During his first season as Seattle Pacific’s head volleyball coach in the fall of 2022, Jason Rhine saw the possibilities – and worked toward making those possibilities a reality.
In 2023, reality came bursting through in a big way.
Rhine guided his highly talented and experienced team to the Great Northwest Athletic Conference title and a spot in the NCAA Tournament. Both of those milestones were reached for the first time since 2011, as the Falcons went 22-5 overall and 16-2 in GNAC play. They led the conference standings from the first weekend all the way through the last one.
Those achievements played a big role in his being named the GNAC Coach of the Year and the American Volleyball Coaches Association West Region Coach of the Year.
"It has been a fun journey," Rhine said after SPU clinched the conference crown and secured the automatic NCAA qualifying bid. "We were close at the end of (2022), as well. So it feels like it has been a long time, but in a good way, because we've gotten to spend a lot of time together as a team. We've gotten to see them grow individually and as a group, and play at a higher and higher level on the court, but really growing a lot individually on and off the court."
Jason Rhine and SPU president Dr. Deana Porterfield
celebrate with the GNAC championship trophy.
In just the first month of the 2023 season, Rhine’s team put together an 11-match winning streak. That included victories in both Alaska road matches by identical 3-1 scores at Fairbanks and Anchorage. The last time the Falcons took both matches up north was in 2012.
SPU also beat Central Washington in both matches, extending their win streak against the Wildcats to nine, the last four of those under Rhine’s direction.
Rhine had the Falcons back in the American Volleyball Coaches Association national top 25 for the first time since 2011. They broke in at No. 24 on Sept. 25th, rose all the way to No. 18 and finished at No. 19.
Once the season was complete, the awards started rolling in. Along with Rhine’s Coach of the Year honor, middle blocker Hannah Hair was named the GNAC Player of the Year and Defensive Player of the Year. Allison Wilks and Sarah Brachvogel were also All-GNAC first-team selections, and Emily Tulino was honorable mention.
Hair subsequently was a first-team pick on the AVCA and D2CCA All-West Region teams and Brachvogel was a second-team selection for AVCA. Hair then was named an AVCA second-team All-American.
Rhine is just as focused on academic success as he is on volleyball success. Seattle Pacific had 11 players on the 2023 GNAC All-Academic team. Hair, Wilks, Brachvogel, and Tulino then made the College Sports Communicators Academic All-District squad.
The 2024 season will be Rhine’s 15th as a college coach. He came to SPU after spending seven seasons at Colorado Christian University. He was named head coach of the Falcons – his first head coaching position – on April 8, 2022.
Rhine joined Colorado Christian as an assistant coach in July 2015 and was promoted to associate head coach prior to the 2020-21 season. He spent four years as the setting and offensive coordinator, and three years as the defensive coordinator. He also was the program's recruiting director.
Prior to his seven years in Lakewood at CCU, Rhine was an assistant coach for three seasons at Trinity International University in Deerfield, Illinois (where he earned his master of divinity degree), and two seasons as the lead assistant at Covenant College in Lookout Mountain, Georgia. He has two bachelor degrees from Wheaton College: one in computer science, and one in Biblical and theological studies.
"I've been privileged to work with several head coaches and learned a lot of different things about X's and O's on the court," Rhine said, "and also learned about how a good program is run, and how they create trust and how to just build a program that is sustainable and encourages excellence on and off the court."
JASON RHINE’S HEAD COACHING RECORD
Season School GNAC (place) Overall Postseason
2022 SPU 11-7 (3rd) 13-13 DNQ
2023 SPU 16-2 (1st) 22-5 NCAA first round
TOTALS 27-9 35-18