Club President & Owner

Brian Gimmillaro,

Head Coach, Long Beach State University

Regarded as one of the top volleyball minds in the country... Brian Gimmillaro begins his 22nd season with The Beach. The Long Beach State graduate has continually taken the 49ers to new heights as one of the winningest and most successful volleyball programs over the past two decades. Because of Gimmillaro, Long Beach State has earned a place among the nation’s elite. With three National Championships, eight Final Fours, 13 NCAA Regionals and 20 NCAA Tournaments to his credit, it is no wonder that Long Beach State enters every season as a national contender.

Over the past 10 seasons, LBSU has won a National title, and has appeared in four Final Fours and six NCAA Regionals. Over that time, the team record is an impressive 286-47 (.859), including a combined 129-30 mark (.811) over the last five seasons. Heading into the 2006 campaign, Gimmillaro has amassed a striking .811 winning percentage (578-135) over 21 seasons. Against one of the toughest conferences in the the country, the Big West, LBSU has won 78 percent (282-80) of their matches, including nine conference crowns. In 18 of the last 19 seasons, Gimmillaro’s teams have won at least 20 matches, and in eight of the last 15 years, the team has won at least 30 matches.

The 2005 squad won the Big West Conference Championship (co) and produced five all-conference selections (four first-team honors). Ali Daley became the second straight player to win the conference Freshman of the Year award (Crimes, 2005). Gimmillaro was selected as the Co-Coach of the Year. LBSU advanced to its 19th straight NCAA Playoff as well.

But wins alone do not define Long Beach State’s volleyball program. Former setter Keri Nishimoto was a two-time Academic All-American, following in the footsteps of another volleyball player, Anja Grabovac, who was an Academic All-American in 1999.

Prior to the 2003 season, Gimmillaro was the sole recipient of the USA Volleyball All-Time Great Coach Award (in the Donald S. Shondell Contemporary Division). In receiving the award, Gimmillaro joined an elite group of volleyball coaches, including previous Olympic coaches, as well as a few of his peers. Also in 2003, Gimmillaro was bestowed with the “Excellence in Leadership” award, presented by Leadership Long Beach. Gimmillaro is also a three-time National Coach of the Year, earning American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA) National Coach of the Year honors in 1998 and ASICS Tiger National Coach of the Year accolades in 1989 and 1998. Also in 1999, Gimmillaro was the named the U.S. Olympic Committee’s Coach of the Year, the only non-Olympic coach such honored. In 1989, 1991 and 1994, Gimmillaro was named one of eight Regional Coaches of the Year. Gimmillaro has also earned Big West Coach of the Year honors seven times (2005, 2001, 1998, 1997, 1994, 1992 and 1991).

His staff is one of the best in the country. Lead assistant Debbie Green was an Olympic silver medalist and two-time all-American setter.

Gimmillaro’s players are a testament to his program. In January of 2001, the NCAA released its 20th Anniversary team. Of the six players chosen, three were Gimmillaro’s former players. Those three players are like a who’s who of women’s volleyball. All three were Olympians in Sydney in 2000, all three were National Players of the Year and all three led the 49ers to a National title. Tara Cross-Battle is a former player-coach for the National team, a four-time Olympian and a two-time World Player of the Year. Danielle Scott is a three-time Olympian. In July of 2004 USA Volleyball nominated 12 athletes to the Olympic Volleyball roster in Athens. LBSU boasted the most players from any college on the Summer Olympic squad -- Tara Cross-Battle, Danielle Scott, and Tayyiba Haneef. Cross-Battle became the first athlete in USA Volleyball history (male or female) to be named to all four Olympic teams. Danielle Scott was the only three-time Olympian on the squad, and Tayyiba Haneef (who graduated in 2001) made her first Olympics. Misty May, who moved to the AVP and FIVB tour after college, is now regarded as one of the top beach players in the world, and won the Gold Medal in the 2004 Olympics in Athens. Gimmillaro has coached six AVCA National Players of the Year. Cross-Battle and May have each won the award twice, while Scott and Antoinnette White each earned the honor one time.

