Dain blanton biography

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Won all five matches in bracket play, winning the gold medal, defeating Brazil's Ze Marco de Melo/Ricardo Santos in the finals.

� Qualified for Athens 2004 Olympics as the number eight seed with Jeff Nygaard. As an assistant he helped lead them to NCAA titles in 2016 and 2017, and the AVCA title in 2015.

University Southern California Trojans

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DAIN BLANTON—an Olympic gold-medalist and the 2024 AVCA National Coach of the Year—is in his sixth season (2024-25) as head coach of the USC beach volleyball program.

Blanton has led the Women of Troy to NCAA championships in each of the last four seasons (2021, ’22, ’23, ’24) and made USC the first team ever to capture four straight titles in the sport and the first women’s program at USC to win four consecutive national crowns.

The duo came home six days after the Olympics and won the famed AVP Nissan Series Chicago Open for the second year in a row. In 2003, the duo captured three AVP titles in , and and was named AVP Team of the Year.

Blanton has been a finalist on the hit show "The Bachelor", was named to US Weekly's "Hottest Olympians" list in 2004, and was also Outside Magazines "Fittest Athlete."

In 1997, Blanton created "Dain's Day at the Beach," which was created to provide children with the opportunity to participate in the non-mainstream sport of beach volleyball.

Blanton is also a member of the Pepperdine Athletics Hall of Fame’s class of 2008.

Blanton’s 2024 Trojans finished the season 37-5 and claimed both the Pac-12 and NCAA championships. Both years, the Women of Troy held the No. 1 ranking in the final AVCA poll.

Under Blanton, Trojans have been selected for 12 AVCA All-America certificates.

Blanton played volleyball in college at Pepperdine University, leading them to the 1992 NCAA Championships. He became the first male African-American to win a major beach volleyball event when he claimed the 1997 AVP Hermosa Grand Slam. He was born on Nov. 28, 1971, and resides in Santa Monica, Calif., with Maeve McCaffrey and their son Caid Quentin.

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Dain was one of those rare players, equally comfortable in either the blocking or defensive role.

Dain got his first win with Canyon Ceman in 1997 right here in Hermosa Beach, becoming the first African-American man to win an AVP event. In his beach career he has played with six other U.S. beach Olympians.

He finished the 2005 season with the fifth most aces (57) and was ninth in digs (565) on the Tour while playing with Olympian Kevin Wong.

Dain also has given back, through motivational speaking, mentoring students, and through his “Dain’s Day the Beach” which provides urban youth with the opportunity to participate in beach volleyball. He also guided the Trojans to two Pac-12 championships; the first in 2022 and a second in 2024, which was the final Pac-12 title awarded. On the beaches of Bondi, Dain and Fonoimoana overcame impossible odds to beat the heavily favored Brazilians and win the gold medal at the Sydney Olympics.

Blanton teamed with Jeff Nygaard for the 2004 season. He also founded a charity in 1997 called Dain’s Day at the Beach, which provides urban youth with the opportunity to participate in beach volleyball.

Blanton graduated with a bachelor’s degree in public relations from Pepperdine in 1994 and holds a teaching credential in physical education.

He replaced two-time National Coach of the Year Anna Collier, who retired from collegiate coaching in June 2019 after serving as the only previous head coach in the program’s eight-year history.

In 2020, Blanton’s team finished 6-5 after play was halted due to concerns over the COVID-19 pandemic. USC followed that campaign with a 37-1 record and ended the 2022 season on a 36-match winning streak en route to capturing the Pac-12 and NCAA championships.

He and partner Eric Fonoimoana (USC’s volunteer assistant coach in 2019) captured the gold medal at the 2000 Sydney Games despite opening the tournament as the ninth seed.

Including the shortened 2020 season—his first as a collegiate head coach—Blanton holds a remarkable 142-20 (.877) overall record as USC’s head coach.

After retiring from the sand, he has enjoyed a successful career as a television broadcaster, covering the NBA, Major League Baseball, college sports, as well, of course, as beach volleyball. He and Kent Steffes won a bronze medal at the 1997 Beach Volleyball World Championships.

Blanton was the 1990 Orange County Boys Volleyball Player of the Year at Laguna Beach (Calif.) High, where he was also an All-State basketball player.

Blanton has spent time mentoring students and as a motivational speaker through his non-profit organization Getting to Gold.