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A former Olympic gold medalist will take over the men’s volleyball program at Concordia-Irvine.
Concordia-Irvine athletics director Crystal Rosenthal announced Thursday that it has hired Riley Salmon to be the team’s new head coach.
“After an extensive search, it became clear that Riley was the right person to lead our men’s volleyball program,” Rosenthal said in a statement. “I look forward to watching Riley go to work in our gym with our guys, I am confident that he will deliver a top-notch program on and off the court, and most importantly, he will be someone our student-athletes can learn from in all areas of their lives.”
Salmon had double-digit kills in each of the United States’ final three Olympic matches en route to winning the 2008 gold medal, including having 12 kills on a .308 attack percentage against Brazil in the gold-medal match. The outside attacker and libero played more than 200 international matches during his 11 years on the U.S. roster.
Along with his time on the U.S. Men’s National Team, Salmon had a 15-year professional career in Europe and spent two seasons playing beach volleyball on the AVP Tour.
Salmon joins Concordia-Irvine after two seasons as the head coach at Jamestown University.
The NAIA program during its inaugural season in 2020 finished 11-2 and was scheduled to play Concordia-Irvine in a non-conference match on the day the season was canceled because of the coronavirus pandemic. Salmon guided the Jimmies in 2021 to a No. 4 ranking in the national coaches poll and an appearance in the NAIA National Championship Tournament.
“I believe God puts me where I can be of the most service to other people,” Salmon said in a statement. “He presented this opportunity and once I interviewed with Crystal, I felt it was a perfect fit. I’m looking forward to teaching, coaching and encouraging our student-athletes. Playing in the best conference in the MPSF is a fantastic bonus as well.”
Concordia-Irvine finished the 2021 season in sixth in the MPSF and lost to UCLA in the conference tournament quarterfinals. The Eagles in the regular season, though, had their first victory in program history against the Bruins.