Jeff Nygaard

Biography

JEFF NYGAARD—a three-time Olympian in indoor and beach volleyball and a two-time collegiate MVP while playing on a pair of NCAA championship teams—Is in his 11th season (2026) as the head coach of the USC men’s volleyball team. He also served the five previous seasons as a Trojan assistant (2011-15). Nygaard holds a head coaching record at USC of 123-136. In 2025, the Trojans went 21-7, finished second in the MPSF regular season (8-4), and were awarded the second seed into the conference tournament. There, USC finished as runner-up to Pepperdine, which hosted the championship in Malibu, Calif. USC opened the year with a nine-match win streak for its best start to a season since 1991 (28-0) and won 10 matches in a row (Feb. 26-April 3) for the program's longest win streak since 2012 (18 in a row). It was Nygaard’s second 20-win season (20th in program history). USC led the MPSF for many weeks in all statistical categories but aces and finished the season as the NCAA leader in blocks (2.86 bps) with 16 matches in double-digits. The Trojans set a new school record for hitting percentage in a match (.691 vs. Dominican, Feb. 8) and hit better than .300 in 19 matches (plus-.400 in 10 contests). Under Nygaard in 2024, the Trojans went 13-15 in the regular season, finished sixth in the MPSF standings (3-9), and were 13th in the final AVCA Coaches Poll. In the postseason, USC advanced to the MPSF tournament semifinal where it fell to league runner-up UCLA. The Trojans earned six wins