Stanford Women's Volleyball Coach John Dunning Announces Retirement

Stanford Women's Volleyball Coach John Dunning Announces Retirement

Stanford women's volleyball coach John Dunning announced his retirement less than a month after winning his fifth national championship title.

Jan 10, 2017 by Megan Kaplon
Stanford Women's Volleyball Coach John Dunning Announces Retirement
Less than a month after winning his fifth national championship, Stanford head women's volleyball coach John Dunning has announced his retirement.

"I am a very lucky person. I have had the joy of coaching in a sport I love for decades, but have decided that it is time to retire," Dunning said.

Stanford won national championships under Dunning's leadership in 2001, 2004, and 2016. Before coming to The Farm, Dunning's University of Pacific women's volleyball team won titles in 1985 and 1986. He is second only to Penn State's Russ Rose for most national championships of any Division I women's volleyball coach.



The 2011 inductee into the AVCA Hall of Fame earned the Coach of the Year title four times in his 32-year career. His teams never missed the postseason and he went to 12 final fours. Dunning heads into retirement with an impressive 888-185 (.828) career record.

"John is one of the people who will continue to look you in the eye and say, 'I will never give up on you,'" Stanford captain and middle blocker Inky Ajanaku said after the 2016 national championship match. "And that is a very rare thing, to have someone who wants you to succeed so much that he will try any method of coaching to make sure that you will succeed in the sport and as a person. And he cares about us as people.

"I've learned so much from him about volleyball, about leadership, about perseverance."

The Stanford Athletic Department said a national search for Dunning's replacement will begin immediately.

In the meantime, former players, fellow coaches, and volleyball fans took to social media to send Coach Dunning their well wishes.

[tweet url="https://twitter.com/CoachLauniere/status/818650585377316864" hide_media="0" hide_thread="1"]

[tweet url="https://twitter.com/MistyMayTreanor/status/818680916780335104" hide_media="0" hide_thread="1"]

[tweet url="https://twitter.com/candicewiggins/status/818647612433698816" hide_media="0" hide_thread="1"]

[tweet url="https://twitter.com/taylorladines/status/818706734344642561" hide_media="0" hide_thread="1"]

[tweet url="https://twitter.com/LDHoopR/status/818726252655747072" hide_media="0" hide_thread="1"]

[tweet url="https://twitter.com/AmyBokker/status/818702075265585152" hide_media="0" hide_thread="1"]

[tweet url="https://twitter.com/david_givens123/status/818698224924000256" hide_media="0" hide_thread="1"]


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