Jay Van Vark - Volleyball Coach - Grand Canyon University Athletics

Jay Van Vark

Title:
Assistant Coach
Email:
jay.vanvark@gcu.edu
Phone:
602-639-6131

Follow @jvanvark

The Grand Canyon women's volleyball team named Jay Van Vark an assistant coach in January of 2016.

Van Vark joins the Lopes after spending last season as an assistant coach wth UC Santa Barbara and the 2014 season with Ohio State University. While with the Buckeyes, Van Vark helped guide the team to the Sweet Sixteen before falling to No. 4 Wisconsin in the 2014 NCAA Tournament. In addition to finishing ranked No. 20 in the country, Ohio State also had three players earn AVCA All-America Honorable Mention honors.

With a passion for USA Volleyball, Van Vark spent the summer of 2015 training the nation's elite women's volleyball players for the Junior Nationals held in New Orleans. Over the past three summers, he has dedicated his time and experience to Team USA Volleyball and throughout his tenure has developed dozens of athletes on various teams and programs.

Prior to his stint in Columbus, Van Vark served as the assistant coach for CSU San Marcos in 2013 and a volunteer assistant coach while at San Diego State in 2012. He helped both programs to conference championships and postseason berths. The Cougars finished with a 26-12 record in 2013, while he was a part of an Aztec coaching staff that led SDSU to its first ever conference championship and first NCAA Tournament appearance since 2001. Van Vark also had a hand in coaching two AVCA All-Americans and four All-MWC athletes at San Diego State.

An Iowa State alum, Van Vark got his coaching start as head coach of the Cyclones' men's club team and assistant coach for the university's women's team. During his playing days at Iowa State, he was named the club national MVP in 1985. In his final years in college, he played semi-pro indoor with the ACCO Sportswear team for two seasons and continued on to play three campaigns of outdoor volleyball for East Beach as an AAA-rated beach and grass player. Van Vark also played in five indoor USVBA Open National Championships. In the late 80s, he was a college referee and at one point was the youngest head official for the Big 8 (now the Big 12).

After moving to San Diego, he headed the Rancho Bernardo High School boys' and girls' volleyball programs for 10 seasons. He led the Bronco girls to their only CIF volleyball title in 1994.

Van Vark stepped away from competitive volleyball to establish a career in the software business. As co-founder of Kick Your Apps, he nurtured and built a successful software firm that develops iPad and iPhone applications, all while raising his family.

In 2006, Van Vark returned to the coaching ranks when his daughter took up the sport, coaching the Epic Volleyball Club from 2006-14 and resuming his role as head coach at Rancho Bernardo from 2009-11. He is also the author of one of the most successful volleyball statistics packages, iVolleyStats.