Jordon Dyer takes over Santa Barbara City College men's volleyball program

SANTA BARBARA - Former Santa Barbara City College standout Jordon Dyer has been named head coach of the men's volleyball team.

Dyer played volleyball at Dos Pueblos High, graduating in 2009. He played his first college season at Golden West College, then transferred to SBCC.

Dyer was first-team All-WSC and team MVP on the 2012 Vaquero squad. He played four years on the USA Beach Youth National Team and won a national championship with ex-Vaquero assistant Dillan Bennett. Dyer and Bennett captured the National Collegiate Sand Volleyball Association title in Long Beach in 2013. A year later, Dyer earned a AAA rating from the California Beach Volleyball Association (CBVA) after winning the Santa Barbara Men's AA Tournament.

"Ever since I transferred from SBCC as a student-athlete, I have wanted to return and serve as a coach," Dyer stated. "The opportunity to help develop these young adults achieve their goals at such an incredible institution like SBCC is really appealing to me. I feel like I can relate to these student-athletes since I was in their shoes not too long ago and look forward to positively impacting each and every one of their lives."

Dyer's older brother Brennon has been a Vaquero assistant for the last two years and has been running the program since Jon Newton stepped down on May 8, 2020.

"I am glad that we will be able to keep Brennon on board as the assistant," said Jordon. "He has a wealth of knowledge and the student-athletes really enjoy his coaching style."

Dyer spent two years as a volunteer assistant beach volleyball coach at Long Beach State, leading the 49ers to a No 2 national ranking in 2015 and the finals of the AVCA Collegiate Championship in Gulf Shores, Ala. In 2016, Long Beach State advanced to the finals of the Big West Conference championship and finished the season ranked ninth in the nations.

"We're very happy to welcome a coach of Jordon's caliber to the Vaquero family," said athletic director Rocco Constantino. "He is widely respected in Santa Barbara and has an extensive history in the volleyball community here.

"We had some great candidates for the position and we felt that Jordon was the best choice for our students from an athletic and academic perspective. I liked how much he stressed the academic side of the position and am confident he will be a great resource and educator for our students."

Dyer was a three-year assistant for Stetson University (2016-18) in DeLand, Fla., serving as assistant for both the Hatters' women's indoor and beach teams in 2016-17. He was the interim head coach of the women's beach team in 2019.

He's been a busy beaver in the last three years in Santa Barbara. He's taught an Exercise Sport & Science Volleyball class at UCSB and been the head coach of Cate School's indoor girls team, Laguna Blanca's girls beach volleyball team, the 805 Beach Volleyball Club (which he founded in 2018) and the Santa Barbara Volleyball Club.

He also volunteers at Coast Volleyball Club (a local boys indoor club) and is the new California Beach Volleyball Association tournament director for Santa Barbara.

Dyer says he'll continue coaching volleyball at Cate and Laguna Blanca as well as teaching the Exercise Volleyball classes at UCSB.

A native of Santa Barbara, Dyer has 15 years of competitive beach experience. He was a two-time silver medalist and all-tournament team selection for the AA division at the USAV Adult Nationals in 2014 and 2016.

In 2009, Dyer represented Team USA in the FIVB Youth World Championship in Alanya, Turkey. He then competed for four years on the U19, U21, and U23 USAV Men's National Training team, taking the bronze medal in 2011 at the U21 beach national championships.

As a coach, Dyer spent time at the USAV developmental sand camps for U19 girls at the Olympic Training Center. In the indoor ranks, Dyer coached for the Santa Barbara Volleyball Club, Bay Volleyball Club, and Club WAVE.

Jordon earned a Bachelor's Degree in Sociology from Long Beach State University in 2015 and a Masters of Science in Kinesiology from Cal Baptist in 2019.

Dyer takes the Vaquero reins from Newton, who coached the last four years and had one of the best teams in Vaquero history in 2019 before the season was cancelled by the coronavirus. The 2019 Vaqueros went 8-2, won their last eight matches and were ranked No. 4 in the state.

"Jon Newton did an absolutely tremendous job building our program up to become one of the best in the state, both academically and athletically and I believe Jordon can maintain that," said Constantino."Jordon faces a really difficult situation with all of the uncertainty surrounding the season but I think he'll do a great job leading the program through this transition."

SBCC has already "opted out" of 10 fall/winter sports due to COVID-19. The men's volleyball season is supposed to start practicing on March 27 and playing games on April 10 but the status of the season is still in doubt. A decision will be made for the Spring 2 sports on Feb. 26.

"It is obviously a very fluid situation right now but we hope that we can use the gym as soon as we are allowed to in a safe manner," said Dyer. "Our alternatives involve training outside and fortunately enough, we live in a place where the weather is very manageable."

Dyer's goals for the Vaqueros are simple: Academics first with athletics a close second.

"My main goals are to ensure that every student-athlete involved in the Men's Volleyball program develops academically, athletically and as an individual," he stated. "If these goals are achieved, then they should be set up to succeed in their future endeavors. Jon, Brennon and Steve (Zelko) all did a great job in these regards and I aim to continue on the path they established.

"As a former Vaquero, I experienced first-hand that SBCC has the resources and the quality standard to ensure equity for all developing students. My time at SBCC helped shape who I am today and gave me the opportunity to transfer to a 4-year and ultimately obtain my Masters. I aim to use my experience to help guide others to achieve their goals."

(David Loveton, Santa Barbara City College Athletics)