Chris McLachlin returns to Stanford for his second of his second stint as a program coach. Going back to the program's infancy as a club team in the 1960's, McLachlin is credited with not only saving it as a player-coach, but building it up to the point of receiving varsity status.
In his current role, McLachlin specializes in team building and the mental training aspects, as well as contributed to game-planning and strategy.
Since he graduated from Stanford in 1968, McLachlin has had a storied coaching career in his native Hawaii, winning a combined 14 state championships in boys' volleyball and basketball.
McLachlin was lured back into coaching by head coach John Kosty, and supplanted from his home on O'ahu's Manoa Valley. McLachlin's son, Spencer, is a senior outside hitter and team captain at Stanford.
Back in 1964, McLachlin took over the Stanford club program at the request of John Taylor, a 1964 Olympian who decided to concentrate on academics. Even with a $300 annual budget, the Stanford team made great strides on campus and became the foundation for what would become a varsity program in 1970.
McLachlin spent 37 years as a coach, administrator, counselor and teacher at Punahou School in Honolulu, his alma mater. He coached the boys' volleyball team to 11 state titles and the basketball team to three. Among his basketball players on the state champion 1978-79 team was future U.S. President Barack Obama, and the two reunited at the NCAA champions celebration on the South Lawn of the White House in September.
McLachlin left coaching in the mid-1990s, but remained at Punahou until retiring in 2007. For most of the past 25 years, he has served as the TV color commentator for University of Hawai'i men's and women's volleyball.