Steve Loeswick

Head Coach

Steve Loeswick was named the third head coach of the Coastal Carolina beach volleyball program on Feb. 1, 2018.

In his short time at CCU, Loeswick has helped to start a strong foundation for the beach volleyball program, as the Sandy Chants have improved from three wins in their very first year of play in 2016 to posting double-digit wins in each of their last four years, including 20-win seasons in both 2019 and 2021.

CCU's winningest coach on the sand at 74-52 overall since taking over in 2018, Loeswick ranks in the top-10 among all active NCAA beach volleyball coaches with a career record of 166-100 over 11 seasons.

Following a record-setting season in 2021, Loeswick led the Chanticleers into the Conference USA for the first time in 2022. With an experienced core returning, the Sandy Chants went 18-16 overall despite missing two key players in Lucy Campbell and Sarlota Svobodova, who both missed the entire spring season due to injuries.

Playing perhaps the toughest schedule in program history, the Chanticleers registered 18 wins overall in 2022, including going 7-3 at home and 10-9 at neutral sites. In fact, of their 16 losses on the season, 13 came to either nationally-ranked teams or teams receiving votes in the national top-20 polls.

Receiving votes in the 2022 AVCA Collegiate Beach Volleyball Top-20 Poll on April 4, the Chants had three pairs record double-digit wins in Ellie Hanford and Natalie Honzovicova (18-4), Rayche Ehlers and Carli Ginther (14-8), and Martine Kragholm and Sarah Riedell (10-12). The duo of Hanford and Honzovicova were awarded the AVCA Top Flight Award at the No. 3 flight, while Ehlers earned a spot on the 2022 C-USA Beach Volleyball All-Freshman Team.

Hanford went on to set a new CCU single-season record in individual wins with 27 on the year, while both Irena Drobnjak and Ginther reached the 50-career wins milestone on the season.

The 2021 season proved to be a record-setting year for the Sandy Chants, as Loeswick guided the Sandy Chants to a 24-8 overall record and advanced to the final four of the 2021 ASUN Conference Beach Volleyball Championship Tournament. Seven of the Chants' eight losses came to nationally-ranked opponents in South Carolina, Stetson, Georgia State, FIU, and Florida Atlantic, while the eighth defeat came to the eventual 2021 ASUN Champions in North Florida.

The Sandy Chants received votes all season long in the 2021 AVCA Collegiate Beach Volleyball Top-20 Poll, posted a single-season program record of 24 wins, and posted a new program-long winning streak of 11-straight matches from March 20 to April 7. CCU also set a new single-season record in neutral-site wins with 13 in 2021.

The Chants had two pairs record over 20 wins on the season in the duo of Campbell and Kragholm with 22 wins and the team of Drobnjak and Svobodova recording 21 wins. The pair of Drobnjak and Svobodova was named an ASUN All-Conference first team, picked up ASUN Championship All-Tournament team honors, and was a recipient of the 2021 AVCA Top Flight Award. Both Drobnjak and Svobodva were named to the ASUN All-Freshman team, while Drobnjak also picked up 2021 ASUN Freshman of the Year honors.

The pair of Campbell and Kragholm was named to the ASUN All-Conference second team, while graduate transfer Kendra Lukacs earned a spot on the ASUN All-Academic team and was one of 12 Chants named to the ASUN Academic Honor Roll.

Overall, the Chants went 109-50 in their matches over the 2021 spring season, a .686 winning percentage, including posting records of 24-7 at the No. 1 flight and 23-9 at the No. 2 flight on the year.

To cap off his 2021 spring season, Loeswick had each one of his beach volleyball teams at North Florida from 2012 to 2014 named as part of the 2021 UNF Athletic Hall of Fame Class.

In 2020, the Sandy Chants were off to a 10-2 start to the season and received votes in the AVCA Collegiate Beach Volleyball Coaches Poll. The Chants recorded a season-high five-match winning streak and posted the program's first-ever wins over the College of Charleston and Mercer before the season was abruptly canceled by the NCAA and the ASUN due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Redshirt senior Sydney Alvis was named to the ASUN Preseason All-Conference team, while her and playing partner Viktoria Fink were named the ASUN Beach Volleyball Pair of the Week on March 3, after going 4-0 with four-straight straight-set wins at the Blazer Beach Bash hosted by UAB. The conference weekly award was the first for the Chanticleers' young program.

In just his second season at the helm, Loeswick guided a tremendous turnaround for the Chanticleers as he led the team from one win in 2018 to 21 wins in 2019, which included a perfect 8-0 ASUN Conference record and an ASUN North Division title.

