University of Toledo Athletics

    Jason Oliver is entering his seventh season as the head coach of the Rockets in 2024. Since taking over the program on Jan. 11, 2018, Toledo Volleyball been on an upward trajectory and continues to improve year-by-year.

    Oliver is the first coach ever to guide the Rockets to back-to-back winning seasons in Mid-American Conference play and has led UT to a 32-22 (.593) ledger in conference action over the past three years.

    Last year, Oliver and the Rockets advanced to the MAC semifinals before falling to eventual champion Western Michigan in Kalamazoo. Senior Taylor Alt became the first player in program history to earn First-Team All-MAC honors four straight year. She also set the program record for most kills in a career and now has 1,707. Fifth-year senior Ryann Jaqua joined Alt in the record books with her 2,319 digs the most ever by a Rocket.

    In 2022, Oliver led the Rockets to a 19-13 record and a second-straight National Invitational Volleyball Championship (NIVC) berth. Toledo defeated Clemson in the first round of the tournament, its second victory over a Power Five school on the season after defeating Arizona State on Aug. 27, 2022. Toledo was led by junior Taylor Alt, who earned her third consecutive First-Team All-MAC accolade. Alt led the MAC in kills (4.12/set) and scoring (4.75 points/set), and her 457 kills were the fifth-most in a season in school history. Senior Ryann Jaqua anchored the back row, ranking third in the MAC and 20th in the nation in digs/set (5.04).

    Toledo enjoyed one of its best seasons in program history in 2021, posting 20 victories for the second time ever and earning its first-ever postseason berth. The Rockets earned a spot in the NIVC and advanced to the second round. Toledo’s .606 winning percentage (20-13) was its best since 2013. Toledo stormed out of the gates to a 14-4 start, the best start in school history.

    An outstanding defensive team, the Rockets set school records with 287.5 total blocks and 2.42 blocks/set in 2021. They were led in that department by Rhyenne Filisi (1.08 blocks/set) and Olivia Vance (1.00), who had two of the 10 most productive blocking seasons in school history. Toledo also saw another leap from sophomore Taylor Alt, who became the second player in program history to earn AVCA Midwest All-Region honors. Alt ended her season averaging 4.04 kills/set, the fifth time in school history a player has averaged at least four kills/set. Alt ranked second in the MAC in kills and scoring (4.56 points/set) and inside the Top 10 nationally among underclassmen.

    Toledo won nine matches in Oliver's second season at the helm in 2019. Early in the season the Rockets went 3-0 at the Radford Invitational, the first time they had done that since 2011. Oliver also coached senior Zoe Birnbrich to a terrific final season where she hit .334 the second-highest single-season hitting percentage in program history. Birnbrich ended her career with a .308 hitting percentage, good for second in program history. Off the court, nine student-athletes earned Academic All-MAC honors, tied for most among MAC volleyball programs.

    Oliver's first year that saw plenty of highlights on the court. Junior Zoe Birnbrich earned second-team All-MAC honors, and senior Maurissa Leonard capped an extraordinary career by setting the program’s career and single-season digs records in 2018. Toledo also excelled off the court in Oliver’s first season as well. Nine players earned Academic All-MAC honors, and the team posted the highest team GPA in the entire athletic department in the fall (3.751). Eleven volleyball players made the Dean’s List that semester.

    Oliver came to Toledo from Indiana, where he spent two years as an assistant coach and recruiting coordinator for the Hoosiers. Prior to that, he was the head coach at High Point from 2009-16.

    Oliver's stint as the head coach at High Point was the most successful in school history. He led the team to a record of 118-103 during his tenure, both the highest win total and winning percentage in program history. He led the Panthers to a Big South Conference tournament title and NCAA Tournament appearance in 2010. Oliver helped his student-athletes achieve 17 all-conference honors, two Big South Freshman of the Year awards, and seven all-freshman team honorees. Off the court, his teams averaged a 3.1 grade point average over seven years, reaching a high of 3.52 in 2015. Two of his former student-athletes were named CoSIDA Academic All-Americans, two were named Big South Scholar Athlete of the Year, and eight earned Academic All-Big South distinctions.

    At Indiana, Oliver assisted in leading the Hoosiers to a 21-3 mark in non-conference play over two seasons and coached Jazzmine McDonald to All-Big Ten honors in 2016. As the team's recruiting coordinator, he helped put together a 2017 class that was ranked in the top 30 by PrepVolleyball. Oliver's 2018 recruiting class at Indiana was the most highly regarded in program history, with three top 150 players and the 54th-best player in the nation.

    In Oliver's three years at Dayton, the Flyers posted an 80-24 record and earned two NCAA Tournament berths. In 2007, Dayton went 33-2 and achieved a No. 12 national ranking from the America Volleyball Coaches Association, advancing to the second round of the NCAA tournament. UD spent 14 weeks in the top 25 and grabbed a national RPI ranking as high as No. 8 in the country. In 2005, the Flyers set school records in kills (2,143), total attacks (5.523) and assists (1,965). During his tenure, Oliver helped train two Atlantic-10 Players of the Year, two A-10 Setters of the Year and two A-10 Rookies of the Year, as well as 11 all-conference performers.

    During Oliver's time at West Virginia, the Mountaineers recorded their single largest win total in 13 years, improving from a 6-21 record during the 2003 season to an 18-13 record in 2004. Oliver coached two Big East All-Conference players, two academic All-Americans and three All-Big East Academic performers.

    Oliver played volleyball at George Mason where he was a co-captain and starting setter during his senior year. He led the team in assists and digs per game in 1997. Oliver set a school record of 99 assists in a match and tallied 1,638 assists in a season.

    The Thousand Oaks, Calif. native received his bachelor's degree in communications from George Mason in 1998 and a Master's of Science in Athletic Coaching Education from West Virginia in 2005.

    Oliver and his wife, Kelly, have four children: son Miles, twin daughters, Aurora and Kacie, and their youngest son Beauden.