Jesse Mahoney became the sixth head coach in DU volleyball history since the program's inception in 1983. In his first four seasons with the Pioneers, the program is 88-41, including back-to-back 27-win seasons in 2014 and 2015.
Denver capped off its second 27-win season with its second straight trip to the NCAA tournament, finishing 27-8 on the season. The Pioneers faced No. 5 seed Washington after winning The Summit League Championship and earning The Summit League regular season title with a 13-3 record.
The Pioneers wrapped up the 2014 season with the program’s best record in its history (27-7, 13-3 Summit) and Summit League regular season and tournament titles, the first league tournament title in the program’s history. The team also made its first appearance in the NCAA Tournament in program history at Moby Arena in Fort Collins, Colorado. Denver finished the campaign 19th in the country in hitting percentage (0.266), 23rd in kills/set (14.09) and 29th in assists/set (13.07).
In 2013 Mahoney and the Pioneers matched their 2012 win total, and finished as the Summit League runner-up in the postseason tournament, after also finishing the regular season in second place. Denver came from two-sets down to beat South Dakota in the Summit League Semifinals to advance to the program’s first league final. In their senior campaigns, Brea Muhle and Colleen King both earned AVCA Honorable Mention All-America honors.
In his first season with Denver (2012), Mahoney led the Pioneers to a 17-13 record, the program's 12th winning season. Mahoney also led Denver to a 10-8 mark in the Pioneers' lone season in the Western Athletic Conference. Faimie Kingsley graduated in 2012 as the program’s leader in career blocks (among Division I players). Denver also finished second in the WAC and 22nd in the nation in blocks per set (2.71) and senior Faimie Kingsley finished sixth in the NCAA with 1.64 per set.
In the classroom, Mahoney helped the Pioneers to the ACVA Team Academic Award in all three seasons, the program's 14th in the last 15 seasons.
Prior to coming to Denver, Mahoney spent seven seasons under legendary head coach Tom Hilbert with Colorado State, including four as associate head coach. Mahoney helped the Rams to a 188-55 (.744) record, seven NCAA Tournament appearances and five Mountain West Conference championships in his seven seasons.
While at CSU, Mahoney put together three recruiting classes ranked in the nation's top-25 by PrepVolleyball.com. The 2007 class was ranked 14th in the country, the 2008 squad stacked up as No. 22, and the 2010 class rated as No. 15.
Mahoney's coaching presence was felt on the court as he turned CSU into one of the top blocking teams in the country. Since joining the Rams, CSU middle blockers Dre Downs, Mekana Barnes, Tessa Nelson and Megan Plourde thrived under Mahoney's watch and established themselves as some of the top blockers in the nation. CSU has ranked in the top-5 nationally in four of the last five years in blocking under Mahoney's tutelage.
Mahoney joined Colorado State from Fort Hays State, where he was the head coach from 1999-2004. While at Fort Hays State, Mahoney tallied a record of 107-82, including a 56-12 mark from 2003-04. His Lady Tigers went 31-5 in 2004, as they posted the best record in NCAA Division II competition and finished the season ranked 11th nationally.
Prior to his time in Hays, Kan., Mahoney was the assistant coach at Colorado Christian in 1998, helping lead the Cougars to a tie for first place in the RMAC East Division (17-2 record). Mahoney was the head coach of the University of Colorado men's club team for two years and also helped coach the 18-under Front Range Volleyball Club team that captured the USA Junior Rocky Mountain Region championship.
Prior to coaching, Mahoney spent four seasons as the starting setter on the CU men's club team. He earned All-Tournament honors in 1993 after leading the team to the NIRSA collegiate club national championship.
A native of Boulder, Colo., Mahoney received a bachelor's degree in psychology from CU in 1995 and a Juris Doctorate degree from the University of Colorado School of Law in 1999. He is married to the former Gwen McEntyre, and the couple has three children: Macy, Griffin and Declan.
