Jen Malcom

Jen Malcom is the Head Volleyball Coach at Cal Berkeley.

Jen Malcom, a 13-year coaching veteran across four different Power 5 programs, has agreed to become the next head coach of the Cal Volleyball program, Director of Athletics Jim Knowlton announced Saturday.

Malcom comes to Berkeley from UCLA, where she served as the Bruins' associate head coach. Before her stint with the Bruins, Malcom spent seven years at her alma mater, Iowa State - first as assistant coach from 2016-18 and later as associate head coach from 2019-22. The Cyclones posted the program's first 20-win season in 2022, culminating in the latest of Malcom's five NCAA Tournament appearances with the Iowa State staff. She also helped lead the Cyclones to a National Invitational Volleyball Championship (NIVC) title in 2018. In total, 13 of Malcom's players earned a combined 20 AVCA All-Region nods, including a Regional Player of the Year and a Regional Freshman of the Year. Seven of her athletes also collected a total of 12 All-Big 12 awards.

While at UCLA this past season, Malcom served as the interim head coach for the Bruins for seven matches, leading them to a 4-3 record while head coach Alfee Reft worked with the U.S. National Team. UCLA finished the year at 18-12 (10-10 Pac-12) and three victories over top-25 opponents, two of which were on the road in the final three weekends of the season. Two Bruins each earned American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA) All-Pacific South Region and All-Pac-12 honors.

Malcolm replaces interim head coach Crissy Jones Schoonderwoerd, who guided the Golden Bears to a record of 16-15 (5-15 Pac-12) in 2023. Cal will head to the ACC next year with an all-time record of 11-8 against its new conference opponents, not including fellow newcomers Stanford and SMU.

"We are thrilled to welcome Jen to Cal as our new head volleyball coach," Director of Athletics Jim Knowlton said. "Jen has coached at the highest levels of college volleyball and has a proven record of success as both a student-athlete and a coach. With her 13 years of experience as an assistant coach, along with her ability to relate to and develop student-athletes, I am confident that she is the right person to lead our program into the ACC and compete for championships. I also want to thank Crissy Jones Schoonderwoerd for her leadership of the program over the past four months. We are grateful."

Before her coaching stint at Iowa State, Malcom spent 2011-14 as an assistant at Virginia Tech, where she coached three AVCA All-America Honorable Mentions. Malcom was an assistant at Tennessee for the 2015 season, helping guide one of her players to SEC All-Freshman recognition.

"I am thrilled and honored to take on the role of head coach at Cal, and I am eager to channel this renewed energy into guiding the team to unprecedented success," Malcom said. "I would like to thank Mr. Knowlton and the entire search committee for the opportunity to lead this program. I can't wait to get started."

As a player, Malcom spent the first two years of her collegiate career at Syracuse before transferring to Iowa State. A force at the net as a middle blocker, she led the Cyclones to the program's first Sweet 16 in 2007, as well as its first Elite Eight a year later. She still owns the Iowa State records for career hitting percentage (.318), block assists in a single match (13) and single-season block assists (159).

A native of Schaller, Iowa, Malcom graduated from Iowa State with a bachelor's degree in kinesiology.