Jon Haruguchi was named the eighth Eastern Washington volleyball head coach in program history on March 21, 2022 by Director of Athletics Lynn Hickey. Haruguchi joins Eastern after six seasons as an assistant and associate head coach at the University of Northern Colorado.
"I would like to express my gratitude to
Lynn Hickey and the search committee for such an incredible opportunity to be the next head coach of Eastern Washington University's volleyball program," said Haruguchi. "I am truly blessed to have the trust of the department and university in leading this group of young women. The energy I felt through my interactions with the players and staff was inspiring and I am thrilled to join the Eagle family. I am eager to build upon the former success of the program and look forward to developing a championship culture at EWU. I can't wait to get to Cheney and hit the ground running as we look forward to next fall!"
"We are very excited to bring Coach Haruguchi on board as our new head volleyball coach," said Hickey. "He brings a wealth of experience and professionalism at the Division I level, along with great knowledge of the Big Sky Conference. He comes highly recommended for his expertise on the court, along with his great demeanor and culture building with student-athletes. He oversaw recruiting at one of the top volleyball programs in our conference. We have a special group of young ladies in our program, and we look forward to continuing building the foundation that Coach Flores-Cloud and her staff have put in place the past few years."
2024
In Haruguchi's third season in Cheney, Eastern went 12-15 overall, and 8-8 in conference play. The Eagles qualified for the Big Sky Championships as the No. 5 seed and fell to No. 4 Weber State in the opening round. Under Harauguchi, freshman Quincy Moran, was named Big Sky Freshmen of the year, the first time since 2005 an Eastern player has earned the award. Bri Gunderson was named to the Big Sky First Team All-Conference team and Kalista Lukovich earned Second-Team honors.
2023
In Haruguchi's second season in Cheney, Eastern finished finished 6-10 in the Big Sky and 13-17 overall. The team qualified for the Big Sky Championships as the No. 7 seed, losing in the second round, after beating No. 2 Northern Colorado in the first round, to the No. 3 seed Montana State. Haraguchi boasted a pair of All-Big Sky second team selections for the second season in the row, with outside hitter Sage Brustad and middle blocker Bri Gunderson getting the nods. Eastern continued the steady improvement at the service line that began last season, ranking third in the Big Sky with 1.71 aces per set. Brustad and Kate Hatch finished in the top ten in the conference, Brustad ranking fourth with 0.40 aces per set and Hutch ranking 6th with 0.35 aces per set. With Haruguchi's guidance, Brustad ranked third in total blocks (131) and a 1.19 blocks per set average.
2022
In Haruguchi's first season in Cheney, Eastern finished 6-10 in the Big Sky and 11-18 overall. The team qualified for the Big Sky Championships as the No. 7 seed, losing in the first round to the No. 2 seed Portland State. Haraguchi boasted a pair of All-Big Sky second team selections in outside hitters in his inaugural season, Sage Brustad and Alyssa Radke. Eastern steadily improved at the service line during the season, ranking second in the Big Sky with 1.59 aces per set. Brustad finished third in the conference with 0.39 aces per set. With Haruguchi's guidance, Lindsey Russell tallied 1049 assists during the season and ranked fourth on the conference leaderboard with a 9.43 per set average.
Haruguchi All-Time Record as a Head Coach
Year: School: Record: Conf.
2022: EWU 11-18 6-10
2023: EWU 13-17 6-10
2024: EWU 12-15 8-8
Prior to Eastern Washington
At Northern Colorado, Haruguchi was as an assistant coach in 2016 and was promoted to associate head coach in December of 2019. During his time in Greeley, he helped guide the team to the NCAA Tournament in 2019 and 2021, winning the Big Sky Conference regular season and tournament championships in both seasons. UNC also appeared in the 2020 Big Sky tournament finals and in the 2018 season, earned the program's first invite to the NIVC tournament. In the six seasons Haruguchi was at UNC, the team posted a 112-60 overall record and qualified for the Big Sky tournament each season.
Haruguchi helped coach the Big Sky MVP, Daisy Schultz, in 2019 and coached 12 All-Big Sky selections while at UNC. He also coached UNC's first Division I Academic All-American, Brittany Lawrence, during the 2018 season.
In addition to coaching, Haruguchi assisted with recruiting and video analysis for practice and match preparation. He assisted in summer camps and ran a club tournament for junior volleyball clubs in the Greeley area.
Prior to UNC, Haruguchi was an assistant coach and recruiting coordinator at Dartmouth College in 2015. The Big Green had a 9-5 record in the Ivy League during the 2015 season, the most conference wins for the program in 22 years. Dartmouth finished tied for third that season in the Ivy League, the program's best conference finish.
From 2010 to 2015, Haruguchi worked at the University of Louisiana as an assistant coach from '10-'14 and as associate head coach in '15. The Ragin Cajuns qualified for the Sun Belt Conference tournament in four of the five seasons Haruguchi was in Lafayette.
Haruguchi began coaching the college level at Southeastern Louisiana University as an assistant coach and recruiting coordinator from 2007 to 2010.
Haraguchi is a native of Honolulu, Hawaii and earned a Bachelor of Sciences degree in Landscape Horticulture from Colorado State in 1996 and Master's degree in Special Education from the University of Hawaii in 2003. He will be joined in Cheney by his wife Wendee.
