Cal State East Bay volleyball coach retiring after 22 seasons

Cal State East Bay volleyball coach Jim Spagle is retiring this June after more than 40 years in the coaching profession and 22 seasons at the university. He will leave with a career record of 466-228, the most victories by any coach in any sport in the university’s history.

"I've had a very long and rewarding career, and I feel like this is the right time," Spagle said. "I have always tried to give everything I have to the teams and players I've coached, and in return, I have received rewards beyond anything I could have imagined and built relationships that will last a lifetime. Coaching is a noble profession, and I am thankful to have had the opportunity to coach for so long."

Athletic Director Jason Carmichael said the contributions Spagle has made to the athletics department is hard to summarize, but that Spagle has had a positive impact on “countless Pioneer student-athletes.”

"Volleyball has been a source of pride for this university for more than two decades thanks to him,” Carmichael said. “He built a program that has had tremendous success in both Division II and III, and his teams have consistently achieved at a high level academically.”

In 2002, Spagle was named West Region Coach of the Year by the Division III Volleyball Coaches Association after guiding the Pioneers to their first-ever NCAA DIII West Regional title and a No. 1 ranking in the American Volleyball Coaches Association national poll during the regular season. And in 2007, he was voted Association of Division III Independents Coach of the Year after leading CSUEB to a 29-5 record.

He said he’s grateful for the past 22 seasons at Cal State East Bay and said he’s confident the team will continue succeeding despite his departure.

"At the very top of my many career goals was to leave the volleyball program stronger than it was when I began as the head coach 22 years ago," Spagle said. "With a smart, dynamic team — the best group I have ever coached — returning for the 2018 season, combined with a terrific group of incoming freshman, I am supremely confident this program will accomplish amazing things, not only next fall but for many seasons to come."