Interview with Joe Sagula, retiring from UNC after 42-year volleyball coaching career

The kid from New York, who stumbled upon volleyball while in college, whose eventual college coaching career took him to Penn and then for the past 33 years to the University of North Carolina, retired Monday.

Joe Sagula, 67, talked to us about the decision, how much things have changed for college coaches, how he got into volleyball and the path he took, and much more in this interview from his office in Chapel Hill.

A list of the NCAA Division I coaches who have been in their respective current jobs the longest follows the video. Can you guess who has been coaching the longest (hint: they’ve been in their jobs for 39 years):

LONGEST-TENURED DIVISION I COACHES

39 years through 2022
Carolyn Condit, Miami, Ohio
Brenda Gray, Sam Houston

35
Debbie Humphries, Stephen F. Austin
Van Compton, Little Rock.

34
Barry Goldberg, American

33
Joe Sagula, North Carolina
Beth Launiere, Utah

32
Mary Wise, Florida

31
Dave Rubio, Arizona

29
Joanne Persico, St. John’s
Jennifer Weiss, Harvard

28

Travis Hudson, Western Kentucky

27
Theresa Garlacy, Bryant

25
Ray Bechard, Kansas
Mike Jordan, NM State

24
Sam Atoa, Utah Valley
Jolene Nagel, Duke
Steve Opperman, Duquesne
David Schwepker, Murray State


23
Sharon Clark, Butler
John Cook, Nebraska
Chris Lamb, Wichita State
Bobbi Peterson, Northern Iowa
Margot Royer-Johnson, Providence
Linda Sagnelli, Central Connecticut
Chuck Voss, Cleveland State
Michelle Young, Furman

22
Jerritt Elliott, Texas

21
Carin Avery, Valparaiso
Jennifer Petrie, San Diego
Rose Washington, Jackson State,

20
Erin Appleman, Yale
Kirsten Bernthal Booth, Creighton
Jaime Gordon, Morehead State
Brandon Rosenthal, Lipscomb
Mary Tendler, Elon
Dave Shondell, Purdue

19
Genny Volpe, Rice

18
Rob Browning, Saint Mary’s
Christy Johnson-Lynch, Iowa State
Colleen Munson, Western Michigan
Lyndsey Oates, Northern Colorado
Craig Skinner, Kentucky

17
Susie Johnson, Milwaukee

16
Ryan Baker, Colgate
Jason Kepner, College of Charleston
Alma Kovaci Lee, Army
Rob Machan, Sacred Heart
Michael Seeman, Portland State
Josh Steinbach, Villanova

15
Todd Dagenais, UCF
Chris Poole, Florida State
Ruben Volta, Sacramento State

Lee Feinswog

Lee Feinswog is the publisher and editor of VolleyballMag.com
Contact him at Lee@VolleyballMag.com