Bill Ferguson Position: Head Coach (sixth year) Experience: 6th Year

It took sixth-year USC men's volleyball head coach Bill Ferguson just a short time to put the Trojans back on the nation's volleyball map. He was promoted to lead the USC program on May 16, 2006.

He has a 85-58 record in his 5 seasons at USC, with 2 trips to the NCAA Championships, an MPSF regular season crown and an MPSF tourney title. He has gone 9-2 against crosstown rival UCLA.

In 2011, he was named MPSF Coach of the Year as his fifth USC team went 23-4 (USC's most wins since 1999) and advanced to the NCAA Final Four for the second time in 3 years, where it fell in the semifinals. The Trojans went 20-2 in the MPSF (their most league victories since 1986), won their first MPSF regular season title since 1999 (the first outright since 1991) and were the runner-up in the MPSF tourney. USC was ranked No. 1 nationally the entire season until finishing third in the final poll. Along the way, the Trojans won 12 consecutive matches (their longest streak since a school-record 30 in 1990-91), 17 straight home matches (their longest streak since a school-record 19 in 1999-2001) and 11 MPSF matches in a row (their most since 18 in 1991-92). Thirteen of USC's wins were 3-0 sweeps. The team's first 3 losses of 2011 came in 5 sets. USC led the nation in kills (14.16), digs (9.76) and assists (13.35) and its .351 hitting percentage was a school rally scoring era record. The Trojans snapped a 17-match losing streak to Cal State Northridge and held UCLA to its fewest total (55) and set (12) points against USC in the rally scoring era that began in 2001.

He also coached the Southern California Volleyball Club 17 boys team to a gold medal at the 2011 Junior Olympics.

In 2010 in his fourth Trojan campaign, his team was 16-11 overall and 13-9 in the MPSF for a sixth place finish. USC began the season ranked No. 1 in the AVCA poll (its first pre-season top ranking since 1991 and its first No. 1 ranking anytime since late in 2000). Troy held that top spot for the first 4 polls while getting off to a 6-1 overall start and 4-0 MPSF start (its best starts since 2000). USC appeared in its fourth consecutive MPSF tourney, its longest streak since going to 7 straight from 1989 to 1995.

In 2009 in just his third year at USC, he was named the AVCA and VBall Magazine National Coach of the Year as he guided the Trojans to a 21-11 overall mark (USC's most overall wins since 2001) and a fifth-place tie in the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation standings at 13-9 (USC's most MPSF victories since 1999). USC won its first-ever MPSF Tournament title. His Trojans defeated 7 Top 6-ranked teams. He guided USC into the NCAA Championships for the first time since 1991, where it lost a 5-set heartbreaker in the final. He also helped USC to the MPSF tourney final for the first time since 1999 and its first back-to-back-to-back appearances in the MPSF tournament since a 3-year streak from 1999 to 2001, as well as to its highest national ranking (second) since 2000. USC's 5-match early-season winning streak was its longest since 2001. USC posted its first back-to-back wins over BYU since 1997-98 and snapped a 14-match losing skid to the Cougars that stretched to 2001. His Trojans posted a third consecutive victory over UCLA, USC's longest such streak over the Bruins since getting 4 in a row in 1980-81 (he has a 4-2 coaching mark against UCLA). With a 3-0 win over UC Irvine in the MPSF tourney semis, USC also snapped a 10-match losing streak to the Anteaters that stretched to 2004 and was the Trojans' first win at Irvine since 2000, ending an 11-match losing string there (that 2000 victory was also the last time USC beat UCI in 3 sets). USC also won a pair of pre-season tournaments (in Canada and Hawaii).

In 2008 in his second season at Troy, he led USC to its most overall and league wins since 2001 and its first back-to-back appearances in the MPSF tournament since a 3-year streak from 1999 to 2001. USC was 13-16 overall and 10-12 for eighth place in the MPSF. His Trojans swept UCLA, the first time USC defeated the Bruins twice in a row since 1991 and the first time since 1990 that USC recorded consecutive wins at Pauley Pavilion. And his squad had a 5-game victory at Pepperdine (USC's first victory in Malibu since 1999, snapping a 9-match losing streak there).

In 2007, his first season as head coach, he guided USC to its best season in 6 years. The Trojans had their most overall (12-16) and MPSF (9-13) wins, their highest MPSF finish (eighth) and their first appearance in the MPSF tournament since 2001. USC beat UCLA at Pauley Pavilion for the first time since 2000 and the 3-0 win was its first sweep over the Bruins since 1991, giving Ferguson a victory in his debut against legendary UCLA coach Al Scates. Troy also snapped a 12-match losing streak to Hawaii and did so in Honolulu, its first win there since 1999.

Ferguson, 41, was an assistant at USC in 2006, when he also served as Troy's recruiting coordinator and offensive coordinator in addition to coaching the setters.

In the summer of 2006, he was the head coach of the 2006 USA Volleyball Men's Junior National A2 team.

This is Ferguson's second stint at USC, as he was an assistant for 2 years (1997-98) under head coach Pat Powers.

He was one of the nation's most successful junior volleyball coaches and club directors before returning to USC in the summer of 2005. In his 15 years of coaching experience at the club level, he coached teams to 19 medals (including 12 golds) at national championships and the clubs he directed won 31 medals.

He spent 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 (1996-2001). 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 and 2001.

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 are Olympians Misty May, Brook Billings, Donald Suxho, Gabe Gardner, Jeff Nygaard, Ryan Millar, Brett Winslow and Mark Williams, as well as Brandon Taliaferro, Jimmy Killian and Murphy Troy. Suxho, Taliaferro and Troy were national Players of the Year in 2000.

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 and his wife, the former Brenn Larson, who played at Washington State and UCLA, have a daughter, Blake, 1.

YEAR-BY-YEAR WITH BILL FERGUSON