Steve Whitaker - Beach Volleyball Coach - University of Washington Athletics

Steve Whitaker

Title:
Head Coach
Email:
swhit8@uw.edu

Steve Whitaker spent four seasons as Head Coach of the Husky Beach Volleyball program from 2018-21. Washington reached the Pac-12 Championship semifinals in his first season in 2018.

In Whitaker's first season as Head Coach, the Dawgs expanded the scope of the program once again, setting program records for wins with 14 and total matches played with 27. Washington also hosted the Pac-12 North Invitational, bringing Pac-12 matches to Seattle for the first time, playing USC, Stanford, Cal, and Oregon at Alki Beach. The Huskies lost a close 3-2 match to Cal to finish fourth in the Pac-12 tournament after coming in seeded sixth.

Three Huskies earned All-Pac-12 honors in Whitaker's first season: Courtney Schwan was named to the First Team, and Jordan Anderson and Destiny Julye were named Second Team.

The 2019 season saw seven new players join the beach roster as the Huskies posted a 9-16 record, but all but one of the defeats came against teams in the AVCA Top-20. First year grad transfer Kristen Gengenbacher teamed with Julye to lead the Huskies with 11 wins at the No. 1 spot. Julye earned her third-straight All-Pac-12 Second Team honor.

Washington was off to a 4-3 start in 2020 when the remainder of the season was canceled due to Covid-19. In Whitaker's final season in 2021, the Huskies played a very challenging schedule, going 5-13, but Shayne McPherson and Chloe Loreen established themselves as one of the top pairs in the Pac-12, going 23-6 on the season. McPherson ended her career as the winningest Husky beach player, with 67 wins.

Whitaker first worked with the Dawgs as a volunteer assistant in 2017. He officially began his head coaching tenure in February of 2018. During his first season as a volunteer with the beach program, the Huskies finished third at the Pac-12 Championships, upsetting three higher-seeded opponents, and placed four women on the All-Pac-12 Team. The Huskies finished with an 11-7 record.

Whitaker has over twenty years of coaching experience, from the club level up through the Division-I ranks, including a previous stop at Washington when he was a volunteer assistant for the UW indoor team in 2005 and 2006, when the Huskies won the NCAA title and reached the Final Four, respectively. After Washington, Whitaker spent seven seasons as an assistant coach at the University of Idaho for its indoor squad.

A regular on the pro beach volleyball scene for years in the Pacific Northwest with stints in California, Whitaker has coached numerous clinics and camps. He currently coaches with the Sudden Impact Volleyball Club in Bellevue, Wash. He married former Husky standout Kaleigh Nelson and the couple welcomed their first child, Peyton, in 2020.