Vinh Nguyen

Vinh Nguyen is the Head Volleyball Coach at the University of Hartford.

Entering his seventh season as head coach of the Hartford volleyball team in 2024, Vinh Nguyen has transformed the Hawks into a winning program. Under the brief tutelage of Nguyen — who became the 11th head coach in the 49-year history of the program in February 2018.

In just his second season at the helm, Nguyen and the Hawks were on the doorstep of claiming the program’s first-ever NCAA Tournament berth. Earning the program’s first victory in the 2019 America East Tournament with an upset win over No. 2 New Hampshire, Hartford, which posted the most wins since the 2014 campaign, fought top-seeded UAlbany down to the wire in the title match, but fell just short of earning the league’s coveted automatic berth to the NCAA Tournament in five sets.

That postseason run was an historic one for Hartford for several reasons, as it also marked the first time in program history that the Hawks qualified for the America East Tournament in back-to-back seasons. In his debut season at Hartford in 2018, Nguyen led the Hawks back to the conference tournament for the first time since 1996, ending a 22-year postseason drought for the program. Hartford also made a five-win improvement that season, posting 11 victories in 2018.

Nguyen has brought the Hartford volleyball program to new heights in just three seasons. One year after he piloted the program its first top-four finish in the America East since 1995, he led the Hawks to their best ranking — a third-place finish — in the league standings in 26 years in 2019. In addition, that squad, which went 6-4 in conference play, posted the highest winning percentage (.600) since 1993, a season that saw the Hawks claim both the North Atlantic Conference Regular-Season and Tournament Titles.

The 2020-21 season, Nguyen’s third at the helm, was unconventional for the Hawks. In addition to the typical fall season getting moved to the spring of 2021, the campaign was shortened to just 10 matches due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Behind three America East All-Conference performers, Hartford dominated on its home court inside the Hartford Volleyball Gym, posting a perfect 4-0 mark.

The winning ways and recent postseason appearances aren’t the only indicators of the success of the program since Nguyen’s arrival. The numbers are also proof of the continued upward trajectory of the Hartford volleyball program.

In 2019, Nguyen propelled the Hawks to the top of the America East statistics in nearly every category, both on the offensive and defensive side of the net. Hartford closed the book on one of its best seasons in recent years by finishing as the league’s stat leader in a plethora of offensive categories, including hitting percentage, total kills, kills per set, total aces, aces per set and assists per set. Defensively, Nguyen and the Hawks led the way in solo blocks, digs and digs per set.

To go along with all of the team’s successes, Hartford’s players flourished have under Nguyen in his three seasons.

Jenna Bridges, a 2020 graduate who led the league in hitting percentage, kills per set, blocks per set and points per set in 2019, made history that season when she became the first Hawk since 1992 to earn recognition from the American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA) by earning a spot on the East All-Region Team.

In addition, Bridges became the third player in program history — and the first since 1993 — to win America East Player of the Year honors, when she took home the distinction as a junior in 2018. She continued to make history in her final season, as she began Hartford’s first-ever repeat America East Player of the Year honoree after leading the league in five different statistical categories. Garnering an America East and program-record nine America East Player of the Week awards during her four-year career, Bridges went on to graduate as the program’s all-time leader in block assists.

Nguyen and his Hawks made program history in several ways in 2019. Maddie Lindsay, a current junior, joined Bridges in earning a major award from the America East. A seven-time Rookie of the Week recipient, she became just the second Hartford player to earn Rookie of the Year honors, joining Stephanie Volkers, who took home the award in 2001.

Nguyen has continued to demand excellence in the classroom from his student-athletes. For the ninth straight season, the Hawks took home an AVCA Team Academic Award. Most impressively, Hartford earned AVCA Team Academic Honor Roll distinction for the fourth time in as many seasons in 2020-21, as the squad’s 3.79 GPA was one of the top 46 marks among all Division I volleyball teams.

Of the 15 members on the volleyball team last year, 14 student-athletes posted at least a 3.0 GPA during the academic year, with 11 of those Hawks achieving at least a 3.75 GPA.

Since Nguyen’s arrival, the Hawks have combined for six America East All-Academic Team members, as 2021 graduate Megan Anderson, a three-time recipient of the award, joins Bridges, Abby Nash (’21) and Lindsay in earning the honor in 2019. Anderson also made program history in Nguyen’s first season by becoming Hartford’s first CoSIDA Academic All-American since 1992.

Nguyen arrived at Hartford by way of North Texas, where he spent four seasons as an assistant coach, including three as the women’s volleyball team’s Associate Head Coach from 2015-17. He played an integral role in all aspects of Mean Green volleyball, specializing in the training of the middle and pin hitters, arm swing development and offensive/defensive blocking systems. Nguyen was hired full-time for the Mean Green in 2015 after spending the second half of the 2014 season as a volunteer assistant, helping lead the team into the Conference USA Tournament.

The Mean Green had an outstanding year with Nguyen's guidance in 2017. North Texas captured the CUSA Championship and finished the season with the best record in program history, a 29-3 mark. Nguyen's expertise translated to individual success as well, as he coached three Mean Green student-athletes to First Team All-CUSA honors and one to Freshman of the Year accolades in 2017. In addition, he guided Carnae Dillard to two CUSA Player of the Year honors and a pair of All-America nods in 2014 and 2015.


Nguyen brought 18-plus years of coaching at the collegiate level to North Texas, logging six season as a member of Cal State Fullerton's coaching staff and 12 as an assistant at Cal Poly Pomona.

At Cal State Fullerton, Nguyen reinvigorated the Titans' offensive attack, as two hitters earned Big West Player of the Year awards and three received AVCA All-American honors. In addition, the squad led the Big West Conference in kills per set (14.45) in 2010 while calculating a school-record .246 team hitting percentage.

That season, Nguyen helped propel the Titans to a BWC Championship and the program's first-ever NCAA Tournament appearance.

Nguyen also enjoyed a great deal of success at Cal Poly Pomona, leading the Broncos to 18-plus wins in six seasons, including a 24-3 mark in 2005. That year, he also helped Pomona win its first California Collegiate Athletic Association Championship since 1990.

Prior to his work at Cal Poly Pomona, Nguyen coached at five high schools in Southern California. He also worked with the San Gabriel, Magnum and Power Volleyball Clubs.

Nguyen brings a wealth of experience outside of collegiate coaching to Hartford. In the summer of 2009, he was named the administrator to the Southern California High Performance teams that participated at the USA Championships in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., where he oversaw the four SCVA HP teams. As a result, the SCVA Select Red Team earned a gold medal at the HP Championships.

In 2007, Nguyen was hired by the USA Men's National Team as a staff member to help them prepare for their run at World League, Pan-Am Cup, America's Cup and Norceca Cup championships, which resulted in two gold medals, one silver and one bronze medal. He has also been involved with the USA High Performance Pipeline since 2003, and he has coached several development A2 camps throughout Michigan, Colorado, Montana and California.

Nguyen played volleyball at Mt. San Antonio College and Long Beach City College before transferring to Long Beach State. He finished his schooling and graduated from Cal Poly Pomona in 2000 with a degree in kinesiology.