Men's Volleyball | September 06, 2019

LOS ANGELES--Oz Simmons, a member of USC's first NCAA champion men's volleyball team and then a longtime high school coach in Orange County, died on Sunday (Sept. 1) in Dana Point, Calif., of cancer.  He was 62.
 
Services are pending.
 
Simmons, a 4-year (1976-79) letterman at USC, was a sophomore on the 1977 Trojan team that went 18-1 overall, won the Southern California Intercollegiate Volleyball Association title with a 13-1 mark and defeated Ohio State in the NCAA championship match.  USC was the NCAA runnerup in his 1979 senior season.
 
He spent two seasons as a collegiate men's volleyball assistant, in 1980 at USC as the Trojans won the NCAA crown and in 1981 at Ohio State.
 
He then became a high school boys volleyball head coach, first at Newport Harbor High in Newport Beach (Calif.) in 1982 and then from 1983 through 2018 as the head coach at Dana Hills High in Dana Point (Calif.).  He led Dana Hills to the 1986 CIF Division 4-A championship and 10 league titles.  He also taught mathematics at Dana Hills.
 
He was an All-CIF volleyball and water polo player at Laguna Beach (Calif.) High, helping the volleyball team win the 1975 CIF title.
 
He is survived by his wife Cindy, children Evan and Kelsey and sisters Lu and Debbie.