In 2019, the Chants posted the program’s first-ever winning season (21-11), the most wins in a season (21), the most home wins in a season (9), the most road wins in a season (3), the most neutral-site wins in a season (9), and the most conference wins in a season (8). Coastal also recorded the longest winning streak in the young program’s history at nine straight victories.

Under Loeswick in 2019, the duo of Anett Nemeth and Kalin Eske was recognized as an AVCA Top Flight Award winner, as the tandem posted a team-high 25 wins on the season. Freshmen Campbell and Nemeth were both named to the ASUN All-Freshman Team, while the team of Alvis and Leah Hardeman was named to the ASUN All-Tournament Team.

Alvis earned a spot on the ASUN All-Academic Team, joining Tahleia Bishop (2017) as the only two Chants to receive the academic conference honor in the program’s four-year history.

Coastal's beach volleyball program was only in its third season of existence in Loeswick's first year at the helm in 2018. The Chants went 1-15 during their abbreviated 2018 schedule which saw stiff competition throughout the spring slate with matches against several ranked opponents including No. 9 South Carolina, No. 17 Stetson, No. 19 Tulane, and No. 20 College of Charleston.

Loeswick also had the responsibility of mentoring an extremely young team, as nine of the 15 student-athletes on the roster were underclassmen in his first season in Conway.

Loeswick joined the Chanticleers after six seasons at North Florida, where he coached both the indoor and beach volleyball teams.

As the director of beach volleyball at North Florida from 2012-17, Loeswick led the Ospreys to a 92-48 overall record and three ASUN Conference championships (2012, 2013, and 2016). UNF had a winning record in all but one season under Loeswick, including a 24-9, 7-1 record in 2016. A total of seven student-athletes garnered All-ASUN Conference honors, the second-most of any school in the conference's history of beach volleyball during that span.

Loeswick also oversaw UNF's indoor volleyball team, which accumulated a 97-94 overall record in his six seasons. He led UNF to its first ASUN championship appearance in 2012, a season that also included 20 wins for the first time in the program's NCAA Division I history. Loeswick guided several Ospreys to ASUN All-Conference and individual awards, including two Freshman of the Year winners, one Libero of the Year recipient, and one Defensive Player of the Year honoree.

Before taking over the reins at North Florida, Loeswick had a 14-year assistant coaching career that included five seasons at LSU (2007-11), three seasons at Oklahoma (2004-06), and six seasons at Cornell (1998-2003).

While at LSU, Loeswick helped the Tigers accumulate 112 wins, five consecutive SEC Western Division titles, and win the 2009 SEC championship -- the program’s first since 1991. LSU was one of 25 programs nationally to put together four straight NCAA Tournament appearances (2007-10), and the program had a trio of 25-win seasons in 2007, 2009, and 2010. Loeswick's tenure also saw the Tigers garner multiple honors, including the 2009 SEC Player of the Year, a pair of SEC Defensive Players of the Year, eight All-SEC selections, a first-team AVCA All-American, seven honorable mention All-Americans, and six AVCA All-Region honorees. Four student-athletes also surpassed 1,000 career kills during his time with the LSU program.

Prior to his arrival at LSU, Loeswick spent three seasons as an assistant coach at Oklahoma from 2004-06. As a member of 2006 AVCA Central Regional Coach of the Year Santiago Restrepo's staff, Loeswick aided the Sooners’ record-turnaround in 2006 highlighted by a 28-6 record and a trip to the NCAA Sweet 16. The 28 victories and .824 winning percentage were school records, while the 15 more league wins marked the best one-year turnaround in Big 12 history.

OU finished the 2006 season ranked No. 12 in the AVCA poll, its highest ranking in program history, and boasted a pair of All-American honors along with the Big 12 Defensive Player of the Year and Libero of the Year.

Before Oklahoma, Loeswick served as an assistant coach for six seasons at Cornell. During his tenure, the Big Red racked up a 93-38 record and 16 All-Ivy League selections, including 2000 Player of the Year Robin Moore. Cornell posted a top-three finish in the Ivy League standings during three of Loeswick's final four seasons, including a 21-4 mark and a second-place finish in 2003.

Loeswick played collegiately at the University of Southern California. He was a four-year starting setter for the Trojans and was just the third player in program history to start in a single position for all four seasons. Following his playing career at USC, Loeswick played in Germany's top professional volleyball league.

In 1996 Loeswick earned his bachelor's degree in exercise science from USC. A native of North Tonawanda, N.Y., he married the former Jennifer Arbuckle on June 17, 2006. Jennifer was a standout outside hitter at Virginia Tech from 1992-95.

The Loeswick’s have three children - two daughters, Isabella Rose and Lillian Ann, and a son, Steven Jacob.