For someone who ranks 21st in victories all-time among college volleyball coaches in all NCAA divisions, in addition to being ranked fifth in career victories among active NCAA Division III coaches, the University of Puget Sound’s Mark Massey had an interesting start to his chosen sport. 

While an undergraduate student at Furman University in his native South Carolina, Massey and a friend started the men’s and women’s volleyball programs at the school. Now, more than four decades later, Massey is duly honored as the recipient of the Frosty Westering Excellence in Coaching Award. 

Volleyball fans in the Pacific Northwest and across the NCAA Division III ranks know Massey as the highly successful coach of the University of Puget Sound Loggers. In his 29 years in charge, starting in 1996, nine Loggers teams have reached NAIA or NCAA Division III postseason play, with four of those teams advancing as far as the national quarterfinals. The program boasts three Northwest Conference titles and 19 All-Americans under his watch. Massey has been named NWC Coach of the Year three times and American Volleyball Coaches Association West Region Coach of the Year once. 

"Mark came into the Northwest Conference at the same time I did 29 years ago in 1996," said Pacific Lutheran University head coach Kevin Aoki, himself the winner of the Frosty Westering Excellence in Coaching Award in 2016. "He has consistently put good teams out on the floor and his teams are so very well coached. Although we are rivals, we continue to have mutual respect for each other's program." 

While he started the volleyball programs at Furman University, from where he graduated in 1979, Massey didn’t officially start his coaching career until 1980 when he took the post at Syracuse University, his teams going 55-58-8 in three seasons. 

After earning his master’s degree from Ithaca College and reaching the ABD Doctorate level at Syracuse, Massey took over the coaching reins at Northeastern University in Boston, where his teams compiled a 96-42 record from 1985-88. 

Prior to coming to the University of Puget Sound, Massey coached at Cal State Los Angeles, where from 1989-95 he led his teams to a combined 120-86 record and four NCAA Division II national tournament appearances. His 1992 team reached the Division II “Final Four,” and his 1994 squad earned a No. 2 national ranking. In 1992, Massey earned Asics/Volleyball Monthly NCAA Division II National Coach of the Year recognition. 

It is no coincidence that Massey has earned the Frosty Westering Excellence in Coaching Award, which is named after the long-time College Football Hall of Fame and Pacific Lutheran University coaching legend. Westering was a master at sport psychology and a highly regarded motivator, and Massey's educational pursuits fit into that description.  

While Massey’s undergraduate degree came in Biology and Physical Education, both his master’s degree and his doctoral work emphasized sport psychology.  

He has been a speaker at American Volleyball Coaches Association national conventions, emphasizing the Swing Attack, and he has also authored two books on the Swing Attack Offense. 

Massey was a soccer and track & field athlete at Eastside High School in Greenville, South Carolina, and also at Furman University. He picked up the game of volleyball during his college undergraduate and graduate years, playing 6-rotation middle and setter. Volleyball teams for which he played earned Massachusetts State Olympics gold and New York State Olympics silver.