It's a New Era at the Beach

As a player, Jose Loiola was a “Michael Jordan” of the beach volleyball world. When he was done competing, he wanted to make a difference for people as a fire fighter, but when some injuries from his athletics career prevented him from meeting those demands, the Hall of Fame player discovered that volleyball still had something for him where he could make a difference as a coach, and that’s what he wants to do as he begins his first year leading the Gamecocks with the season opening this Friday and Saturday in Jacksonville, Florida.

“I’ve done a lot for this sport, and it has done a lot for me, so I wanted to give back,” said Loiola, who came to South Carolina after two stints as UCLA’s assistant coach and was the head coach of USA Volleyball’s National Development Team, starting the program from scratch. He has also coached several men’s and women’s professional teams. “I didn’t realize the difference I could make as a coach.

“With the USA team, the job was to bridge the gap between the students who graduated from college that wanted to play pro and represent the U.S. My job was to train them and get them ready to compete internationally. That first year I had maybe three people come in for the men and maybe three for the women. The following year, I had people begging to come into the program.”

The USA program grew significantly in a short time under his leadership, and that experience will help him try to build South Carolina into a national contender.

“If you want to win, you have to implement the winning mentality,” Loiola said. “What does a top D1 program do? They train Monday through Saturday.

They lift three times per week, and they do sand conditioning two times a week. That’s the bare minimum. Then you have to get everyone training at the same time. We’re starting with that. You have to have a good school where people want to come, which we do, and you have to have resources like more scholarships, and do better in recruiting. We recruit nationally.”

Loiola combined some key returners with recruits he brought in and looks forward to making a difference in year one. He’s also excited about South Carolina moving into a major conference as the program will now be competing in the Big 12.

“That will help because we will be able to compete against better teams,” Loiola said. “That’s how you get better. It is a big deal.

“I think (returning) players like fifth year senior Rachel Hartmann really stepped up in our fall season, and senior Jolie Cranford is a leader who can do super well for us. Senior VB Trost and some of the others who have been here have big potential. Evie Ziffer (Jr.) is a massive blocker! We brought in Ameila Taft (Jr.) from LSU and Brooke Balue (Jr.) from Washington. Brooke and Rachel played in the (Fall) nationals, and they beat #2 from TCU in the tournament. They beat some really good teams. There are some people here we can develop.

“We’re setting high standards. We want all that work from the fall to translate into the spring.”

That being said, he already has an eye on the future.

“It takes time, but I have the knowledge and the passion for the sport. I came here and realized, this place is awesome. We have resources and a beautiful facility. If you look at the recruits we have for 2027 and the ones we’re looking at for 2028, it’s night and day. We have some great ones coming in.”