SEATTLE – Washington Beach Volleyball Head Coach Derek Olson has announced the addition of Steve McFadden as an Assistant Coach. McFadden coached the past three seasons at Florida International University, helping the Panthers maintain a Top-20 national ranking throughout his tenure.
“One of the priorities that we identified in our search for our new assistant beach volleyball coach was someone who possessed the quality of willingness and that is exactly who Steve is,” said Olson. “He is committed, eager and has proven that he is willing to go above and beyond to serve the athletes around him. I have been fortunate to work with Steve over the past year and he is a professional in the way he carries himself on and off the court. We are extremely lucky to have him and I can’t wait for our community to embrace him!”
“I am so excited to be joining the UW Beach program,” says McFadden. “I’m really grateful to Derek Olson for this opportunity; he has a really ambitious vision for the program and I’m confident that there’s no limit to what we can build here. I think the whole Beach Volleyball world was put on notice with some huge wins last year, and we’ve got all the pieces in place to compete with anyone in the country. I can’t wait to get to Seattle, and explore how we can keep pushing the program to new heights.”
At Florida International, McFadden helped the Panthers maintain a constant presence in the national Top-20 rankings. His first season in 2020, FIU was off to an 8-1 start before the remainder of the season was canceled. In his first full season in 2021, FIU went 25-7 including a huge upset over No. 3 Florida State, finishing the season ranked No. 15.
In 2022, the Panthers were 22-11 overall and finished the year ranked 16th, posting upsets over top-10 teams Georgia State and Florida Atlantic. All told, FIU was 55-19 during McFadden’s time in Miami.
McFadden coached multiple All-Americans at FIU. Most recently, Giada Bianchi and Paige Kalkhoff were named to the AVCA Second Team in 2022. In 2021, Federica Frasca and Roberta Ribeiro were both named First Team All-Americans.
In 2021, McFadden was tabbed as an Assistant Coach for the USA Volleyball Beach National Team Development Program, where he has coached both boys and girls who aspire to play internationally for the USA.
Prior to FIU, McFadden coached four seasons at Laguna Beach High School, serving as Head Coach from 2017-2019. The Breakers were runners up in…
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