Nearly a year into his tenure, David Hunt continuously shies away from introducing himself as the head coach of Pepperdine’s men’s volleyball team.
Hunt, named to the position last July, said the storied college volleyball program is a collective environment, so he introduces himself mostly as “a Waves coach.”
“I’m not a big fan of that hierarchy of ‘I’m the head coach, you report to me,’” he said. “We have a lot of bright people on our volleyball staff. We have former Olympians, former national team players—to say ‘I’m the head coach’ devalues, and I don’t want that.”
Plus, his predecessor, his friend and mentor, legendary coach Marv Dunphy, is still a presence around the program.
“Marv is still here, and I want him around for a long time,” Hunt said.
Dunphy’s successor is now preparing the Waves for their 2019 campaign by stressing the group to seek to get better every day.
“What can we do to be great today?” Hunt said. “It’s so much about being in the moment. That is what we focus on. For us, it’s, ‘What did we do yesterday, and what can we do to improve it, and how can we be better today?’ For the best players, the high performers, it’s either you are getting better, or you are getting worse.”
The coach spoke of establishing standards that allow Pepperdine to compete for a national championship.
“It’s not, ‘Are you the best outside hitter in our gym?’” Hunt said. “It’s, ‘Are you the best outside hitter in the country?’ These are the metrics we know you have to perform at for us to win a national championship.”
Hunt coached the Waves to a 15-8 record and a No. 5 ranking in the national polls last season. Pepperdine’s 23-match campaign ended on April 14 with a 3-1 loss to USC in the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation Tournament quarterfinal.
Hunt said he was happy with how the season went but disappointed with the team’s first round postseason defeat. He said the loss wasn’t indicative of how good the Waves played in the previous 22 matchups.
The squad went undefeated in the Uvaldo Acosta Invitational in the season’s first month, had a five-game winning streak in February and won five of six matches in the next two months.
The individual honors also piled up for the volleyball team. Redshirt junior David Wieczorek was named a second team American Volleyball Coaches Association All-American, and senior outside hitter Alex Harthaller was tapped for honorable mention All-American status.
Wieczorek was also the MPSF Player of the Year and a member of the conference’s first team. Harthaller and junior middle blocker Max Chamberlain were named to the All-MPSF second team, and Waves Michael Wexter, a junior outside hitter, and Robert Mullahey, a redshirt freshman setter, received honorable mention recognition. Mullahey was also named to the Off the Block, Springbak Inc’s Freshman All-American squad.
Wieczorek, Harthaller, senior outside hitter Colby Harriman, outside hitter Kaleb Denmark and sophomore opposite, setter and outside hitter Noah Dyer received MSPF All-Academic honors as well for having a 3.0 GPA or better and competing in 50 percent or more of the Waves’ competitions.
Harthaller, one of the university’s five valedictorians this spring, was also named to the Google Cloud Academic All-District Men’s at-Large first team.
Hunt is proud that the Waves were recognized for performing on the court and in the classroom.
“Our cumulative team GPA is 3.3, or something like that,” he said. “That part makes me proud as a coach. They are being good in all parts of their life, that is what we try to preach to them.”
This offseason, Hunt tailored a different plan for each of the Waves based on whether they had access to a volleyball court, would be playing on the beach or working an internship away from the game. He has spent time watching Team USA practices, recruiting and analyzing game film from last season. He will also coach a junior national and national team.
The Dunphy staff member of 10 years previously said throughout the season his coaching style evolved.
“I always felt comfortable because I was being genuine and true to who I am,” Hunt said. “I think as the players settled into their roles, each guy maybe needed something different from me. As you hit your stride as a team—knew strengths and weaknesses a bit better—I tended to sit back during the match and it became a little more strategy and managing. Early in the season, it was emphasizing things we need to get better at.”
The Waves will have eight new players on next season’s team and will lose five from 2018’s group. Hunt said his coaching style will be different in his second head coaching year.
“I will learn a little bit from everyone I work with in the offseason,” he said. “We add some new guys, so the playing style will be different. Once we see the guys in our gym we will try to maximize our strengths.”