Gimmillaro’s finest season came in 1998, when the 49ers became the first NCAA Division-I volleyball team ever to finish the season undefeated. The Beach captured their third National title in Madison, Wisconsin, finishing 36-0. The team also won National titles in 1993 and 1989. In 1989, it was the first Division-I Championship for Long Beach State.

The Beach has reached eight NCAA Final Fours, including four of the past nine, in 1989, 1991, 1992, 1993, 1997, 1998, 1999 and 2001. Twice over the past decade the team has reached three consecutive Final Fours, winning a National title during each of those runs. Twice the team has run the table during the regular season, during the NCAA Championship year of 1998 and in 2001.

What may be most impressive about the team’s incredible run is how far it has come. When Gimmillaro started in 1985, he took over a team that had struggled in the late 1970’s and early 1980’s, and had not won a National title since 1972 and 1973. The team played in the Gold Mine, a small gymnasium in the middle of campus, which the team rarely filled. Today, the team is one of the nation’s best, plays before large crowds at the Walter Pyramid, and continues to develop some of the best volleyball players in the country.

Before coming back to his alma mater, Gimmillaro coached at perennial volleyball powerhouse Gahr High School in Cerritos, Calif. (1978-1985). During his tenure, he led his team to four CIF-Southern Section Championships (1978, 1979, 1983 and 1984) and Division-I State Championships in 1983 and 1984. In 1984 and 1985, Gahr won the CIF Southern Section 5-A Division Championship and was a Division-I state finalist. In eight years, Gimmillaro compiled a stellar 142-15 (.905) record. All told, Gimmillaro sent eight consecutive teams to the CIF Playoffs. A 1984 national No. 1 ranking in 1984 was a testament to his success at Gahr.

During the same period, Gimmillaro served as the business manager for the United States Women’s Volleyball Olympic Team (1982-84). His duties included organization and development of publicity, budget, fund-raising and promotion. He has also been the president and owner of the California Juniors Volleyball Club since 1982. His Cal Juniors teams have won many championships, including the 1984 and 1985 AAU 18-and-under title and the 1982 and 1988 USVBA 18-and-under Championships and recently the U.S. Junior Olympics title in 1998. He was also the head coach for a Southern California high school all-star team when it toured Taiwan (1980), England (1981), Finland and the USSR (1982).

A voting member of the AVCA Top 25 Poll, Gimmillaro recorded his 100th collegiate win on October 24, 1989, when The Beach defeated USIU. For this achievement, he received the 1989 LBSU Century Club Coach Award. And in 1992, the Century Club bestowed on Gimmillaro its Michael Brian Warren award for outstanding contribution to furthering the goals of women’s athletics.

Gimmillaro graduated from Long Beach State in 1970 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Economics. Gimmillaro and his wife, Dania, reside in Long Beach with their son, Stefan, and daughter, Lauren.

Gimmillaro Accolades

• 2003  USA All Time Great Coach

• 2003 Long Beach Leadership Man of the Year

• 1998 A.V.C.A. Division I National Coach of the Year

• 1990, 1999 ASICS Tiger National Coach of the Year

• 1999 U.S. Olympic Committee Coach of the Year

• 2001, 1998, 1997, 1994, 1992 and 1991 Big West Coach of the Year

• 1994, 1991 and 1989 Northwest Region Coach of the Year

• Four Time Long Beach Century Club Honoree

• Three N.C.A.A. Championship teams (1998, 1993 and 1989)

• Eight Final Fours in his 17 years (2001, 1999, 1998, 1997, 1993, 1992, 1991, 1989)

• Led L.B.S.U. to a 36-0 mark in 1998, the first undefeated team in N.C.A.A Division-I women’s volleyball

• 16 N.C.A.A Tournament Appearances

• Highest N.C.A.A. Tournament Winning Percentage of any Coach (More than 5 Appearances)

• Two of the greatest teams of all-time 1998 (36-0) and 2001 (33-1).

• Three of the Six Greatest Collegiate Players of All-Time (May, Scott, Cross-Battle)

• Six N.C.A.A. Players of the Years

• 31 A.V.C.A. All-Americans

• Has an 82% overall winning percentage

• Only collegiate head coach to win national championships on the high school, club and
  N.C.A.A Division I level.

• A No. 1-ranked team over the last three decades.