Carlin to lead Eagles
Estancia High has hired Matt Carlin as its girls’ volleyball coach, Estancia Athletic Director Nate Goellrich announced Tuesday.
Carlin, 39, was most recently the boys’ volleyball coach at Pacifica High in 2014. He takes over at Estancia for Nick Singleton, who resigned after two years when his teaching contract at the school wasn’t renewed.
“I took a little bit of time off and tried out a couple of other jobs, but I found out I really missed coaching,” Carlin said. “I was trying to find jobs on the CIF website, and Estancia was still looking for a coach. It was kind of late in the game, which has presented some challenges ... it has been kind of tough getting everything together at the last minute, but we’ve got our staff in place now and things are starting to come together. I think we have a lot of potential for this year.”
Carlin will be a walk-on coach. Goellrich said in an email that he is working on having Carlin be a substitute teacher in the Newport-Mesa Unified School District.
“Matt has the coaching experience and knowledge to help our program build off its recent success and take it to the next level,” Goellrich said in the email.
Carlin also recently coached for five years at Segerstrom High, where he said he led the Jaguars boys’ volleyball team to the CIF Southern Section playoffs every year. In 2011, he also helped the Segerstrom girls reach the postseason for the first time in program history.
Carlin, who played volleyball at Capistrano Valley High and UC Santa Cruz, was an assistant coach on CIF State Championship teams at Mountain View St. Francis High in 2002 and ’03. He was also a varsity assistant on the 2004 Santa Margarita girls’ volleyball team that won CIF, before taking his first high school head coaching position at Segerstrom in 2007.
Carlin said he is excited to take over at Estancia. Last year, the Eagles finished 13-11, 7-3 in the Orange Coast League, which tied for second place. They advanced to the first round of the CIF Southern Section Division 2AA playoffs, where they were swept at Downey Warren.
Seven girls return to varsity from last season, Carlin said, including senior middle blocker McKenna Covey and senior setter Olivia Toohey. Both players were first-team All-Orange Coast League selections last year.
“I think the potential is definitely there for us to make a good run this year,” Carlin said. “Obviously Laguna Beach has always been the team to beat in our league, but I’m hopeful that if we get the right pieces in place and work really hard, we can give them a run for their money.”
Estancia begins its season Aug. 30 at home against Loara.
