Former Laguna Blanca Volleyball Star Chris Tamas Named Coach at Illinois

By Noozhawk Staff Report

Former Laguna Blanca volleyball standout and U.S. National Team member Chris Tamas '99 has been named the women's volleyball coach at the University of Illinois.

Tamas replaces Kevin Hambly, who accepted the head coaching job at Stanford.

"As expected, our coaching opportunity attracted widespread interest from coaches across the country, including many sitting head coaches," Illinois Director of Athletics Josh Whitman said. "Chris stood out immediately. His breadth of experience as both a player and coach, his commitment to the personal growth and development of our student-athletes, his work ethic, and his fierce competitiveness are compelling. He has learned from some of the best coaches in the game, both collegiately and internationally, and we are excited for him to make his mark on Illinois volleyball."

Tamas comes to Illinois following many years learning from some of the game's great coaches, including John Cook at Nebraska and former U.S. National Team coaches Hugh McCutcheon and Ron Larsen. In all, Tamas is in his ninth year of collegiate coaching including two years at Nebraska, two years at Cal Poly, two years at Minnesota and two years at UC-Riverside.

Tamas was an All-CIF player for Jason Donnelly at Laguna Blanca. He moved on to the University of Pacific, where was a four-year starter for the Tigers and a unanimous AVCA All-American first-team selection and team MVP during his 2003 senior season.

"This is a wonderful opportunity for Chris and his family," Donnelly said. "He has always been a hard worker and to see him climb his way up the professional coaching ladder to earn his first head coaching job in a Power 5 conference, let alone one that has produced a number of National Champions in recent years, leads me to believe he is more than ready for this next challenge."

Tamas expressed his happiness at being hired to coach the Fighting Illini.

"My family and I are extremely excited about the opportunity to coach at the University of Illinois," Tamas said in a statement from Illinois' media relations department. "Huff Hall is one of the outstanding volleyball venues in the nation, and I've always thought the Spike Squad was awesome. Illinois has traditionally been one of the elite programs in the country and the Big Ten Conference is the premier volleyball league in the nation. I can't wait to work with our team and prepare to compete against the best. I've seen this team play for the past two seasons and I'm excited with the level of talent we have and at the talent coming in. We look forward to hitting the ground running."

Tamas played four years with the U.S. Men's National Team (1999, 2003, 2005-06) and made 34 appearances. In 1999, he helped the squad to a silver medal at the World Junior Championships in Havana. As national team captain in 2003, Tamas helped lead the United States to a bronze medal at the World University Games in Daegu, South Korea.

A training camp invitee for the U.S. squad that eventually captured the 2008 Olympic gold medal, Tamas also helped U.S. teams to silver at the 2005 World Grand Champions Cup in Japan and, as a setter, to a gold at the 2006 NORCECA Championships in Mexicali, Mexico.

As a professional, Tamas competed for six years overseas with clubs Protect Eye Orion (Netherlands), Antigos Alunos (Portugal), Real Grupo (Spain), Erdemir (Turkey), Dionysos (Cyprus) and Isku (Finland). In Finland and Cyprus, Tamas helped his clubs to national cup championships.

A native of Santa Barbara, Tamas and his wife, Jennifer, have two children, Jimmy and Josephine. Jennifer was a volunteer assistant at both Nebraska and Cal Poly. 

Chris Tamas joins former local prep volleyball standouts Shawn Olmstead (BYU men), Heather Olmstead (BYU women's indoor) and Todd Rogers (Cal Poly women's beach volleyball) in the Division 1 volleyball coaching ranks.
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