July 27, 2005

Bill Ferguson, one of the nation's most successful junior volleyball coaches and club directors, has returned to the USC men's program for his second stint as an assistant, Trojan head coach Turhan Douglas announced today (July 27).

Ferguson, 34, has 14 years of coaching experience at the club level. He has coached teams to 20 medals (including 10 golds) at national championships and the clubs he has directed have won 29 medals.

He spent the past 4 years (2002-05) as the co-owner, director and coach of the Southern California Volleyball Club. He was the head coach of the 2004 boys 18s team that won the gold at the Junior Olympics, as well as the 2002 16s and 2005 17s squads that took home bronzes. His SCVC girls 18s teams won a gold in the Junior Olympics Invitational division in 2003 and a bronze in the National division in 2005. Overall, SCVC teams won 9 medals at national championships.

Before that, he was with the Los Angeles Athletic Club for 5 years (1996-97, 1999-2001). He was the head coach of boys 18s teams that captured golds at the Junior Nationals in 1996 and 1999 and a bronze in 2000. He also was the co-head coach of the 2001 LAAC boys 18 team that won a Junior Nationals silver, and an assistant on the 1997 LAAC boys 16s squad that won a gold. He also coached LAAC men's teams at the U.S. Open National Championships, getting a gold in 1999 and 2001, plus a silver in 2000 (in 2001, he doubled as an assistant with a women's team that won a bronze there). In all, LAAC teams won 15 medals in his tenure there. He also served as an assistant with the USA Youth National Team in 2000.

In between his time at LAAC, he was an assistant at USC for 2 seasons (1997-98) under head coach Pat Powers.

Ferguson began his coaching career as an assistant for the Santa Monica Beach Club for 2 years (1991-92). He helped the boys 14s team to the silver medal at the Junior Nationals in 1991 and the 16s squad to the gold in 1992.

In 1993, he resurrected the Reebok Palisades club that was founded in 1983 by his father. He guided the boys to a pair of gold medals (16s in 1993 and 18s in 1994) and a silver (18s in 1995) at the Junior Nationals and also was an assistant on the 1993 18s team that won a bronze. As club director, Reebok Palisades took home 5 medals at the Junior Nationals.

Among the players he has coached over the years are Olympians Misty May, Brook Billings, Donald Suxho, Gabe Gardner, Jeff Nygaard, Ryan Millar, Brett Winslow and Mark Williams, as well as current USC setter Jimmy Killian,

Ferguson played for Palisades High in Pacific Palisades (Calif.), where he was a member of the 1988 L.A. City championship team. He then took a 2-year hiatus from volleyball. While enrolled at Santa Monica (Calif.) College, he pursued a competitive surfing career, where he was a member of the U.S. Surfing Federation's USA National Team in 1991 and 1992. He competed on the Bud Pro Tour from 1991 to 1995.

He comes from a volleyball family. His father, Tom (a USC graduate), was a 2-time (1961-62) All-American at Santa Monica College, which won the USVBA college national championship both years. His mother, Susie, was an avid volleyball player and helped Tom start the Palisades club team. His brother, Bob, played on the Palisades 17s team that won the 1984 Junior Nationals gold medal.

From 1987 to 1991, Ferguson was a familiar face on the Southern California collegiate volleyball scene, where he served as a linesman for men's and women's matches.

He was born Aug. 24, 1970. He is single.