Head Coach Carolyn Zimmerman's right-hand man, Vinh Nguyen,begins his sixth year with Cal State Fullerton as an assistantcoach and recruiting coordinator in 2013.
Coach Nguyen figures in all aspects of the Titan volleyballprogram, but specializes in the training of the middle and pinhitters, arm swing development and offensive/defensive blockingsystems. He is also responsible for the breakdown of scoutingvideo.
In the Titans' record-breaking 2010 season that saw them win theBig West Conference and advance to the NCAA postseason for thefirst time in school history, Nguyen's expertise in hitting helpedthe Titans to lead the Big West Conference in kills per set (14.45)and finish second in hitting percentage (.246) and opponentshitting percentage (.175).
The Titans' .246 team hitting percentage set a school record,while OH/MB Kayla Neto posted the third-best single-seasonpercentage (.320) in school history. With that performance, Netofinished sixth in the conference, while Jennifer Edmond finished10th in the league with a .275 mark.
Big West Player of the Year and All-American Erin Saddler alsofinished second in the conference with 483 kills and 4.38 kills perset on the year. Saddler was the school's second conference playerof the year, and third All-American – all of them hitters andall since Nguyen's arrival in 2008.
Since 2008, Brittany Moore (2008 BWC Player of the Year, AVCAAll-American), Neto (2009 BWC Freshman of the Year, two time AVCAAll-American) and Saddler (2010 BWC Player of the Year, AVCAAll-American) have headlined the Titans' offenses that havepropelled the program to the best winningest (89-65; .578) period(2008-12) in the program's history.
Since his first season in 2008, the Titans have registered ahitting percentage of .198 (7566-3272-21684). Over the last fiveyears, the Titans’ hitting percentage has ranked in the tophalf of the league on two occasions (2008, 2010), whileFullerton’s average of kills per set has ranked in the tophalf of the league in four of the last five seasons (2008-11). Infact, Fullerton led the Big West in kills per set in back-to-backseasons in 2009 (13.82) and 2010 (14.45).
In addition, a Titan has either led the league or finishedsecond with kills per set since 2008. Moore led the Big West in2008 with an average of 4.09, while Saddler finished second in therankings in both 2009 and 2010, while Neto rated second in 2011 and2012.
Nguyen came to Fullerton with an extensive coaching resume thatdates back nearly a quarter century.
For 12 seasons before coming to Fullerton, Nguyen, was anassistant coach at Cal Poly Pomona where he helped Head Coach RosieWegrich lift the Broncos to six seasons with at least 18 wins and aprogram-best 24-3 mark in 2005. That same year, Pomona won itsfirst California Collegiate Athletic Association (CCAA)championship since 1990.
Over his last nine years with Pomona, Nguyen was the Broncossummer camp director and also taught as a kinesiology professor oncampus.
In the smmer of 2009, Nguyen was named the administrator to theSouthern California High Performance teams that participated at theUSA Championships in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida. He over saw the fourSCVA HP teams in Ft. Lauderdale and as a result, the SCVA SelectRed team earned a gold medal at the HP Championships.
In 2007, Nguyen was hired by the USA Men's National Team as astaff member to help them prepare for their run at World League,Pan-Am Cup, Americas Cup and Norceca Cup championships, whichresulted in two gold medals, a silver and a bronze.
Nguyen has also been involved with the USA High PerformancePipeline since 2003. He has coached several development A2 campssince and was recently asked to be the head coach at thedevelopment A2 camp in Kalamazoo, Mich. He was also the host of theUSA High Performance Holiday Camp in 2007 and 2008, which featuredsome of the best youth athletes in the USA Pipeline.
In 2005, Nguyen was named head coach of the Southern CaliforniaYouth National Team that finished in sixth place at the USA HighPerformance Championships in Austin, Texas. A year later, his TopGun 18 Red club team won a gold medal at the USA Junior OlympicInvitational in Minneapolis, Minn.
Prior to his work at Cal Poly Pomona, Nguyen coached at fiveSouthern California high schools (Hoover, San Gabriel, Arcadia,Alhambra and La Habra) and worked with the San Gabriel, Magnum andPower Volleyball Clubs.
In 1996, Nguyen co-founded the Top Gun Volleyball Club, one ofSouthern California's most respected youth volleyball programs thathas trained more than 1500 athletes since its inception.
Nguyen played at Mt. San Antonio College and Long Beach CityCollege before transferring into the Big West Conference with LongBeach State. He finished his schooling and graduated from Cal PolyPomona in 2000 with a degree in kinesiology.
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