JOHN MAYER BVB BIO |
JOHN MAYER TEAM USA BIO
John Mayer begins his 11
th year as the head coach of LMU’s beach volleyball program in 2025-2026.
Mayer is leading the beach volleyball program to one of the most successful stretches of any team in school history. Beach Volleyball is the only coach in school history to win five or more consecutive WCC Championships. Following a sixth-consecutive WCC Championship, led the Lions to the program’s first National Title Game appearance in 2025. Mayer’s Lions won a school-record 38 duals in his 10
th year leading the Lions, including defeating 12 opponents ranked in the top-10 and multiple wins over #1 ranked opponents. In the NCAA Championships, LMU opened with a 3-0 sweep over #13 FAU before putting together one of the most impressive single days in program history. On Saturday, May 3, 2025, LMU knocked off four-time defending national champions USC, 3-1, to advance to that afternoon’s semifinals. The Lions then took down top-seeded #1 UCLA in a reverse sweep in the semifinals to advance to the Sunday’s championship dual. In the national title game, LMU and TCU split courts two through five to set up championship point in the third set of Court 1, before the Horned Frogs eventually ended LMU’s season. Mayer became the first coach in school history, across any sport, to be named National Coach of the Year, after the AVCA Announced that honor the week of the NCAA Tournament. Along with that award, the AVCA also named Michelle Shaffer and Chloe Hooker Second Team All-Americans, as well as Top Flight Pairs on four different courts with Flight 2 (Anna Pelloia and Chloe Hooker), Flight 3 (Abbey Thorup and Lisa Luini), Flight 4 (Isabelle Reffel and Magdalena Rabitsch), and Flight 5 (Tanon Rosenthal and Giuliana Poletti Corrales) all winning over 75% of their matches on those courts. The WCC Awards continued as Mayer was named West Coast Conference Coach of the Year for the conference record sixth consecutive season. Mayer also mentored the WCC Pair of the Year for the fifth consecutive season, the WCC Defensive Player of the Year for the fifth consecutive season, and the WCC Co-Freshman of the Year for the fourth time over the past five years. LMU also saw additional conference recognition with seven First Team All-WCC and three Second Team All-WCC selections.
In 2024, Mayer led his Lions to a win in Gulf Shores, Alabama, at the NCAA Championships against #9 Hawaii before falling to the eventual national champions, USC, for the second consecutive season. The Lions finished the year ranked eighth nationally and Mayer earned his fifth-straight WCC Coach of the Year recognition. Under Mayer, Vilhelmiina Prihti was named to the AVCA All-American team for the second time and Michelle Shaffer earned her first All-American recognition in her first season playing with the Lions. Mayer mentored the WCC Pair of the Year for fifth time in his career and the WCC Defensive Player of the Year for the fourth consecutive season.
For three-consecutive seasons between 2021 and 2023, Mayer coached the Lions to a top-5 finish nationally with a return to the NCAA Championships. In 2022-23, the Lions returned to the NCAA Championships and defeated #11 Hawaii before falling to the eventual national champions, #3 USC, 3-1 to close the season. The Lions went 29-9 on the season, including a perfect home record after unveiling new on-campus courts. Additionally, Mayer was named WCC Coach of the Year for the fourth-consecutive season and mentored the WCC Pair of the Year, the WCC Defensive Player of the Year, the WCC Freshman of the Year, five first team All-WCC Players, two AVCA Top Flight Winners, and two AVCA All-Americans in 2023.
The 2021-22 season continued to build on the foundation Mayer set for the program. In addition to being named West Coast Conference Coach of the Year for the third consecutive season, Mayer coached four AVCA All-Americans, the WCC Pair of the Year, the WCC Defensive Player of the Year, and the WCC Co-Freshman of the Year. The Lions finished the year with a school-record 32 wins, did not drop a court in the WCC Championships, and won a program-record three games in the NCAA Championships in Gulf Shores before bowing out in the semifinals. LMU finished fourth in the final AVCA Poll in 2022.
After a brief 2019-20 season, LMU was able to dominate the 2020-21 season with a 31-8 record as they added another West Coast Conference Championship to their list of achievements. Coach Mayer was selected to the USA National Team as a result while also coaching Madi Firnett to WCC Freshman of the Year honors.
