In seven seasons as the head coach of the High Point University volleyball team, Jason Oliver has infused the program with his high-energy, hard-working style. HPU won its first-ever Big South Championship and played in the NCAA Tournament for the first time in 2010 and Oliver is working to take HPU’s volleyball program to national prominence on a yearly basis. During Oliver’s tenure the Panthers are 117-103 with a 60-42 mark in Big South play.
During the 2015 season, Oliver became the winningest coach in HPU's history since the switch to Division I competition. He's the fourth coach in program history to win 100 matches after the squad bested South Carolina State early in the season. The 2015 squad produced four All-Big South selections as well as the Freshman of the Year (Molly Livingston) and Scholar-Athlete of the Year (Gabi Mirand). The team was also the fifth Division I team to reach 20 wins and posted the program's best winning streak since the 90's with eight straight wins. The team was led by its defense which finished in the top-5 nationally with 17.6 digs per set. Meanwhile, Annemarie Chin finished in the top-10 individually with 5.61 digs per frame.
Oliver coached High Point to a 22-13 record (13-3 Big South) in 2010. The Panthers earned the No. 2 seed in the Big South Conference Tournament and upset top-seeded Liberty 3-0 in the title game.
Twenty-one Panthers have earned All-Conference honors in Oliver’s seven seasons, including Haley Barnes, Annemarie Chin, Camryn Freiberg and Molly Livingston in 2015. They followed Kristin Heldt and Gabi Mirand in 2014 while Chelsea Davis and Maddie Simpson joined Heldt on the 2013 all-conference squads. Meanwhile, Savannah Angel was the 2013 Big South Freshman of the Year.
He has had two classes earn honorable mention in PrepVolleyball.com’s annual list of the best recruiting classes in the country. The 2011 group garnered that recognition before being joined by the 2015 freshman class.
Oliver has experience coaching in the ACC, Atlantic 10 and Big East. He came to High Point after serving as an assistant coach at the University of Maryland in 2008. Prior to that, Oliver was at the University of Dayton for three seasons, serving as an assistant to Tim Horsman at both schools. He has also had assistant coaching stints at West Virginia, Towson and California Lutheran University.
While at Dayton, the team had an 80-24 record and earned two NCAA Tournament berths. In 2007, the Flyers achieved a No. 12 national ranking from the America Volleyball Coaches Association and advanced to the second round of the NCAA tournament. The team spent 14 weeks in the top-25 rankings and grabbed a national RPI ranking as high as eighth in the country. Dayton finished the season with a 33-2 record. In 2005, the team set school records in kills (2,143), total attacks (5.523) and assists (1,965). During his tenure, Oliver helped to train two Atlantic-10 Players of the Year, two A-10 Setters of the Year and two A-10 Rookies of the Year, as well as 11 All-Conference performers.
During Oliver’s time at WVU the Mountaineers recorded their single largest win total in 13 years, improving from a 6-21 record during the 2003 season to an 18-13 record in 2004. Oliver coached two Big East All-Conference players, two Academic All-Americans and three All-Big East Academic performers.
Oliver played volleyball at George Mason where he was a co-captain and starting setter during his senior year. He led the team in assists and digs per game in 1997. Oliver set a career record of 99 assists in a single match and tallied 1,638 assists in a season.
The Thousand Oaks, Calif., native received a bachelor’s degree in Communications from George Mason in 1998 and a Master’s of Science in Athletic Coaching Education from West Virginia in 2005.
He resides in High Point with his wife Kelly.
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