Pepperdine Waves beach volleyball coach Nina Matthies said it herself during a recent interview: Her historic career in the sport of volleyball is coming full circle.
“The beach is where I started; the beach is where it’s ending,” said Matthies, who recently announced she was retiring at the end of the Waves’ 2018 season. “That’s pretty awesome. Volleyball is my passion. It has been a big part of my life.”
The volleyball coach of more than 40 years was 10 when she began playing volleyball on the sands of Manhattan Beach. This season, Matthies will coach a talented Pepperdine squad in matches at Zuma Beach and other beach volleyball venues across the country and possibly Gulf Shores, Ala., the site of the NCAA’s beach volleyball championships in May.
The 64-year-old announced her pending retirement on Feb. 1, 22 days before Pepperdine’s season begins at the two-day Grand Canyon Tournament in Phoenix. Matthies said this spring is the right time to knock the beach sand off her feet and retire after leading Pepperdine indoor and beach volleyball squads for 35 years.
“The program is in wonderful shape—the coaching staff is great; the kids are awesome—everything is in a good place,” Matthies said. “Pepperdine is a blessing of a place to work. It just seems like a good time to do some other things in life.”
She said spending time with her husband Dan and grandchildren and traveling are some of the retirement activities she is looking forward to. Longtime Waves assistant coach Marcio Sicoli will be promoted to head coach after Pepperdine’s last contest.
Matthies’ retirement will close a hall of fame career that includes more than 700 wins on indoor and sand volleyball courts, numerous NCAA tournament births, helping solidify beach volleyball as a college sport, two national championships, and a host of honors and recognitions.
Pepperdine Director of Athletics Dr. Steve Potts said in a statement that Matthies established a legacy of success and teaching that won’t be equaled.
“Every women’s beach volleyball collegiate student-athlete owes a debt of gratitude and thanks to Nina for all that she has done for their sport,” he said.
Matthies list of wins, accolades and accomplishments is too long to print.
Matthies said when she first started coaching as an assistant at UCLA after her college career ended she would never have fathomed the coaching career she was set to have.
“I have just been following my passion of volleyball,” said the coach, who also played professional volleyball until age 40.
When news of Matthies’ retirement spread, former player Stevi Robinson tweeted that she wouldn’t be where she is today if Matthies hadn’t given her a chance to play and receive an education.
“Thank you for being an amazing pioneer for all the female coaches in the world of women’s volleyball. You’re a stud!” Robinson typed.
USA Volleyball Board Chair Lori Okimura called Matthies a legend and tweeted the head Wave is a “major part of opening doors for women’s beach volleyball from the very beginning.”
Matthies began coaching the sport she loved six years after she first hit the ball over the net competitively. She was a kid coaching kids in a Manhattan Beach Recreation Department youth summer program.
“I fell into loving to teach and coach volleyball,” Matthies said.
She was team captain for two years and led the UCLA women’s indoor volleyball team to AIAW national titles in 1974 and 1975. She was a UCLA assistant coach for a few seasons before becoming Pepperdine’s women’s indoor volleyball coach.
She led the team to multiple 20-win seasons, dominate play in the West Coast Conference and placements in multiple NCAA tournaments before retiring from indoor volleyball to focus solely on coaching Pepperdine’s new women’s beach volleyball team.
One of Matthies’ favorite indoor wins happened over a dozen years ago. She and her team were beating rival UCSB, but suddenly the Santa Barbara gym went dark after the lights malfunctioned.
“We were kind of hanging around the gym because we didn’t want to leave,” Matthies said. “I said, ‘We aren’t leaving until we finish this match.’ Eventually, the lights came on, we got the referees out of the parking lot and the fans came back in. We were the underdogs, but we beat them.”
She coached several talented Waves players who won awards and became Olympians. Matthies said she enjoyed coaching indoor volleyball.
“I’ve coached a lot of great players,” Matthies said. “Everyone has touched the program in different ways.”
Her coaching pivot occurred three years after she joined a committee of coaches and athletics officials that wanted to make beach volleyball a college sport. Matthies coached the Waves beach volleyball team, known officially as sand volleyball then, to the first-ever AVCA championship in 2013.
“You can never be the first again,” Matthies said. “It was really cool to win the first championship in a new sport with a new team.”
Pepperdine has stayed dominant in the sport as it grew from just over a dozen competing universities to 110 teams heading into this season.
Pepperdine snagged a second national title in 2014. The team won the West Coast Conference championship before being defeated by USC in the national title match last season. Matthies was the WCC Coach of the Year.
“We created a new sport in college athletics, and I think the sport is fantastic,” Matthies said. “Obviously, others do too. People are jumping in to be part of something new. It’s a tremendous game for young women to play.”
Throughout her career, Matthies has considered herself a player’s coach who coaches how she played—communicative and hard working. She noted that she became a bit more relaxed as a coach over time, but she hopes players and fans will remember her as a strong female figure for her Waves.
“I’ve enjoyed all the young women that I have coached,” she said. “It’s been a blessing to have them in my life for four years.”