Men's Volleyball

Nick Vogel
Nick Vogel
  • Title:
    Assistant Men's Volleyball Coach
  • Alma Mater:
    UCLA, '12
A four-year starter for UCLA men’s volleyball from 2009-12, Vogel returned to Westwood for the 2023 season after serving most recently as assistant coach and recruiting coordinator for the DePaul University women’s volleyball team.

Over his three seasons on the bench at UCLA, Vogel helped the Bruins win two NCAA National Collegiate Championships in 2023 and 2024, and led the Bruins to another NCAA finals appearance in 2025. UCLA posted a 79-14 (.850 winning percentage) record and went 33-3 (.917 winning percentage) in MPSF conference play.  

In 2025, Vogel helped the Bruins to a third-straight NCAA title match, coached four All-Americans, and helped UCLA post over 20 wins for the third season in a row. Under Vogels’ tutelage, Cooper Robinson was named MPSF Player of the Year and a first-team All-American. Additionally, Andrew Rowan earned his third AVCA first-team All-America honors and MPSF first-team acclaim, Cameron Thorne claimed AVCA first-team All-America accolades, and Zach Rama earned a spot on the AVCA second-team All-America list. The Bruins also won the MPSF regular season crown in 2025.

In 2024, Vogel helped guide the Bruins to a second-straight NCAA men’s volleyball title. It marked UCLA’s first back-to-back NCAA men’s volleyball crowns since the 1995 and 1996 campaigns and the first time UCLA had put together three straight 20-win seasons since the 2004, 2005 and 2006 seasons. At the end of the season five Bruins earned AVCA All-America honors, while Merrick McHenry won the Ryan Millar award as the top middle attacker in the country.

With Vogel in his first year on staff, UCLA captured its first NCAA Championship since the 2006 campaign and 20th overall title. The Bruins also won their first MPSF Tournament Championship since the 2006 season. The 12-0 regular-season MPSF record was UCLA’s first unbeaten ledger since it posted a 19-0 mark in 1995. The Bruins led the nation in hitting percentage (.382), blocking average (2.80) and set assists (12.64). Middle blocker Merrick McHenry topped the nation with a .526 attack percentage and was named winner of the Ryan Millar Award as the top middle attacker in the country. Guy Genis rated fourth nationally in blocks per set (1.21). The Bruins also were rated among the nation’s top five in kills/s (second), aces/s (third) and opponent hitting percentage (eighth).

With Vogel on the Blue Demons staff, DePaul made its first appearance in the Big East championship match in 2021 and enjoyed its most successful campaign in the last 20 years. The 12 conference wins were the most since it joined the league in 2005. The DePaul coaches were selected as the 2021 Big East Coaching Staff of the Year.

At DePaul, Vogel coached offense and worked directly with the team’s middle blockers. He also had oversight of team culture development, match scheduling, opponent scouting, video analysis and the highly successful DePaul summer camps program. In 2021 and 2019, middle blocker Donna Brown was selected to the All-Big East women’s volleyball team. In 2019, Brown finished with the highest hitting percentage in the league (.399) which established a new school record for a DePaul player.

Vogel was hired in August of 2016 to serve as an assistant coach for the men’s volleyball team at the University of California San Diego for the 2017 spring season. Under his direction, UCSD accumulated its most conference wins in a 7-year span. Additionally, opposite Tanner Syftestad was named first-team All-Mountain Pacific Sports Federation (MPSF), an honorable mention All-American, the Division II Player of the Year, and UC San Diego’s Student-Athlete of the Year.

In the fall of 2017, Vogel served as the volunteer women’s volleyball coach at the University of San Diego. During his tenure, USD won a West Coast Conference (WCC) championship, boasted a WCC Player of the Year in Kristen Gengenbacher, placed four players on the AVCA’s Pacific South All-Region Team, and made it to the second round of the NCAA tournament.  

Vogel spent the 2015 fall season as a volunteer assistant coach with the women’s program at his alma mater, UCLA. The Bruins advanced to the Sweet 16 of the NCAA Tournament that season and both middle blockers earned all-conference honors. He has also been an indoor, beach and private-lesson coach within the WAVE Volleyball Club, and a lead camp coach with Gold Medal Squared since 2012. 

Vogel previously held coaching positions in an adult league and with a youth club while playing overseas in Germany, and has also been involved in several UCLA camps over the years. He brings a wealth of professional playing and coaching experience from throughout Europe, Asia and South America.

Vogel was a four-year starter for the Bruins under head coach Al Scates from 2009-12. He appeared in 99 matches and 309 sets, compiling 599 kills (1.94 per set) with a .323 hitting percentage, 299 blocks (0.97 per set), 133 digs (0.43 per set) and 75 service aces. The 6-foot-9 opposite and middle blocker paced the team in aces as a freshman and blocks as a sophomore. Vogel ended his career ranked No. 4 on the program’s rally-scoring total blocks list.

Away from UCLA, Vogel competed for Team USA at the 2009 FIVB Men’s Junior World Championship, the 2011 Pan American Games, the 2014 FIVB World Championship and the 2014 USA Volleyball Cup. He led the squad in blocking at the Pan Am Games. Following his collegiate playing days, Vogel competed professionally in Athens, Greece, for Panathinaikos, and in Germany with TV Bühl and VfB Friedrichshafen. He won the German Cup with Friedrichshafen, as well as the Bundesliga title for the 2014-15 season.

Vogel earned his bachelor’s degree in anthropology with a concentration in archeology from UCLA in 2012. He was a five-time member of the Athletic Director’s Honor Roll. A San Diego native, Vogel graduated from Valhalla High School in El Cajon after previously attending Steele Canyon High School in Spring Valley.