained 18 U.S. Junior Olympic All-American selections, seven Volleyball Magazine "Fab 50" selections and six Volleyball Magazine High School All-Americans. Teams trained by Gonzalez also captured multiple South California Volleyball Association (SCVA) championships including 18- and 16-and-under SCVA national qualifier and regional championships. At the national level, Gonzalez's teams earned seven U.S. Junior Olympic Open and Club medals.
Gonzalez's most recent international coaching experience came as the head of Volejbolavy Kravolo Pole Brno in the Czech Republic where he led the club to a Slavia EU championship, Czech UNIQA Cup Final Four and 2015 CEV Cup qualification among other accomplishments. Gonzalez previously spent two tours as an assistant coach of Volero Zurich in Switzerland, the first from 2005-06 and the second from 2011-12. In his first stint with Volero Zurich, Gonzalez helped the team to a 2005 Swiss Cup championship before claiming the Swiss NLA National championship in 2006. His time in Switzerland sandwiched a three-year period as head of TVC Amstelveen in The Netherlands where the club won back-to-back DELA Super Cup championships in 2009 and 2010 and the DELA National Championship in 2010.
Gonzalez is the only American-born coach to compete in every CEV competition, including CEV Champions League, CEV Cup and Challenge Cup.
