Shawn Garus - Women's Volleyball Coach - Boise State University Athletics

Shawn Garus

Title:
Head Coach
Email:
shawngarus@boisestate.edu
Phone:
208-871-4333

COACHING RECORD

At Boise State: 278-198 (.584) in 16 seasons
Career: 393-318 (.553) in 24 seasons

HONORS AT BOISE STATE

Two-Time Mountain West Conference Coach of the Year (2015, 2016)
AVCA Pacific North Region Coach of the Year (2016)

BOISE STATE TENURE (2009-present)

Shawn Garus, a two-time Mountain West Conference Coach of the Year honoree, joined Boise State as the 10th head coach in program history in June of 2009. In 16 seasons, he has accumulated a 278-198 overall record at the helm of the Broncos. His career record through 24 seasons as a collegiate head coach is 393-318.

In 2009 Garus inherited a program that was struggling and had only one winning season in the previous 10 years. Since arriving on campus, his teams have recorded winning seasons in 13 of 16 seasons, four with 20-plus victories, as well as nine-consecutive seasons with a winning record (2014-22). The Broncos have also advanced to postseason tournaments four times, including the first two NCAA Tournament berths in program history in 2016 and 2021.

Among all the accomplishments, he had the added challenge of transitioning the program through a change in conferences moving from the Western Athletic Conference into the Mountain West Conference starting with the 2011 campaign.

He then guided Boise State to the 2016 MW regular season championship and its first NCAA Tournament berth in history. The Broncos reached the second round with a 3-0 victory over No. 20 Western Kentucky before falling at eventual national champion and ninth-ranked Stanford.

In 2021, his Broncos won their first MW Tournament title – the league’s first sponsored tournament since 2011 – earning their second berth to the NCAA Championship. In between the NCAA appearances, the team was invited to play in the women’s National Invitational Volleyball Championship (NIVC) in 2017 and 2019.

BEACH VOLLEYBALL

Garus helped usher in the sport of beach volleyball at Boise State, which began in the spring of 2014. He served as the program’s head coach for the first five years before handing the reigns over to former assistant coach Allison Voigt for the 2019 season. He led the team to a 21-41 record during the beach program's first five campaigns.

PREVIOUS COACHING EXPERIENCE

Prior to Boise State, Garus was the head coach at the University of North Carolina - Greensboro for four seasons (2005-08). There he recorded two-straight winning seasons with 20 or more victories while also leading his team to the Southern Conference (SoCon) finals twice. The 2006 season was his most successful, turning in a 23-13 record while also producing a 20-15 record in 2007. He turned UNCG from a team that was 0-16 in conference play in 2004 to a team that was 14-4 in 2008. He also produced five SoCon All-Conference players and 13 SoCon All-Academic honorees.

Before UNCG, Garus served as the top assistant coach at the University of San Francisco during the 2003 and 2004 seasons helping the team to a 35-27 record. In 2003 Garus helped lead the Dons to a 23-8 record, their first-ever NCAA tournament appearance, and their first national ranking (No. 24) in program history.

Garus was an assistant at Texas Tech in 2002, helping the Red Raiders to a 14-14 record.

His first collegiate head coaching experience came in 1998 when he was promoted from the assistant’s position to the head job at the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs, where he remained from 1998 to 2001. During his time in Colorado Springs, the Mountain Lions turned in their best record in school history (at the time) with a 22-9 mark in 2001, their first-ever postseason appearance, and a regional ranking of No. 6.

During his time in Colorado, Garus held a handful of club and volunteer assistant coaching positions, including being a volunteer assistant for the women’s national team at the Olympic Training Center (1998-1999).

PERSONAL

The Glendale, Calif., native is a 1995 California State University San Bernardino graduate who played four years on the Coyotes’ men’s club volleyball team (1991-94). He earned his bachelor’s degree in business administration with a marketing specialization. Garus is married to the former Cindy Bench. They have two children, Emily, a Boise State beach volleyball alum, and Trevor, who plays for the UCLA men’s golf team.