Keller hired as women’s volleyball head coach


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Brad Keller has been named head coach of the USC women’s volleyball team, athletic director Mike Bohn announced Thursday.

The move comes after former USC head coach Brent Crouch unexpectedly resigned from his position on Jan. 14 to take over the same role at Auburn University.

Keller served as an associate head coach of UCLA’s women’s volleyball team in 2019, and had spent the previous six seasons working as an assistant coach of the Bruins’ men’s team.

Keller was also an assistant coach for the Trojan men’s team from 2007-10. 

“This is a dream for me,” Keller said in a press release Thursday. “I started at USC, so it’s so nice to be back here. This is a very exciting time and I can’t wait to start working with this team to build on USC’s incredible women’s volleyball tradition.”

Keller helped lead the Bruins to a 19-12 record in 2019, advancing to the second round of the NCAA Tournament. The men’s program saw 10 All-Americans over the course of Keller’s tenure as assistant coach, and the Bruins earned a spot in the NCAA Tournament semifinal in 2016 as well as a 2018 runner-up finish. 

Keller’s staff consistently reeled in elite recruiting classes while with the UCLA men’s program, helping land the No. 1 ranked class in 2013, 2014, 2017 and 2018, according to Volleyball Magazine’s rankings.

“We are very excited to welcome Brad back to the Trojan Family,” Bohn said in the press release. “His mastery of the Southern California recruiting landscape will be a difference-maker for our program. He brings a strong coaching pedigree and has coached the game at a national-caliber level.”

Included in his experienced resume, Keller was on the coaching staff of the U.S. Youth National Team from 2014-17 and took home second place at the NORCECA U19 Continental Championship in 2018.

Keller has seen success with the Trojans as well. In 2009, his men’s team won the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation Tournament en route to a second-place finish in the NCAA Tournament.

Now, Keller is back with USC, where he hopes to revitalize a program that went 40-25 in Crouch’s two seasons and got booted from the NCAA Tournament in the second round both years.

“He is a great fit for USC, and he embraces our aspirations to reclaim USC’s rich volleyball heritage,” Bohn said. “He has a deep passion for the game of volleyball and believes in our student-athlete centric model.”