Earlier this fall, College of Alameda President Melanie Dixon announced two important faculty hires for the CoA Athletics Department, including NBA Hall-of-Famer Gary Payton as the Men's Basketball Coach and Justin Hoover as the Women's Volleyball Coach. We got to know Coach Payton during his press conference last month; now it's time to get to know Coach Hoover better!
Justin Hoover is a Bay Area born and raised volleyball player and coach. In high school he played for Head Royce in Oakland, winning California Interscholastic Federation (CIF) Northern California Section (NCS) finals one year and went with his team to NCS finals a second year. He also played four years of club / junior olympics volleyball and was selected to play for Academy, a team competing at nationals. After high school, Justin attended college at Colgate University where he played NCAA Division 1 (D-I) and club volleyball. Justin also played volleyball in France with the University of Dijon.
Justin began his coaching career in 1998 at Head Royce, as the junior varsity girl’s coach, received his first coaching certification from Gold Medal Squared in 2001 coached the Colgate D-1 women’s club volleyball team from 2001-2003. From 2003-2009 Justin coached high school and club volleyball in the Bay Area with Red Rock Volleyball Club, M-Power, Xceleration, Golden Bear, and St. Mary’s College High School until 2009. Justin holds a master’s degree in fine art from the San Francisco Art Institute and a master’s degree in public administration of international management from Middlebury University. Justin resides in Piedmont, CA with his wife and three kids.
We asked Coach Hoover about his priorities, and he made it clear the first priority is recruiting players. He wants to raise the visibility of the volleyball program, for recruiting student-athletes and also engaging the college community. Watching volleyball is fun! If you are interested in playing volleyball, please contact Coach Hoover by email at jhoover@peralta.edu or fill out this interest form.
Welcome to the Island, Coach Hoover! We are looking forward to watching the CoA Volleyball program grow and flourish!