Former Irvine Valley standout men's volleyball player Ryan Windisch has been named the new head coach of the Laser men's program in 2019.
Long-time coach Tom Pestolesi has retired from the men's volleyball side, but will continue his Director of Volleyball duties along with being the head coach for the women's indoor and beach teams at IVC.
Windisch joins Irvine Valley after spending a year as the head coach at Golden West College. He was an assistant with the Irvine Valley women's indoor team last fall that won the program's second CCCAA State Championship and went 27-0.
"This is where I played," Windisch said of Irvine Valley. "I've always looked at it as one of the gold standards of community college volleyball and I can't wait to give back what it has given to me. And I am pumped to be here and to help guide both teams."
Windisch will also return as an assistant coach with the women's indoor team in the fall of 2018.
He takes over an IVC men's team that had a record of 16-6 overall, took second in the Orange Empire Conference, reached the semifinals of the CCCAA State Championship tournament and finished No. 4 in the final state rankings.
Before guiding the Golden West men's team this past spring, Windisch was an assistant coach and statistical/video coordinator for the 2017 Long Beach State men's volleyball program.
Also in 2017, Windisch completed his Sports Management/Kinesiology degree at Long Beach State.
During his time, both playing and coaching at Long Beach State and Irvine Valley, he studied under the guidance of highly regarded coaches such as Alan Knipe (USA Men's National Team coach for the 2012 Olympics), Tom Pestolesi (Irvine Valley), Tyler Hildebrand (men's beach volleyball coach for 2016 Olympic) and Andy Read (UCI and Long Beach State).
Throughout his career, Windisch has held numerous head and assistant coaching positions in boys and girls high school and club programs since 2011, including Long Beach Volleyball Club; Servite High, Balboa Bay Volleyball Club, Saddleback Volleyball Club, Rosary High school and Cornelia Connelly High.
His playing career is also extensive and continuing.
He played at Long Beach State from 2012-2015 with and served as the starting libero in 2015.
During his Long Beach State tenure the team earned bids each year to the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation tournament, including beating the eventual national champion UC Irvine in the semifinals of the 2013 tournament.
Prior to Long Beach State, he played one season (2011-12) at Irvine Valley and was one of the team's leader in digs (2.25 per set). He was also instrumental in the team making a playoff run.
"He played here so he knows what it takes on the court and now on the coaching side as well," said Pestolesi, who is the only coach in state history to win a title in men's indoor (three titles), women's indoor (two titles) and women's beach volleyball (one title) and has crossed the 500-win plateau combined for men's and women's volleyball at IVC. "We are really excited to have him."
Windisch played club volleyball at Highline Volleyball Club, winning a Bronze Medal in the 18s Open Division at the 2011 USA Volleyball Junior Nationals.
He played high school volleyball at Servite and helped add to what is now one of the top high school programs in California.
Windisch has also been an accomplished beach volleyball player.
He was selected to the USA Volleyball Elite Development Program and has played throughout the U.S. in numerous professional tournaments. He currently plays on the Blizzard Professional Indoor team and continues to play beach and indoor in domestic professional level tournaments.
"It means a lot for our program to have players come back and coach," Pestolesi said. "He's grown a lot and become a great coach and I wanted him back. We've had that always and especially this year with Ryan and Marisa Doran and Cole Murray and David Grandy and Kobi Pekich returning to help with our women's indoor, women's beach and men's teams.
"My favorite story with Ryan from this past year was with our women's indoor team. He would always say to the team 'win the day' at practices. Before we played San Joaquin Delta for the state title, he told them 'win the year' and we did. And I think he is going to do a lot more winning here at Irvine Valley."