The Legacy Continues With Coach Andy Read 

Andy Read has significantly influenced Southern California as a high school science teacher and volleyball coach for nearly 40 years, recently retiring after teaching various subjects. He has contributed to notable volleyball programs, winning championships and mentoring athletes both in sports and life skills. Read emphasizes the importance of teamwork, trust, and positive responses.

For nearly four decades, Andy Read has been making a positive impact in Southern California as a high school science teacher and volleyball coach.  In the classroom, Read taught at Marina and Westminster High School.  He recently retired from teaching.  For 38 years, he taught physiology, physical science, chemistry, physics and engineering.  Read explained why he loved being in the classroom and teaching, “creating labs to get students to investigate the world around them was always a pleasure.”

Read was introduced to volleyball in high school playing doubles in his free time.  After high school Read attended Biola, where he helped start a club team and played for one season. When Read graduated from Biola he got involved in high school coaching.

Coach Marv Dunphy of Pepperdine recognized that Read had some coaching talent.  He was on Dunphy’s Pepperdine staff for three years and helped the Waves win a 1992 NCAA championship.  After Pepperdine, Read became the head UCI men’s volleyball coach for four seasons.  In 1996, Read was asked to be on the Long Beach State staff.  29 years later Read remains an integral part of the LBSU staff.  In 2009, when Alan Knipe took the USA Men’s Head Coaching job, Read stepped in for a few years as the Interim Head Coach for LBSU. 

Read has been part of multiple NCAA championships, USA medals and was a  head coach of several gold medal Balboa Bay teams.

“Andy Read is an exceptional teacher, coach, and leader. No one does a better job of creating a team-driven experience that helps our boys grow as both people and players.  The culture he builds is truly special — one where every athlete feels like they matter. From the All-American to the last player on the roster, Andy has a remarkable gift for making each kid feel valued, respected, and part of something bigger,” said Balboa Bay Director Travis Turner.

It is clear that he knows how to win volleyball matches.  However, there is so much more to coaching.  He was a dedicated teacher who provided life skills to athletes. Read  has given and received so much from this game. “Coaching is more than just getting players to win.  Coaching is teaching and so teaching the game and how to compete as a team.  How to handle adversity along the way… playing sports teaches that..  There is a book called the Twin Thieves and it discusses the two fears that athletes and people face.. both in sports, career, life… Fear of Failure and Fear of Judgement… teaching players how to deal with those thoughts and not to let them steal their joy and positive experience in the pursuit of success,” said Read.   

We can all agree that Balboa, Pepperdine, USA men’s volleyball, and Long Beach are some of the best sports programs in the United States.  It comes as no surprise that Coach Read has been a huge part of those programs’ successes.  When asked “what life-skills have you learned from these programs,” he stated, “ If you make a fist and trust locks it in.. then nothing from the outside can break it apart.. but if we break trust, then the whole fist and thus the whole team falls apart.  The other one that I’ve used, especially traveling with teams outside the US, etc… is E + R = O… Events + Response = Outcome… We don’t control most of the  Events that happen or come into our lives.. but we do have 100 percent control of our Response.. and our response needs to help us achieve the Outcome we want.”

I met Coach in early 2005 when I went on an unofficial visit to Long Beach State.  Coach Read was extremely respectful to me, explained the practice plan that Coach Knipe set up and told me that he primarily worked with the setters

When I played at Pacific, Coach Read was on the Long Beach Staff as an assistant for many years, and for my senior year, he was the interim head coach.  After the Beach beat us in five sets at UOP, I was walking off the court.  Coach Read gathered his team together, and I can still hear his advice clearly that he instructed his team, “Go find your parents right now and tell them that you love them.”

After my college playing days I had the pleasure of coaching club at Wave.  I had a solid team, and many kids went on to play NCAA men’s volleyball.  My all-time record against Coach Read that year……… 0-4.  I can confidently say that I am in the majority of people who have not beaten Coach Read.  He is an outstanding championship-level coach and an even better person.  His coaching legacy continues and don’t be surprised if Coach Read places another gold medal on his resume come July 3rd.  He has a talented Balboa Bay team that are once again medal contenders at the 2025 AAU Championships in Orlando, Florida. 

Some Of The Top Athletes Read Has Coached At Baloba:

Brendan Sanders, Jack Wyatt, Geste Bianchi, Bryce Dvorak, Gabe Dyer, Dane Hillis, Peter Selcho, Sterling Foley, Ethan Saint, Trent Taliferro, Mana Carreira ,  Reed Wainwright, Jackson Cryst, and Jack Loper.

Some Of The Top Athletes Read Has Coached At Long Beach: 

TJ DeFalco, Tyler Hildebrand, Aiden Knipe, Paul Lotman, Moni Nikolov, and Josh Tuaniga.

Coach Read Coaching Stats:

  • Coached for over 38 years
  • Been part of three national championship teams at LBSU
  • On the staff of the 1992 Pepperdine championship team
  • UCI head men’s volleyball coach for four years
  • Balboa Bay head coach, has won multiple medals at nationals
  • Been part of USA boys’/men’s staff since 1991

What They Are Saying About Coach Read: 

“I owe a huge debt of gratitude to Coach Read,he was instrumental in my development as a volleyball player, but especially as a passer.  The hours he devoted in the east gym/Gold Mine during our small group training were essential in my progression from a college athlete to eventually a professional.  I wouldn’t have had the career I had without him,” Paul Lotman, former LBSU and USA member.


“I have coached for over 40 years and every practice I am in with Andy I learn something new or a different way for me to explain a technique.  The best way for me to describe Andy and the highest compliment I can give him is that he is a master teacher.  He has the ability to get his athletes to “buy into” what he is teaching, both mentally and technically,” Dan Glenn, Balboa Bay Coach. 


KP’s Volleyball Camps

KPs Volleyball Camp Orlando July 8th and 9th 2025
KP Volleyball Camp Brooklyn | Long Island University July 12th and 13th | Four sessions
KP's Volleyball Camp Sacramento cover photo with College Coaches attending, dates and location information for this Recruiting Volleyball Camp
KPs Volleyball Camp Colorado at Colorado Elite VBC July 25th and 26th 2025
KP volleyball camp Nashville | August 9th & 10th 2025

About The Author

Kevin Pratte has enthusiastically been involved in volleyball for over 23 years.  Pratte started playing in middle school and was fortunate enough to play NCAA Division 1 volleyball at The University of the Pacific.  After his playing career Pratte got involved in coaching volleyball.  In 2009 Pratte was the graduate assistant coach for the University of Nebraska women’s volleyball program.  Later in his career Pratte made coaching stops at University of the Pacific, multiple community colleges and coached at WAVE Volleyball Club for seven years.  Currently Pratte is a physical education teacher in the San Diego Unified School District and is head boys’ high school volleyball coach.  Along with coaching, Pratte is a college volleyball recruiting coordinator.  He has helped numerous athletes earn roster spots at multiple universities.  “I am extremely passionate about volleyball.  I got into coaching and teaching because my parents instilled in me at a young age to give back.  My parents and coaches helped shape my life through the sport of volleyball.  I am grateful that my parents are board members of The Kevin Pratte Foundation.  We are on a mission to help raise funds to help high school boys all across our country to help pay for club volleyball fees,” said Kevin Pratte

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