Knipe named coach for U.S. men’s volleyball team

Marina High graduate Alan Knipe has been selected as the head coach of the U.S. men’s volleyball national team.

Knipe will take a leave of absence from Long Beach State, where he has been head coach at his alma mater for the past nine years.

“I am very excited to have Alan join the USA Volleyball staff and lead our men’s team toward [the] London [Olympics] in 2012,” USA Volleyball CEO Doug Beal said in a statement. “This is a very big hire. His experience and success with USA Volleyball’s national and high performance programs have been outstanding. I look for him to continue the momentum the U.S. men built in 2008.”

The United States won the gold medal at the Beijing Olympics last summer.

Knipe, 40, still lives in Huntington Beach. A 1987 graduate of Marina, he spent one year at Orange Coast College before transferring to Long Beach State. There, he won the NCAA Championship in 1991 and was named All-American in 1992.

Knipe was head coach at Golden West College in 1994 and 1995, leading the Rustlers to the California state title the latter year. In his nine seasons as head coach at Long Beach State, the 49ers have made it to one NCAA final (2004) and another semifinal (2008). Knipe was named the 2008 Mountain Pacific Sports Federation Coach of the Year.

Knipe takes over for Hugh McCutcheon, who took over the U.S. women’s national team in January following the resignation of Jenny Lang Ping. His first competition with the team will be the Pan American Cup, which begins June 1 in Colima, Mexico.

Knipe will also continue his coaching duties with the 49ers until the end of the season. Through Tuesday, Long Beach State was 11-13 and 8-11 in the MPSF.

— Matt Szabo