The college volleyball season began this month with one of the sport’s greatest coaches in an unfamiliar position.
Instead of manning the sidelines as head coach of the Pepperdine Waves men’s volleyball team like so, so, so many seasons past, Marv Dunphy, the NCAA title and Olympic gold-winning coach, was sitting in the stands with his wife, Su, cheering the blue, white, and orange on to victory with other Waves fans.
Pepperdine’s season-opening win on Jan. 7 over visiting California Lutheran was the first time Dunphy, a Waves volleyball player before joining the coaching staff in 1974, could recollect attending a Pepperdine match that he did not have a hand in the outcome.
“It’s different,” said Dunphy, Pepperdine’s head coach in four periods beginning in 1977 until his retirement last June. “As the season unfolds, I will feel the change more so than right now. But I’m still here. I’m here in my office. I still visit with the coaches and say, ‘Hey, here is what the old guy sees.’”
Waves head coach David Hunt, a member of Dunphy’s coaching staff for 10 seasons, said it was a bit of a “bummer” heading into the contest without his friend and mentor on the sideline with him—adding emphasis was the fact the match was held on Dunphy’s birthday.
“Knowing that he was going to be in the stands and not on the bench was a little sad in the lead up to the game,” Hunt said.
The 70-year-old led his alma mater to numerous memorable wins and titles in the 34 years he spent as head coach. Dunphy will be part of other memorable Waves volleyball moments, before and during Pepperdine’s home match against the University of California, Santa Barbara this Saturday.
Marv Dunphy Volleyball Court will be dedicated 15 minutes before the contest. Signifying the naming of the floor will be a plaque put on display in Pepperdine’s Firestone Fieldhouse. Videos of Dunphy will be played during the match, and 1,500 special edition Marv Dunphy hats will be given to fans.
A court dedication for the Hall of Fame coach also took place last October. The event was attended by current and former players, coaches and alumni.
Dunphy said he is humbled by the acknowledgements of his accomplishments.
“I can’t imagine any institution being as good to a coach as Pepperdine has been to me,” Dunphy said. “It’s an absolute honor that they would think me worthy of putting my name on the volleyball court. I wish that every player that has been part of my journey and every coach I worked with could be on that plaque, too. The quality of the people I have worked with allowed this naming of the court to happen.”
Dunphy coached Pepperdine to 523 wins and four national titles between four stints as top Wave—1977-78, 1982-85, 1989-99 and 2001-17—due to instances where he left for educational reasons or to coach the U.S. men’s volleyball team, which he led to a 1988 Olympic gold medal.
The Pepperdine versus UCSB contest pits Hunt, a member of Dunphy’s coaching staff from 2007 to 2017, against another Dunphy protégé on the opposite sideline. Gauchos head coach Rick McLaughlin, a Malibu native, coached under Dunphy, a Topanga native, during the 1991 and the title-winning 1992 seasons and from 2002 to 2005, when Pepperdine played in three final fours and grabbed the 2005 national championship.
Dunphy is looking forward to sharing the day with Hunt and McLaughlin. The Wave of over 40 years said he is proud of all the coaches who have served on his staffs.
Hunt said it seemed logical to celebrate Dunphy’s career the same day Pepperdine faces UCSB.
“It’s going to be fun,” he said. “Hopefully, there will be a lot of people, a lot of alumn[i] that have supported us along the way and continue to support us and pay tribute to someone that got our program going in the right direction.”
Dunphy said not much has changed since his retirement from coaching. He still teaches at Pepperdine for two hours, two days per week, and in his official role as head coach emeritus, Dunphy still drops by Waves’ practices and is a sounding board for Hunt. Dunphy said if the team’s coaching staff was different, he might go through coaching withdrawal a bit more, but his confidence in Hunt eased that.
“It’s time for him to take it for 40 years,” Dunphy said of Hunt leading Pepperdine volleyball.
The new head coach said Dunphy’s presence is a benefit.
“I feel blessed to still have him around,” Hunt said. “He paved the way, and showed me how to do it right for the last 10 years.”
The retired coach admitted that he “has a lot of volleyball” in his blood and there have been moments where he reminisced about being more active in the sport.
“When Pepperdine was heading to Las Vegas in the fall to play BYU, I was saying ‘hi’ to someone that was going on the bus trip with them,” he said. “All of a sudden the bus was getting kind of full, and I realized this bus is going to be departing pretty soon and I’m not going to be on it.”
Pepperdine beat Cal Lutheran, 3-0, for Hunt’s first Waves head coaching win. Pepperdine won with 25-18, 25-13 and 25-14 final set scores. Six-foot-4 redshirt-freshman Robert Mullahey led the team with a .406 hitting percentage, and 6-foot-5 sophomore Noah Dyer and 6-foot-4 senior Colby Harriman each had 10 kills.
Hunt said the win was good, but not a victory to relish too much because the Waves must prepare for tough upcoming games.
“There is a little bit of enjoyment because we trained really hard and it pays off,” he said. “As soon as it’s over, it’s about, ‘What did we learn and what do we need to get better at?’”
Pepperdine lost its second game, 3-1, to UC Irvine on Jan. 14. Six-foot-six senior Alex Harthaller had 18 kills and five aces for Pepperdine.
Hunt said the christening of Marv Dunphy Volleyball Court enhances Dunphy’s legacy, which the retired coach builds on daily.
“He is not gone,” Hunt said. “He is around people at the university and the volleyball world. His effect on our university and volleyball will be felt for a long time.”
Dunphy said the court naming is possible because he worked with some of the greatest athletes ever to play volleyball.
“It’s nice to have been part of some really good teams and to have coached some wonderful players, wonderful people,” he said. “I was able to coach some of the best-ever to play the sport.”
