David Kniffin

Biography

Hired in July of 2012, David Kniffin is now the longest tenured volleyball coach in Anteater history. As a coach, Kniffin has received several honors: Big West Conference Co-Coach of the Year (2022), Mountain Pacific Sports Federation Coach of the Year (2015), Volleyball Magazine National Coach of the Year (2013) and the American Volleyball Coaches Association Assistant Coach of the Year (2010). Kniffin became just the second coach in the history of NCAA men's volleyball to guide a team to the NCAA Championship in his first season (2013). Since then, Kniffin has led the Anteater squad to conference and regular season titles as well as multiple trips to the NCAA Tournament (2015, 2018, 2024). As an assistant coach, Kniffin won two NCAA Championships with UC Irvine Men’s Volleyball (2007, 2009) and coached in the NCAA Championship match with University of Illinois Women’s Volleyball (2011). As a student-athlete, Kniffin graduated from UC Irvine with a bachelor's degree in philosophy in 2003. As a senior, he helped guide UC Irvine to the school’s first No. 1 ranking and first-ever post-season victory. Kniffin earned UCI Scholar-Athlete and MPSF All-Academic honors during his Anteater career. Internationally, Kniffin played professionally for CAI Voleibol Teruel (Spain) for two seasons, helping the team win the division championship (2006). He has served the USA National Team Development Pipeline as a coach and scout, worked for the FIVB World League Finals (2008) and continues t