Joe Sagula, one of the most successful coaches in college volleyball, completed his 33rd season at Carolina in 2022. UNC’s winningest volleyball coach in history, Sagula has won seven ACC championships and led UNC to 15 of its 19 NCAA Tournament appearances.

Sagula announced his retirement on January 9th, 2023.

The Tar Heels went 662-384 under Sagula, a .633 winning percentage. Sagula is 865-507 (.630) over a total of 42 years as a Division I head coach, with 11 regular-season and six conference tournament titles. Sagula has the most ACC wins of any coach in history with 364, and his seven ACC titles ties for the most all time among the league’s coaches.

Prior to his arrival in Chapel Hill, Sagula spent nine seasons (1981-89) as the head coach of the University of Pennsylvania, where he compiled a 203-123 record with four Ivy League regular-season titles and three tournament championships. Named Ivy League Coach of the Year four years in a row, Sagula coached two-time Ivy League Player of the Year Melissa Ingalls to four consecutive All-Ivy honors.

In addition to his duties with the women’s team at Penn, Sagula served as the head men’s coach from 1981-89. His record with the men, which competed at both the varsity and club levels, was 111-75 (.597).

Sagula was elected president of the AVCA from January 2004 to December 2006 and served on the AVCA Board of Directors for a total of 10 years in various positions as president, president elect, past president, and chair of the Division I All-America Committee. While at Penn, Sagula chaired the NCAA Division I All-America Committee for four years and served 10 years as the Awards Chairman and President.

During the summer of 1990, Sagula served as an assistant coach for the USA National Women’s Volleyball B Team, which trained in Walnut Creek, California. Twice he has coached at the United States Olympic Festival - in 1987 in Chapel Hill as an assistant and in 1989 in Oklahoma City as a head coach. In both cases, his teams took home silver medals.

Sagula earned his bachelor’s degree in fine arts, art education, and coaching from the State University of New York, College at New Paltz in 1978. On Sept. 16, 2012, Sagula was inducted into the New Paltz Athletics Hall of Fame. He was a three-year letterwinner and captained the team as a senior. read more...