In four seasons at the helm of the Husky Beach Volleyball program from 2022-25, Derek Olson turned the Beach Dawgs into national contenders. Olson led Washington to its first ever NCAA Championships appearance and kept the Huskies solidly ranked in the Top-20 from 2023 through the 2025 season.
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A former standout pro player, Olson established himself in the coaching realm with a decade of experience at club, NCAA, and National Team levels. He brought that experience to Seattle starting in the fall of 2021, and quickly put a foundation in place that set the stage for the three winningest seasons in program history from 2023-25.
In four seasons, Olson had a record at Washington of 70-69. The Huskies had just 55 wins in program history in eight seasons prior to Olsonโs arrival. The Huskies closed out the 2023 season ranked No. 15 nationally, then finished ranked a year-end program-high No. 13 in 2024, followed by a No. 20 year-end ranking in 2025.
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The 2025 squad had to replace eight of the ten starters from squad that took to the court in the 2024 NCAA Championships, but Olson kept the Huskies ranked in the top-20 all season behind quality wins over No. 13 Georgia State, No. 19 Florida International, and a tournament win at the Queenโs Cup in Honolulu, beating No. 15 Hawaii.
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The 2024 Huskies made it to the program's first ever NCAA Championships, finishing the season ranked No. 13
Washington broke through to the NCAA tournament for the first time in 2024, earning the No. 13 overall seed in Gulf Shores, Alabama. The Huskies battled close with No. 4 Florida State in their tourney debut, falling by a 3-1 final to finish with a 20-16 record. The Dawgs racked up seven ranked wins during the year including a 3-2 upset of No. 7 California for their highest-ranked win ever. Washington also was ranked a program-best of No. 11 during the season, and UW did not lose to a team ranked lower than 15th.
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Senior Piper Monk-Heidrich was voted to the 2024 All-Pac-12 Second Team as was freshman Zoey Henson, and Henson was also named Pac-12 All-Freshman Team. Henson and Lauren Wilcock became the second Husky duo to win AVCA National Pair of the Week, on Apr. 8. Wilcock and Henson had 21 wins together at the No. 1 and No. 2 spots for the second-most dual wins ever in a season by a Husky pair.
By Olsonโs second season in 2023, the Huskies broke into the AVCA Top-20 rankings, spending the entire year ranked. Olson led UW to a program-record 21 wins, and he coached Chloe Loreen and Natalie Robinson to AVCA First Team All-America honors, the first All-America honors in program history.
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The 2023 squad set a new standard at Washington, as the team earned its first preseason ranking at No. 20, and climbed up from there as high as No. 12, finishing at No. 15. The Huskies fell one agonizing spot short of the NCAA tournament, but that just provided extra motivation for their breakthrough one year later. The Huskies would go 21-15 in 2023 and earn ranked wins over No. 16 Florida International, No. 19 South Carolina, No. 17 Arizona, and No. 20 Pepperdine.
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Loreen and Robinson also cemented themselves as the best duo in UW history in their final season in 2023. The two made the semifinals of the inaugural AVCA Pairs National Championships in the fall of 2022, then put together a 28-7 record at the No. 1 spot to earn All-Pac-12 First Team and the first All-America honors for the Beach Dawgs. With 95 career wins for Robinson and 92 for Loreen, they graduate as the winningest pair in school history by a wide margin.
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In Olsonโs first year in Seattle, he oversaw a seven-win improvement as the team went from five wins the year prior to Olsonโs arrival, to a 12-win season in 2022. The Dawgs also showed their bite with a pair of ranked upsets, taking down No. 11 California and No. 8 Hawaii. Loreen earned All-Pac-12 Second Team honors.
At Californiaย
Washington was the second west coast stop for Olson after spending the previous four seasons at California, the final two as acting head coach and interim head coach, and the first two as assistant coach. In all four years Olson spent in Berkeley, he helped the Golden Bears to year-end Top-20 national rankings. In his two years as head coach, Olson led the Bears to a No. 9 final AVCA ranking in 2020 and a No. 11 final AVCA ranking in 2021 with five wins over Top-10 teams in those two years.
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During the 2021 season, Cal had four wins over Top-10 opponents, matching the total number of Top-10 wins in program history going into the year. The Bears achieved a program-high No. 8 ranking during the season, and Mima Mirkovic and Caroline Schafer were named to the All-Pac-12 First Team. The 2020 season was shaping up to be one of the programโs best before the Covid-19 pandemic cut it short, as Cal had won nine straight matches including an upset win over No. 5 USC in the last match before the season was canceled.
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In his two seasons as an assistant coach in 2018 and 2019, the Bears compiled a combined 46-17 record, and finished third in the Pac-12 Championships both years. Cal finished the 2018 season ranked 12th by the AVCA and finished 11th in 2019. Four Cal players earned All-Pac-12 honors in those two seasons, and Jordan Polo was named 2019 Pac-12 Freshman of the Year.
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Olson has also been influential in helping shape the future of the U.S. Beach program, starting out coaching USA High Performance Camps in 2016 and moving on to multiple Head Coach and Assistant Coach roles. Olson was Head Coach for the U19 Boys National Team at the 2019 World Championships, Head Coach of the U15 Girls National Team in 2020, and Associate Head Coach of the U19 Girls National Team in 2021. He also was an assistant on the 2019 U17 Girls National Team and A2 Head Coach of the U15 Girls squad in 2018.
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In the summer of 2021, Olson took on a challenging new adventure, as he was hired as the National Team Head Coach for Morocco, traveling to the African nation and helping Morocco qualify a menโs duo for the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games.
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At the club level, Olson founded and directed the Kleos Volleyball Club in Berkeley. Prior to that, he served as the beach director and had a stint as head indoor coach for the Coast Volleyball Club in San Diego.
Playing Career And Personal
During his long and successful pro beach playing career, Olson competed in 41 career events on the AVP Tour and in 14 career FIVB tour events. He also represented the United States in nine NORCECA events internationally. Olson had 13 top-10 finishes on the AVP Tour and three top-10 finishes in the FIVB. He qualified for the FIVB's prestigious Rio Grand Slam in 2016.
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Olson is married to Steph (Solich) Olson, who was a volleyball letterwinner at UC San Diego. He received his Bachelorโs in human physiology from Oregon in 2007 and a Masterโs of Coaching & Exercise Science from Concordia University of Irvine in 2021. The couple welcomed their first daughter, Ellery, in 2023, and a second daughter, Peri Shea, in 2025.
