Jeff Nygaard

Jeff Nygaard played on the USA volleyball team at the 1996 and 2000 Olympics and then came back in 2004 to play beach volleyball at Athina, alongside Dain Blanton. Nygaard also won a bronze medal in indoor volleyball at the 1994 World Championships.

Nygaard played in college at UCLA from 1992-95, helping them win the 1993 and 1995 NCAA title. He played indoors professionally in Europe from 1996-99 and 2007, playing in Greece (1996-97), Croatia (1998), France (1999) and Turkey (2007). He also played on the 1999 and 2001 Los Angeles Athletic Club teams that won the US Men’s Open national titles. On the beach Nygaard played professionally from 2001-11, winning eight tournaments, including 7 on the AVP Tour and 1 on the FIVB Tour.

Nygaard went into coaching, starting as a volunteer assistant coach with UCLA from 2002-04. He was later an assistant women’s coach at Whittier College. He became an assistant coach at Southern Cal in 2010 and in 2015 moved up to head coach of the Trojans men’s team.