Orange Coast Women's Volleyball's Cutenese retires after named AVCA Southwest Region Coach of Year

Read in detail about Coach Cutenese's career in a feature by Tony Altobelli on OCC's website

The fabulous women's volleyball coaching career of Orange Coast College's Chuck Cutenese ended fittingly with him being named AVCA Southwest Region 2-Year Colleges Coach of the Year. 

Cutenese, who directed three state championship teams in 2005, 2006 and 2009, guided the Pirates to be the only squad among the 92 colleges playing the sport to go undefeated in the 2025 regular season at 25-0. His career closed after 33 seasons on the job when Long Beach City defeated OCC in four sets in Round 2 of the SoCal Regionals. 

Selected also the CCCWVCA SoCal Region Coach of the Year, Cutenese took over for Hall of Fame coach Jane Hilgendorf in 1992 and went on to guide the Pirates to 567 victories, including the trio of state crowns and five Orange Empire Conference championships.

His teams made seven appearances at the 3C2A State Championship Tournament, the last in 2022, and his final two seasons resulted in two OEC titles, finishing 31-1 in conference play in 2024 and 2025. 

Seventeen of his student-athletes achieved All-State or All-Region honors including a 2-time MVP of the state tourney in Kiwi Winkler (2005-2006). Kimya Jafroudi was the tourney MVP of Cutenese's 2009 championship squad.

In 2005, Cutenese also was honored as the CCCWVCA South Region Coach of the Year. 

Release by Robert Lewis, CCCWVCA SID