Men's Volleyball
- Title:
- Assistant Coach
- Email:
- garysato@usc.edu
- Phone:
- (213) 740-3839
GARY SATO—an assistant coach on three U.S. Olympic teams—Is in his 10th year (2025) as an assistant coach with the USC men’s volleyball team.
Sato was an assistant with the U.S. Men’s National team from 1984 to 1988, in 1992, and from 2009 to 2012, including squads that won gold medals at the 1988 Olympics, bronze at the 1992 Games and placed fifth in 2012. He also assisted with U.S. men’s teams that won the 1986 FIVB World Championship and the 1987 Pan American Games and captured a silver medal at the 2012 FIVB World League. Sato served as the head coach for the U.S. men’s squad that won gold at the 1985 FIVB World Cup, where he was named the tourney’s Most Valuable Coach.
He spent 2013 as the head coach of the Japan men’s national team.
Sato also was the head coach for the U.S. Beach National silver-medalist men’s team and the women’s team at the 2007 Pan Am Games, as well as for Team Paul Mitchell in the Bud Light Pro Beach Volleyball League.
He was the head coach of the U.S. Boys’ Youth National team that won silver at the 2010 NORCECA Boys’ Youth Continental Championship.
In collegiate volleyball, Sato served as the head coach of Pepperdine’s women’s team for four years (1979-82) where he led the Waves into the postseason three times. His 1979 squad finished ninth in the national rankings. He also was an assistant coach with Pepperdine’s men’s teams that won NCAA championships in 1978 and 2005.
Sato was the head coach for the Santa Monica Beach Volleyball Club, the technical director for the Sinjin Smith Volleyball Academy and a clinician at the Los Angeles Volleyball Academy. He is the founder of the Gary Sato Volleyball Clinics/Grow the Game and president of the Association of Beach Volleyball Coaches.
Sato played volleyball at Santa Monica (Calif.) High and Santa Monica College before moving to UC Santa Barbara, where he was an All-American outside hitter. He was inducted into the International Volleyball Hall of Fame, Southern California Indoor Volleyball Hall of Fame, Santa Monica High School Hall of Fame, Pepperdine Athletic Hall of Fame, California Community Colleges Sports Hall of Fame, and the Santa Monica College Sports Hall of Fame.
Sato graduated with a bachelor’s degree in kinesiology in 1978 from Pepperdine and as a Doctor of Chiropractic from the Southern California University of Health Sciences in 1992. He has his own practice, Sato Chiropractic.
Sato is a member of what is considered the “First Family of Volleyball.” His brother Eric won an Olympic gold medal with the U.S. men in 1988 and a bronze medal in 1992 when Gary was an assistant with those teams. His sister Liane won an Olympic bronze medal with the U.S. women in 1992 and also played on the 1988 Olympic team. Sato’s brothers Scott (San Diego State) and Glenn (Loyola Marymount) both played college volleyball and Glenn served as an assistant coach at USC from 1990 to 1996, during which the Trojans won the 1990 NCAA title. Their late mother, Elissa, was a longtime fixture at local volleyball matches as a scorekeeper, usually accompanied by their late father, Richard.
Sato was born on Jan. 2, 1955. He has three children: Andrew, who was a libero at Long Beach State (2014-17); Katie, who was a libero (2014-17) and on the beach team (2015-18) at Cal State Northridge; and Malia, who graduated from USC’s Viterbi School of Engineering with a bachelor’s degree in industrial systems engineering and a master’s degree in product development engineering. Malia was also president of USC’s beach volleyball club team.
