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 | Position:
Associate Head Coach | 10th Season
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| Alma Mater:
University of Arizona | 1997
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Coach Tanaka can be reached via email at j.tanaka@tcu.edu or in his office at (817) 257-5324.
Jason Tanaka enters his ninth season as the associate head coach of the TCU volleyball program and his 11th as a member of the staff. Along with head coach Prentice Lewis, Tanaka has been a part of the program's turnaround that has seen them post 197 victories over the last 10 seasons.
"Jason has worked really hard the past two years," Lewis commented following Tanaka's promotion to associate head coach. "He has the same vision and same level of commitment that I have."
In the summer of 2006, his efforts on the court were noticed, as he was selected to work with the USA Volleyball Youth High Performance Program in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. The program featured 60 of the top players in the country.
Again, in 2007, his work was recognized on a national level by USA Volleyball, as he was named assistant coach for the USA Select Girls' 1A squad. It featured 50 of the top 15-and-under volleyball players in the country. A successful run through the tournament landed Tanaka's group a silver medal in the High Performance tournament.
As the program grows, so does Tanaka's reputation. In the summer of 2008, he again was selected as an assistant coach. He worked closely with the Youth Girls' A2 group. Summer 2009 saw Tanaka head up the USA Select Continental squad.
Similar to the past four summers, Tanaka again returned to USA Volleyball in 2010 to served as an A3 head coach at the USA High Performance Training Camp, which is took place at Hofstra University in Hempstead N.Y.
Since being hired on Feb. 25, 2002, Tanaka has served multiple roles with the team. He has been the recruiting coordinator and has been responsible for match preparation/scouting. He has helped TCU in its steady improvement over the course of his time at TCU, including the program's first-ever NCAA tournament berth in 2009 and second-place finishes in Conference USA in 2004 and in the Mountain West in 2009.
The growth of the program since Tanaka's arrival reached new heights in 2009 when the Frogs earned their first-ever berth in the NCAA tournament. The coaching staff's combined efforts produced a record-breaking season as they posted a school-record 27-7 record and tallied their first-ever NCAA Tournament victory with a 3-0 win over Rice on Dec. 3.
Thirteen players have earned all-league recognition under his watch, most recently Jordan Raines, Kristen Hester and Sarah Joeckel earning all-conference accolades in 2011. Stephanie Holland was also tabbed MW Freshman of the Year in 2011. In 2009, the program boasted its first-ever All-Americans as Kourtney Edwards, Christy Hudson and Megan Munce earned honorable mention accolades from the AVCA.
Tanaka joined the Horned Frog staff after spending the 2000 and 2001 seasons as an assistant coach at the University of Pittsburgh. While with the Panthers, Tanaka's responsibilities included coordinating the team's training and assisting with the recruiting efforts. He was also responsible for match preparation and coordinating all statistics.
Tanaka joined Pittsburgh after serving two seasons at Baylor (1998 and 1999). He helped lead the Bears to their first-ever NCAA Tournament berth and a school-record 26-9 overall mark in 1999. Baylor, which finished that season ranked 20th nationally, advanced to the second round of the NCAA Tournament before falling to eventual champion Penn State.
Prior to his stop at Baylor, Tanaka spent one season at his alma mater, Arizona, as a volunteer assistant. As an undergraduate at Arizona, Tanaka served as a manager for head coach David Rubio from 1994-1997.
Tanaka began his coaching career in 1991 when he was appointed head coach of the Huntington Beach High School freshman volleyball team in Huntington Beach, Calif. He later went on to serve as an assistant for the school's boy's and girl's varsity squads. The boys won back-to-back California Interscholastic Federation championships in 1993 and 1994.
Additionally, Tanaka has several years of experience working at camps throughout the country. He served as the director of the Brian Hosfeld Volleyball Camp in 1999 and worked primarily with the setters at the David Rubio Camp.
Tanaka was also the head coach for the Club Cactus Juniors and head coach for 16-year-olds for the Magnum Volleyball Club. In 1998, he served as the tournament director for the Cactus Classic, a which features over 80 teams.
A 1997 graduate of Arizona with a bachelor's degree in communication, Tanaka received his associate's degree in general education from Orange Coast Community College in 1994.