Before a shortened 2019-20 season, where the team ended with a 6-3 record, Mayer was coming off of an impressive 2018-19 season, where he led the Lions to their first-ever conference title. The team beat Pepperdine for the first time in program history to win the West Coast Conference Championship. The conference win came after a 27-11 season, including seven wins over ranked opponents.
On June 7, 2015, the West Coast Conference added women’s beach volleyball as a WCC-sponsored sport. As the sport quickly gained status within the NCAA and the WCC, former LMU Athletics Director Dr. William Husak announced, on August 5, 2015, the hiring of Mayer as the LMU beach volleyball head coach.
At the time of the hire, Husak said, “The sport of beach volleyball has quickly grown at all levels, especially within the NCAA. We added the sport in 2012 and since have seen the positive and important impact on our department. As the sport grows, we wanted to continue to establish it here at LMU. We are very excited to have John take over the program on a full-time basis. He has had success at all levels of volleyball and we are fortunate he will be the program’s first official head coach.”
Mayer guided his 2018 squad to a 22-14 overall mark, and a berth into the semifinal round of play from the 2018 West Coast Conference Championships, but eventually dropped the match to Saint Mary’s. The Lions, playing as the #2 seed in the tournament, beat Pacific to advance to the match against the third-seeded Gaels. Following the season, McKayla Ferris and Jessie Prichard highlighted a quartet of Lions lauded by the West Coast Conference, earning All-WCC first-team honors. Sara Kovac and Savannah Slattery were also honored, earning second-team selections.
Mayer’s 2016 squad finished the year at 6-17, but reached the semifinals of the inaugural WCC Championships. Rachelle Suaava and Avery Bush were named All-WCC, while Kekai Whitford and Sascha Dominique took home All-Freshman selections. The Lions finished the year ranked in the Top-20 of the DiG Magazine poll.
The 2017 season saw LMU post a 15-14 overall record, but the Lions, playing as the #3 seed at the WCC Championship Tournament, reached the final match before falling to Pepperdine. LMU’s top pair of Savannah Slattery and Sarah Sponcil went 20-9 at the top of the order in 2017, as the duo reached the quarterfinal round at the USA Volleyball Collegiate Championships in the postseason. Sponcil was ultimately named WCC Player of the Year, while Slattery took home WCC Freshman of the Year, and both were named first team All-WCC. Sara Kovac and Jessie Prichard also garnered All-WCC recognition, earning honorable mention picks. Finally, Prichard and Slattery were named to the WCC All-Freshman team.
Prior to being named head coach, Mayer spent the previous four seasons as a volunteer assistant coach working with the LMU sand volleyball program. He had also served as the head coach of the men’s volleyball program at Santa Monica College since 2008. As head coach at Santa Monica College, Mayer was named 2015 Coach of the Year after guiding his squad to a State Championship.
“We are one of the few schools in the country that will actually be practicing at the beach, which is a huge advantage for training and developing our athletes,” said Mayer. “The sport of beach volleyball has taken off at the collegiate level with schools all over the country adding teams. Having the WCC now involved with a postseason championship shows how big the sport has become in a few short years. I imagine beach volleyball will soon be one of the premier sports for female athletes at the college level.”
A 2005 graduate of Pepperdine University, Mayer helped guide Pepperdine to a National Championship in his senior year. Before transferring to Pepperdine, Mayer won a pair of State Championships playing at Pierce College.
Mayer made his AVP debut in 2003 at Hermosa Beach. In 2009, Mayer with partner Jeff Nygaard won the AVP Open at San Diego and was also named the Most Improved Player. In 2013, Mayer finished top-10 in all six events he entered into. Teamed with Ryan Doherty as the fourth-seed in the tournament, Mayer won the 2015 AVP Kingston Seattle Open men’s title en route to being named 2015 AVP Men’s MVP and Best Defender. In addition to his title, Mayer made four finals appearances, and six semifinal runs in 2015. Again, teamed with Doherty in 2016, Mayer won the AVP New Orleans title.
John Mayer was born June 11, 1982, in Thousand Oaks, CA. Mayer currently lives in Mar Vista, Calif. with his wife, dermatologist Dr. Paola Rodriguez, and daughter.
