LEXINGTON, Ky. — Stanford beach volleyball assistant coach Billy Allen has been named the American Volleyball Coaches Association Collegiate Beach Assistant Coach of the Year, the organization announced Friday morning.
Allen’s honor is the first for a Stanford assistant coach from the AVCA in program history. He is the second Cardinal coaching staff member to be honored by the coaches association after head coach Andrew Fuller was named AVCA Collegiate Beach Coach of the Year following the 2021 season.
In Allen's three seasons with the Cardinal, the program has continued its upward trajectory with three consecutive NCAA Championship appearances, the team’s first conference title in 2025 and consistent top-five national rankings. He has helped the Cardinal reach the No. 1 ranking in the AVCA Beach Poll in five of 10 weeks this season, alongside a program-record single-season wins mark (36). His presence as Stanford’s primary coach on the No. 1 and 2 courts has led the team to unparalleled success, with both members of the Cardinal's No. 1 pair and one member of the Cardinal's No. 2 pair named to the 2026 AVCA All-America team. He has been a driving force in the Cardinal program’s goal to contend for conference and national championships, highlighted by seven all-Mountain Pacific Sports Federation selections just this season.
Stanford enters the 2026 NCAA Championship as the No. 1 seed and will take on No. 16 seed Chattanooga in the first round of the tournament Friday, May 1, at 9 a.m. PT (11 a.m. CT) in Gulf Shores, Alabama. The matchup between the Mocs and Cardinal will be broadcast live on ESPN2.