Huntington Beach, Calif. - Nick Amado has been named the head coach for the men's volleyball program following a prolific playing career at Long Beach State and spent one season playing professionally for Unicaja Alemeria in Spain.
Amado, who was a team captain at The Beach, helped lead Long Beach State to a pair of NCAA National Championships in 2018 and 2019. A two-time AVCA Second Team All-American, Amado finished his LBSU career with 212 total blocks for an average of 1.07 blocks per set. Amado was a member of the Big West All-First Team on two separate occasions, led The Beach in blocking in his final two years in Black and Gold, and named to the NCAA All-Tournament Team in 2019. His career hitting percentage of .497 is good for second in the Long Beach State career record book.
Amado also comes to Golden West familiar with the California Community College Athletic Association, having played two seasons at Orange Coast College in 2014 and 2015. He expressed "I am very excited to be joining such a prestigious school that has a deep rooted history in the volleyball community, especially here in Southern California which is where the best volleyball is played in my opinion." Amado went on to say "my overall vision is to create a program where student-athletes can come, develop their skills at a high level, get an education, and then transfer to four year universities. I believe in training and teaching the game the right way, and through that, will leave these student-athletes equipped not only athletically, but also academically to pursue their collegiate dreams."
As a coach, Amado works at the Pinnacle Athletic Club as the director overseeing 12 team, totaling 150 players and 24 coaches. Early in his athletic career, he knew the value of coaching, so became an age group coach at the Balboa Bay Volleyball club at the age of 18 himself. During his time with Balboa Bay Club, he was named the co-head coach at Corona Del Mar High School. Coach Nick was then given the opportunity to return to his alma Mater to coach with the Men's Volleyball team this past spring as an assistant coach under Golden West Alumn Alan Knipe. The squad made it to the national championship match and ultimately finished runner-up.
"We are excited to welcome Coach Nick to Golden West College. His proven success as a coach and as an athlete makes him the ideal Rustler coach. Nick has strong ties with local high school athletes, as well as Division 1 programs, creating opportunities to recruit highly competitive players to GWC." - Danny Johnson, GWC Athletic Director
A native of Aliso Niguel, Calif., Amado earned his bachelor's degree in Sociology from Long Beach State University.
