UC Irvine Chooses Andy Read to Coach Men’s Volleyball

Andy Read, who helped guide Pepperdine to the NCAA men’s volleyball championship as an assistant coach last season, has been named men’s volleyball coach at UC Irvine.

Read, who was to coach the boys’ team at Marina High this year, instead will take over the Irvine program, which has a record of 32-92 since 1988, when it moved to NCAA Division I competition.

He replaces Bill Ashen, who resigned to move to Salinas, Calif., where his wife, Jean, has accepted a job.

Read, who will continue to teach at Westminster High School while working in the partially funded position of Irvine coach, said he was not daunted by the athletic department’s recent budget problems.

“I think it’s exciting that this has been designated as one of the seven sports they’re going to keep on the men’s side,” he said. “A lot of universities out there haven’t made that commitment.”

Read, 32, was the boys’ coach at Marina from 1987-89, and twice guided the Vikings to the semifinals of the Southern Section 4-A playoffs. He has been an assistant to Pepperdine Coach Marv Dunphy the past three years before being replaced after last season.

“I was let go; there were no hard feelings, it was time for a change,” Read said. “I had the opportunity to work with Coach Dunphy and that carries a lot of weight. He’s one of the great coaches, if not the greatest coach, in volleyball.”

Read said he looks forward to the competition in the Western Intercollegiate Volleyball Assn., considered the country’s best conference.

“You can’t coach against any better volleyball players than in this league,” he said. “If you’re looking for the athletes who will play in the ’96 Games in Atlanta, they’re either in this league or they played in it last year.”