High Point’s Tom Mendoza Takes Over at South Carolina

Tom Mendoza, who has spent the last two seasons at High Point, is moving south to take the head coaching job at the University of South Carolina, the school announced Wednesday.

Mendoza previously spent the 2010 to 2015 seasons at Creighton as assistant and associate head coach. He began his career as a volunteer assistant at Michigan State (2007-08) and as an assistant at Evansville (2009).

At High Point, Mendoza led the Panthers to back-to-back NCAA Tournament appearances, including the first at-large berth in Big South Conference history in 2017.

The 2017 Big South and AVCA Southeast Region coach of the year saw High Point post a 24-8 mark, the second most victories in school history. The Panthers boasted an RPI of 44, including a 10-2 mark on the road, and five matches against RPI Top 50 opponents.

We are beyond excited to announce that Tom Mendoza will be the next head coach of the #Gamecocks! He is coming off back-to-back NCAA tournament appearances at High Point, and spent six seasons at Creighton before that. Please give a warm welcome to Tom and his wife, Megan! pic.twitter.com/3xBos5HNPB

— Gamecock Volleyball (@GamecockVolley) January 3, 2018

“I am excited to welcome Tom Mendoza to Gamecock Country,” South Carolina Athletics Director Ray Tanner said. “In researching candidates for our coaching position, one name kept coming up when talking with those in volleyball circles – Tom Mendoza. Tom is a teacher and strategist who has been successful in his coaching career recruiting and developing young volleyball players to become outstanding student-athletes. I’m am looking forward to the impact that Coach Mendoza will have on our volleyball program.”

At Creighton, Mendoza helped guide the Bluejays to five 20 win seasons, five conference titles and five NCAA Tournament berths, including a Sweet 16 appearance in 2015.

“I want to thank Coach Tanner, Judy Van Horn, the Board of Trustees, and the search committee for giving me the opportunity to coach at the University of South Carolina,” Mendoza said. “It’s easy to be excited about the potential and future of this program. It’s a phenomenal school, there’s a lot of talent already in the gym, we have very loyal fans and a great facility. We are going to work on being a harder team to play against and earn our success. I can’t wait to get working with the team and recruiting future Gamecocks.”

The Buffalo Grove, Illinois, native played collegiately at Newman University three years and at Lewis University for one. He earned his degree in management information systems from Lewis in 2007.