Staff Directory
- Title:
- Associate Head Coach/Recruiting Coordinator
Trey Cruz is entering his third season at Rice and his second as Associate Head Coach.
In Cruz’s two years with Rice, he has helped lead the Owls to average a top 50 RPI nationally, as well as guide the Owls to 37 wins, including 25 wins in American play. He has also guided Rice to an AVCA national ranking of as high as 18th, and has coached numerous All-Conference selections, as well as had 13 different players earn 34 American weekly player of the week and honor mention honors. During his two years at Rice, the Owls have posted the second-lowest average opponent hitting percentage in the conference at 0.181.
In 2024, Cruz was promoted to Associate Head Coach and focused on coaching Rice’s middle blockers. The Owls posted a 19-8 overall record with a 13-3 mark in conference, finishing in second in the AAC standings. Cruz coached an AVCA All-Southwest Region Honorable Mention athlete in Lademi Ogunlana, who had an outstanding junior season all around, finishing with 199 kills and 2.24 kills per set, posting a .395 hitting percentage, the highest in the American. She also posted the lion’s share of Rice’s blocks, with 79 total blocks (18 solo and 61 assisted). Rice’s middles posted a total of 176 blocks during the season, with 58 solo and 236 assisted blocks. Rice hosted an average attendance of 791 in 2024, its third-best figure in school history.
In Cruz’s first season with the Owls, Cruz helped lead the team to an 18-11 record with a 12-6 mark in their first year of play in the AAC. The Owls led the nation in digs per set, averaging 18.56 digs per frame. The Owls also set the second-best mark in program history for home attendance, averaging 871 fans per contest at Tudor Fieldhouse. The Owls finished with at least 18 wins for the ninth consecutive season (excluding the 2021 spring season shortened by COVID in which the team went 16-5), and finished at least .500 or better in conference play for the 16th straight season.
Cruz came to South Main after spending the 2022 season at Tulane, where he served as Associate Head Coach. Prior to Tulane, Cruz spent four seasons as an assistant coach at LSU where guided the squad in areas of blocking and defense while focusing on the team’s overall data metrics. He coached several standout student-athletes to top marks in the Southeastern Conference and assisted in securing Top 25 recruiting classes in 2019 (#13), 2020 (#22), and 2021 (#17).
One of Cruz’s most successful student-athletes was the school’s all-time kills leader, Taylor Bannister. She was a four-time All-SEC honoree, as well as an All-American in both 2017 and 2019. He also coached the SEC and LSU’s all-time dig leader Raigen Cianciulli.
Prior to his indoor coaching stint at LSU, Cruz served as an assistant coach for the LSU beach volleyball program from 2016-2018. During his time on the sand, the Tigers were ranked in the Top 10 nationally after posting back to back 27-win seasons in 2017 and 2018. Cruz also served as the assistant volleyball coach at Louisiana-Lafayette from 2015-2016.
Cruz earned his bachelor’s degree in Kinesiology in 2013 from LSU and his master’s degree in 2015 focusing on human resource & leadership development.
