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Al Scates (born 9 June 1939) is an American volleyball player and former volleyball coach of the UCLA Bruins of the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation. Scates is the winningest volleyball coach in the history of the NCAA, and the 19 NCAA titles the Bruins have won during his tenure ties him for the most NCAA titles won by a coach in a single sport with Arkansas' John McDonnell (Indoor Track and Field). Scates has won some kind of collegiate volleyball championship in five different decades, and his NCAA championships are spread across four different decades. Scates also taught physical education in the Beverly Hills Unified School District (e.g., at Hawthorne Elementary School) for many years.
In 1970, the first year of the NCAA Men's Volleyball Championship, the Bruins swept Long Beach State University to win their first NCAA Championship. They would win the next two years as well, and win six of the first seven NCAA Championships held. From 1981 to 1984, Scates' teams won four consecutive national championships, the longest such streak by any men's volleyball team. UCLA is the only team that has won more than two consecutive championships, holding streaks of at least 3 national championships 3 times.
In his career, Scates has coached such famous players as Sinjin Smith, who won 139 Pro Beach Volleyball tournaments, UCLA Women's Volleyball coach Andy Banachowski (who is second only to Scates in NCAA wins), and Karch Kiraly, twice named the best player in the world by the FIVB.
In 2006, the Bruins and Scates ended a five-year drought with a win over Penn State University at Penn State's Rec Hall for Scates' 19th national championship. UCLA began the season 12-12, but closed with a 14-game winning streak. The 12 losses were the most ever for an NCAA Championship team, and the second most for the Bruins in a single season under Scates.
Scates is 1,239-290 all-time, for a winning percentage of .810. Three times a Scates team posted an unbeaten season: 1979, 1982, 1984.
Scates currently sits on the Board of Directors of the American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA). He was featured in the January 2007 issue of Coaching Volleyball Magazine, the official magazine of the AVCA.
His son, David, is a Physical Education and Health and Guidance teacher at Herbert Hoover High School in Glendale, CA. He has two daughters, Leslie and Tracy, and four grandchildren.
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