In August 2022, Texas announced that beach volleyball would become its 21st intercollegiate sport. With their first on-the-sand season this past spring at the Division 1 level and a record of 1-12, the Longhorns realized that an essential aspect of their success was missing — a long-term head coach.

“Volleyball is very important at Texas,” Texas volleyball head coach Jerritt Elliott said. “The goal was to find the best coach that had a proven record of building a beach volleyball program into a National Champion. I look forward to seeing all of our indoor volleyball fans fully support our Texas Beach program on their path to being the best in the country.”

On May 16, Texas announced that former two-time UCLA NCAA Champion head coach Stein Metzger would join the Longhorns on the Forty Acres as head coach of their newly inducted sport.

“We’re absolutely thrilled that Coach Metzger will be joining our illustrious group of elite coaches here at Texas,” Texas Athletics Director Chris Del Conte said. “He built a Beach program from the ground up at UCLA, has had extraordinary success, won many championships in short order and is so highly respected in his sport. Like Coach Elliott’s indoor program, we know Coach Metzger will build our beach program into a force to be reckoned with.”

Over the past 11 seasons, Metzger spent his time with the Bruins and led UCLA to two back-to-back victorious national championship seasons in 2018 and 2019. Most recently, the Bruins reached the championship game but fell short, finishing the year with a 40-4 record.

Before becoming a head coach for the Bruins, Metzger played for UCLA as an indoor volleyball student-athlete. While in college, he was a part of three national championship rosters. Metzger was later inducted into the UCLA Hall of Fame for his accomplishments. Now, Metzger is ready to add the head coach of the Texas beach volleyball program to his list of achievements.

“I’m excited by the unique opportunity to lead Texas Athletics’ newest sport,” Metzger said. “The Longhorns volleyball fanbase is second to none, and I’m determined to help create a competitive beach volleyball program that is worthy of their passion. I came to Texas because I know our student-athletes will have the support and resources to achieve their goals.”