JONATHAN WINDER COACHING RECORDS
Pepperdine all-time great Jonathan Winder -- an NCAA champion and a former national player of the year -- returned to Malibu ahead of the 2022-23 school year as the ninth head coach in the storied history of the Waves’ men’s volleyball program. He enters his third season at Pepperdine’s helm in 2024-25.
Winder is currently 33-25 throughout his first two seasons as Head Coach for the Waves. He has coached two players to AVCA All-American honors for Jaylen Jasper and Bryce Dvorak in 2023, MPSF Player of the Year nod for Jasper in 2023, MPSF Freshman of the Year acclaim for Ethan Watson in 2024, and five separate players to All-MPSF awards.
In his premier season with the Waves, Winder coached the squad to a 16-14 overall record and a 5-7 output in the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation. The team was strong when playing in Firestone Fieldhouse, finishing out the season with an 11-3 record at home.
Winder had been the head coach of the Fresno State women’s indoor volleyball program the previous four seasons.
“Thank you to President Jim Gash and Dr. Steve Potts for believing in me and trusting me to lead the men’s volleyball program,” said Winder at the time of his hiring in May 2022. “Their vision for Pepperdine and Pepperdine Athletics in the coming years is exciting and thrilling to be a part of. As an alumnus, I am grateful to David Hunt for his coaching of the Pepperdine teams over the past decade. The program is in a good place thanks to his tremendous efforts. Lastly, thank you to Marv Dunphy, who has believed in me since I was a scrawny 16-year-old kid from Irvine. I cannot wait to be back in the office with him leading the men of this program and continuing to bring pride to the faithful Waves alumni.
“The sense and responsibility I feel to Pepperdine University is immense. I believe wholeheartedly in the mission to develop men for lives of purpose, service and leadership through the pursuit of excellence on the court. It is an incredible opportunity to be able to serve Pepperdine by leading the men’s volleyball team, where some of the greatest moments and leaders in Pepperdine’s history have come through. I am thrilled to steward the program with my family and my faith at the forefront of everything we do.”
Winder graduated from Pepperdine in 2008 as a four-time All-American, a 2005 NCAA champion and the 2007 AVCA National Player of the Year. He played professionally for several years, then began his coaching career as an assistant with the Pepperdine men ahead of the 2014 season under Dunphy. He departed in 2015 to become an assistant coach with the Washington women’s indoor team, as well as head coach of the Huskies’ women’s beach program. He took over at Fresno State in 2018.
“It’s a great day for our men’s volleyball program as we welcome Jonathan and Jaimie-Rose Winder and their family back to Malibu,” said Potts, Pepperdine’s Director of Athletics. “Jonathan is one of the best and most decorated student-athletes ever in our program and we are very excited to have him return to lead our team as the head coach. He so completely embodies the commitment to our institution’s Christian faith, to the academic success of our student-athletes and to maintaining our championship-caliber men’s volleyball program at the highest level.”
Winder was the 2005 AVCA Newcomer of the Year after winning the starting setter position as a freshman and leading the Waves to the national championship with wins over Ohio State and UCLA in Pauley Pavilion. He received All-American first team awards as a junior and a senior, and was second team his initial two years. At the time, he was only the eighth player in men’s volleyball history to earn four-time AVCA All-American recognition. He led the Waves to three NCAA Tournaments in his four years, including a runner-up finish in 2008. He still holds the Pepperdine career record for assists (5,118) and is sixth in digs (656).
“Jonathan is one of the finest young coaches in our sport,” Dunphy said. “He knows the game at the highest level, and more importantly, he has the gift to teach it at the highest level. He is solid in every way and I’ve never worked with a better person. What you see is what you get and that’s not always the way in our business. He’s a wonderful young man.”
A professional career took Winder to leagues in France, Germany, Greece and Romania, and he was also a member of the U.S. National Team from 2007-12. He helped the U.S. finish first at the 2007 Pan American Cup and second in 2009, as well as sixth at the 2010 FIVB World Championships. Winder was an alternate for the 2012 U.S. Olympic squad.
He first returned to Pepperdine in 2013 as an academic coordinator before shifting over to the men’s volleyball program. The 2014 Waves went 19-7, won a share of the MPSF regular-season title and finished fourth in the national rankings.
At Washington, the women’s indoor team went 105-21 over his three seasons as an assistant. The Huskies won back-to-back Pac-12 championships and had consecutive Elite Eight appearances in 2015 and 2016. They also made the NCAA second round in 2017. The Huskies were ranked #1 in the country during his tenure. He helped coach eight All-Americans and 18 all-conference players.
As head coach of the Washington beach program for two years, he posted a 16-13 record. The Huskies took third place at the 2017 Pac-12 Championships, which is still the best showing in program history. They finished in fourth place in 2016. He had eight All-Pac-12 honorees over the two years.
Winder’s Fresno State teams went 56-47 between 2018-21. He produced 11 All-Mountain West Conference honorees, including a program-record four in 2018.
In his debut season, the Bulldogs went 22-11 overall and 13-5 in the Mountain West. That broke the school record for the most conference wins in school history and gave the program its first-ever top-two finish in the league (and came after being picked seventh in the preseason coaches’ poll). The 22 wins were the most in 16 years for the Bulldogs, and Winder broke the program record for most wins by a first-year coach. Fresno State went on to play in the National Invitational Volleyball Championship, the team’s first postseason selection since 2002, and a first-round win over UC Santa Barbara gave the Bulldogs their first postseason victory since 1995.
Fresno State posted another top-half finish in the Mountain West in the 2020 season, which was pushed to spring 2021 due to COVID-19, as the Bulldogs tied for fourth place.
Winder, who is originally from Irvine, California, graduated from Pepperdine in 2008 with a degree in advertising. He was a CoSIDA Academic All-American third team selection in 2008. He also earned a master’s of business administration from the DeVry University Keller School of Management in 2015.
He and his wife Jaimie-Rose – a fellow Pepperdine graduate – have four children: Hudson, Sutton, Hayes and Sloane.
