Former Mount Olive, Pepperdine coaches join revamped Loyola coaching staff

A former NCAA champion and former ConfCarolinas Coach of the Year will join new head coach John Hawks at Loyola.

Hawks weeks after being named the Ramblers head coach announced Thursday that he hired Ali’i Keohohou and Scott Kevorken to be assistant coaches.

“I am thrilled by the additions of Ali’i and Scott,” Hawks said in a statement. “We are fully committed to giving everything we have for the holistic and fundamental development of our team. I cannot wait to get to work with these two fantastic coaches.”

Keohohou arrives to Loyola following four seasons as the head coach at Mount Olive.

The Trojans in their final three seasons under Keohohou were 41-18 and ended each season ranked in the Off the Block Division II National Coaches Poll. Keohohou also was named the 2021 ConfCarolinas Coach of the Year as Mount Olive won the ConfCarolinas regular season championship.

Kevorken served as an assistant coach at Pepperdine since 2021 and primarily focused on recruiting, match film analysis and coordinating the offense. The Waves ended last season winning the MPSF championship and advanced to the NCAA Tournament opening round.

Kevorken won back-to-back national championships as an All-American middle attacker with UC Irvine. In addition, Kevorken’s 12 blocks in the 2013 finals against BYU remains the single-match record for blocks in a NCAA Tournament match during the 25-point rally scoring era.

The new Loyola coaching staff inherits a program that ended last season in second place in the MIVA and was upset in the MIVA Tournament semifinals.