University of California-Irvine Men's Volleyball

Hired in July of 2012, David Kniffin is now the longest tenured volleyball coach in Anteater history. As a coach, Kniffin has received several honors: Big West Conference Co-Coach of the Year (2022), Mountain Pacific Sports Federation Coach of the Year (2015), Volleyball Magazine National Coach of the Year (2013) and the American Volleyball Coaches Association Assistant Coach of the Year (2010). Kniffin became just the second coach in the history of NCAA men's volleyball to guide a team to the NCAA Championship in his first season (2013). Since then, Kniffin has led the Anteater squad to conference and regular season titles as well as multiple trips to the NCAA Tournament (2015, 2018, 2024). As an assistant coach, Kniffin won two NCAA Championships with UC Irvine Men’s Volleyball (2007, 2009) and coached in the NCAA Championship match with University of Illinois Women’s Volleyball (2011). As a student-athlete, Kniffin graduated from UC Irvine with a bachelor's degree in philosophy in 2003. As a senior, he helped guide UC Irvine to the school’s first No. 1 ranking and first-ever post-season victory. Kniffin earned UCI Scholar-Athlete and MPSF All-Academic honors during his Anteater career. Internationally, Kniffin played professionally for CAI Voleibol Teruel (Spain) for two seasons, helping the team win the division championship (2006). He has served the USA National Team Development Pipeline as a coach and scout, worked for the FIVB World League Finals (2008) and continues t

Conner Dahm joined the Anteater coaching staff in 2026. Dahm played for the UC Irvine from 2022-24. Over his career, Dahm saw action at several positions, in...

Michael Brinkley was a three-time first team All-American and three-time All-MPSF honoree. He ended his career with 1,099 digs which is second most in a career at UCI and fourth most by a MPSF player all-time. He had a career-best 25 digs vs Long Beach State (4/3/15), which is eighth best in the MPSF record book, while his 330 digs in 2015 is eighth best in MPSF season. The libero was member of UCI’s national championship teams in 2012 and 2013, earning NCAA All-Tournament honors in 2013. COACH KNIFFIN SAID: “From my perspective, Brinkley started coaching collegiately in Fall of 2012 (when he was still a sophomore and I was a young head coach). He saw the game so much better than I did. He set the tone in serve receive. He valued the relationship between block and backcourt defense. And he was meticulous about his craft. It is an honor to announce that one of our [NCAA] Champions has returned. He will make us better. He always has.” 5 Questions for Michael Brinkley: Q: What is your primary vocation? What do you do when you’re not coaching volleyball? A: Outside of coaching volleyball, my time is spent working in residential real estate and design. Currently residing my license with Compass Real Estate in Newport Beach, I work as a real estate agent on one of the top producing teams in California. Another venture I pursue is interior design and development with my brother. We are working on design projects here in Orange County and in LA as well as flipping and building spec h