Dick Blount
Dick Blount

Bio

Richard Blount enters his 21st season as the head coach of the Warriors men's volleyball team in 2022. 

Blount grew up playing volleyball as his older brother Mike and father, Earl, were avid players. Hitting and peppering balls at the beach, in the backyard or the living room were common. He graduated from Mira Costa in 1971 and played on their Mustangs club team. He attended El Camino from 1971-73. Dick transferred to San Diego State University in 1974, majored in business management and graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree. He earned his Masters Degree from Azusa Pacific University in Physical Education.

Blount recalls, “my first Manhattan Open was in 1965 or ‘66. I played with my brother Mike who had silk-screened t-shirts that read "Gerber’s Exhibition" team. On the back was a diaper rapped around an 18 - patch leather volleyball. We went a few rounds before getting knocked out. In those days there was no limit to the number of players allowed to play. All winners’ matches were 2 out of 3 to 11, side-out scoring. Losers played one game to 15 and there was a double final at the end.”  

Blount spent a number of years coaching in the Manhattan Beach Recreation Department where he taught hundreds of players how to play and appreciate volleyball. He took over the head-coaching job at Palos Verdes High School in 1989 turning a dormant team into a contender. The 1990 team was second in conference to CIF Champs Mira Costa and the #1 rated team in the USA. The team lost in the playoffs that year to Arcadia which featured several eventual Division 1 players, including John Speraw, the UCLA head coach. After the PV schools merged, Blount accepted a position with Mike Cook at Mira Costa and coached the JV & varsity teams for six seasons.

In 2001, Blount took over a sputtering El Camino men's team that was 5-11 in his first year and 12-5 his second. Along the way, the team placed second in the South Coast Conference and third in the state. His peers voted Blount Co-Coach of the Year that season. Coach Blount also worked as an assistant coach with the El Camino women’s team from 2002 through 2005. Those teams earned several South Coast Conference titles, five State tournament seedings, a 4th place in the state in 2002 and a 3rd place finish in the state in 2005.

The teams has had great students and even better volleyball players. In the last five years, on and off the field the men’s program has put together a fabulous 66-32 record, having earned six straight trips to the state championships. Thanks to the player’s hard work, Blount was rewarded with Coach of the Year Honors in 2001, 2011 & 2014. 

In the off-season, Blount coaches beach volleyball players. He is a founding member of the Professional Coaches of Beach/Sand Volleyball Inc. certified by USA Volleyball. He has coached several collegiate and professional beach players from the USA and abroad. The competitions his players have participated in include AVP, FIVB and Pan Am game events.

“Some of the beach greats, I’ve hit balls at include Canyon Ceman, Josh Cannon, Kurt Peters, Cam Green, Jeremy Simkins, John Thompson, Chad Mallory, Dave Goss, Andy & Larry Witt, Adam Jewell, Ali Wood, Christen Bloomquist, and foreigners Ben Saxton, Mark Ellington, Wes Montgomery, Anna Aquino, Frida Larios, Carlos Leiva and Greg Weaver,” he recalls. 

Blount has raced sailboats since 1974 including 25 national and 5 world championship events. His best finish was 8th in the world at the Hobie 18 World Championships in 45 degree water in Toronto, Canada. He has also been a part of the management teams for another 26 national and 18 world championships including the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta, Georgia. Hobbies include hiking, writing, surfing, sailing, skiing and woodworking.


Updated 1-24-2022