By Mike Lehman, TTU Sports Information
LEXINGTON, Ky. – Tennessee Tech volleyball assistant coach and recruiting coordinator Zach Weinberg was honored as a 2021 Thirty Under 30 Award winner by the American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA) Monday afternoon, an award created in 2009 to honor up-and-coming coaching talent at all levels of the sport.
Nominees had to be younger than 30 years old in 2020 to qualify for the award.
"Receiving this award is confirmation that I am on the right path and going through my career in the right ways," Weinberg expressed. "Vince Lombardi once said, 'The quality of a person's life is in direct proportion to their commitment to excellence.' I strive to be excellent as a coach, and while I know I have a long way to go, this award is a great reminder that I am heading towards being the level of coach that all of my great mentors have inspired me to be.
"This award is also a thank you to the players and coaches that I have had the privilege of working with. Without their hard work, diligence, and commitment to excellence, I would not have a resume worthy of selection for this award. I cannot say it enough; thank you to each and every one of you."
Weinberg recently completed his third year on staff at Tennessee Tech, helping guide the Golden Eagles to their second-straight winning campaign in Ohio Valley Conference play for the first time since 2007 and 2008.
"[Tech head coach] Jeannette [Waldo] has blessed me with autonomy and allowed me to use my past experiences to help Tech make great strides as a program," Weinberg said. "I am so appreciative of the creative freedom she gives me in our day-to-day jobs, the voice she allows me to have within the program, and the mentorship she has provided me in our three years together at Tech."
Prior to the arrival of Waldo and her staff, including Weinberg, the purple and gold had just completed the 2017 season with a 2-14 mark in league play. Since then, Tech has run off improved showings of 5-11 in 2018 and back-to-back 9-7 marks in 2019 and 2020-21.
"Zach is a very motivated individual," Waldo expressed. "He has an incredible balance about him in that he can require high standards on the court in one moment and make a 'roll your eyes' dad joke in the next moment to bring a smile back to our athletes' faces. We are lucky to have him on our staff in so many ways and I am excited to see everything he achieves in his career as he continues to grow through the sport."
Before coming to Tech, Weinberg was an assistant coach at UNLV, where he helped the Runnin' Rebels to the program's first-ever at-large bid and win in the NCAA Tournament in 2016. UNLV finished 24-8 that season with a program-high No. 33 finish in the national RPI.
Weinberg worked heavily with team defense, liberos and recruiting at UNLV, and the team ended both the 2016 and 2017 seasons ranked within the top 70 programs in the country in total blocks. His 2017 recruiting class received an honorable mention honor from PrepVolleyball.
Weinberg earned his master's degree at Northwestern State University, where he worked as a graduate assistant coach and video coordinator for the volleyball team. The Lady Demons captured the program's first-ever Southland Conference tournament championship and NCAA Tournament berth in the 2014 season. Senior Mackenzie Neely was named the Southland Conference Tournament's MVP and received all-conference first-team honors.
During Weinberg's time at Northwestern State, the Lady Demons also ranked with the top 40 teams nationally in four statistical categories: opponent hitting percentage, aces per set, digs per set and blocks per set.
"[Former UNLV head coach] Cindy Fredrick and [former UNLV assistant coach] Mashallah Farokhmanesh taught me what it was like to run a program at the highest level and how to handle winning and losing with grace," Weinberg explained. "[Northwestern State head coach] Sean Kiracofe allowed a young assistant to have a huge hand in helping him build his program as a first-time head coach, and he really allowed me to begin to find my voice as a coach."
He received the opportunity to become the head coach of Maccabi USA's women's youth and open women's beach volleyball teams from April 2015 to January 2016. Maccabi USA is a not-for-profit organization that fields athletic teams composed of Jewish athletes. Weinberg hand-selected athletes from throughout the continental United States and guided both teams to gold medals at the 2015 Pan American Maccabi Games (an Olympics equivalent) in Santiago, Chile.
Weinberg served as a student assistant coach at his alma mater, Ohio, after working as a student manager from Dec. 2008 to Sept. 2009. The Bobcats won three regular-season and three MAC conference championships to qualify for the NCAA Tournament. Concurrently, he was the president, head coach and four-year starter for the Ohio men's club volleyball team.
"[Current Marquette head coach/former Ohio head coach] Ryan Theis gave me my start at Ohio University and taught me what it takes to be a coach at the Division I level, and I am forever indebted to him for taking a chance on me," Weinberg expressed. "Tom Armour, my high school coach at Eastern High School in New Jersey, took a volleyball newbie and taught him to love the sport and all the lessons it provided. Now that he is a peer, I am so thankful for his mentorship and everything he did to set me on the life path of volleyball."
The full AVCA release and bios can be found here.
Photo by Jim Dillon