HONORS & AWARDS
- 2025 Big West Coach of the Year
Dan Conners, previously the top assistant at the University of Illinois, was announced as the head women's volleyball coach at UC Davis in June of 2014. His appointment marks a return to the Golden State for the Apple Valley native, who also spent three years as an assistant coach with the Cal State Northridge men's volleyball team from 2003-06.
After 12 years as the head man for the Aggies, Conners made history in 2025 by becoming the program's all-time leader in wins with 170. This capped off a historic 2025 season that included his team winning three of four Big West Player of the Year awards, him winning the conference's Coach of the Year award, and the program's first regular-season championship. Conners has accumulated 172 career wins and has posted seasons at .500 or better in eight of his 12 years on the bench at the University Credit Union Center.
2024 saw Conners post his best ever single-season for the Aggies, posting 19 wins for the most wins in a season since 2011 and 13 Big West conference wins, the most ever for the team.
He elevated the team even further in 2025, breaking both records set the previous season with 21 wins and 16 conference victories, both the most for Conners as a head coach. His coaching not only elevated the team to their best campaign in D-I history, but also led to the emergence of outside hitter Jade Light, who became the first Aggie to be named an All-American since 1996 at the end of the season.
His 2019 squad posted the highest single-season victory total since the 2012 campaign (17-14), while the nine wins in Big West Conference play were the most since 2015 (10-6) as UC Davis made its first postseason appearance in the program’s Division I history — and the first since the 1996 NCAA Division II Tournament — with a berth in the National Invitational Volleyball Championship against Tulsa.
Conners has served on the staffs at three elite women's programs during the past eight seasons: Illinois, Nebraska and UCLA. In 2013, his second season with the Illini, he helped the program to an 18-15 season and a berth in the NCAA tournament. Illinois posted 10 victories against AVCA Top 25 programs that year. He also gained experience with the CSUN men's team where he worked in all aspects of the Matadors' program.
Before arriving in Champaign, Conners enjoyed a one-year stint as a recruiting coordinator and defensive coordinator for former AVCA Coach of the Year John Cook at Nebraska. His team led the Big Ten in opponent hitting percentage, capturing the conference title in its first season as a member.
Conners previously served five seasons under head coaches Andy Banachowski and Mike Sealy at his alma mater from 2006-10. During that time, the Bruins posted a combined 124-44 record and made two trips to the Elite Eight tournament. Conners' recruiting at UCLA resulted in a national title in 2011. The Bruins led the Pac-10 Conference in blocks three times and held opponents to a .187 clip or lower every year.
As a collegian, Conners was a member of the Bruins' 2001 team that finished as national runner-up. He totaled 125 assists as a reserve setter that year, shortly before graduating with a degree in political science. He was with the UCLA program when it won NCAA titles in 1998 and 2000 while finishing second in 2001.
With his appointment, Conners became the 10th head coach in program history. He has three sons, Mason, Wyatt and Oliver.
