Volleyball Coaches Associationpoll. Wortmann came to Pacific in 1989 asan assistant to John Dunning with the women's program and servedunder Dunning for three years. He brought with him an extensivelist of coaching experiences with younger players, coming toPacific from Newbury Park High School in Newbury Park, Calif.,where he was head coach of the girls' team from 1986-89. He alsocoached several volleyball clubs, including the Stockton VolleyballClub in 1990, the Zuma Bay Volleyball Club in Agoura, Calif., in1989, and the SoCal Volleyball Club in Calabasas, Calif., from 1985to 1987.
Wortmann upgraded the Pacific men'svolleyball program from club status to NCAA Division I status in1992. In just its fourth year as a Division I program, Pacificqualified for its first playoff appearance, while competing in thebest collegiate conference in the country.
In 1995, Wortmann was selected tocoach the USA Youth National Team, which competed in the WorldChampionships in San Juan, Puerto Rico, where he discovered formerTiger standout Vladimir Andric.
During the 1996 season, the Tigerswere ranked as high as seventh in the nation and for the firsttime, defeated perennial powers Stanford, USC (twice), Pepperdine,BYU, and Cal State Northridge.
Pacific's 1997 season began January10-11 at the UC Santa Barbara Tournament with a first-ever win overdefending national champion UCLA. The 1999 season saw Wortmann andhis squad defeat two Top-10 teams in one weekend, by defeating USC3-1 and sweeping No. 3 Long Beach State. Pacific also defeatedconference rival Stanford in both meetings in 1999, with thematches ending 3-2. In the second meeting, Pacific won the rallygame by a score of 23-21. In 2000, Wortmann led the squad tovictory against No. 8 BYU in five games. The Tigers were down 2-0,but quickly pulled off the next three games to defeat theCougars.
In 2001, Wortmann led his squadpast two No. 1 teams by sweeping Long Beach State on February 3 andbattling back to win in five games against BYU on March 31. Pacificwas again down 2-0 before sweeping the remaining three games. Theteam started the season ranked No.13 in the nation, reaching a peakat the No.10 spot. The Tigers finished the season ranked No.11 inthe nation with a record of 10-13 overall.
In the 2002 season, Wortmann guidedthe Tigers to victory over No. 1 ranked Pepperdine on February 21.The Tigers peaked at No. 11 after a streak of five wins in sevenmatches, including the Pepperdine victory. The Tigers finished theseason with a 10-18 record.
2003 ranked as the third mostsuccessful season for the Tigers as they finished with a .563winning percentage. Once again, Pacific took out the No. 1 team inthe land as they swept Pepperdine on March 28. During the season,the Tigers moved as high in the national rankings as No. 4, helpingearn Wortmann his second Coach of the Year award.
Despite struggling in 2004,Wortmann guided the Tigers to some big conference wins, knockingoff No. 5 UC Santa Barbara at the Spanos Center on January 29. TheTigers nearly took down the No.1 team in the nation for the fourthconsecutive season, taking No. 1 UCLA to five games before falling.Pacific ended on an up-swing, defeating No. 10 Stanford inback-to-back matches.
Following a 2005 season that sawthe Tigers finish ranked No. 13 in the Nation, Wortmann wasselected and coached Team USA at the World University Games inEurope during the summer months following the season. He led a teamof experienced college players and former World University Gamemembers, including former Tiger Brian Zodrow.
Coach Wortmann led a young Tigersquad to a win at the Dino Cup in the fall of 2005, leading to aconfident team hitting the floor for the 2006 season. With just onesenior on the roster, the Tigers were still able to compete at highlevel while finishing 10th in the MPSF.
Wortmann graduated Cum Laude fromLoyola Marymount University in 1978 with bachelor's degrees inphilosophy and religious studies. Wortmann received his CaliforniaTeacher's Credential from Cal State Northridge in 1986. In 1991, hereceived his USVBA CAP Level II Coaching Certification. In May1998, he graduated with a master's degree in clinical psychologyfrom Pacific.
Joe and his wife, Sharon, live inStockton with their two sons, Christopher and Patrick.
