Branden Higa - Volleyball Coach

Branden Higa

Title:
Assistant Coach
Email:
bhiga@athletics.msstate.edu

Branden Higa is in his third year with the Mississippi State University Athletics Department, having joined Jenny Hazelwood’s Bulldog volleyball coaching staff as an assistant coach in March 2009.

A native of California, Higa coaches Mississippi State’s blockers and hitters and handles a wide array of off-court administrative tasks. Among other duties he serves as the staff coordinator for tape exchange and opponent scouting, MSU’s summer volleyball camps, and off-season team travel, assists with recruiting, and serves as Mississippi State’s primary liaison with the strength and conditioning staff and game officials.

The Bulldog assistant coach hails from Lancaster, Calif., and brings a wealth of experience to Mississippi State University as a coach on both the collegiate and club levels and extensive playing experience in collegiate and beach volleyball.

He joined the MSU staff in 2009 after having served in 2008 as head volleyball coach at West Los Angeles College in Culver City, Calif., where he oversaw the reestablishment of the schools volleyball program for women.

His other previous collegiate coaching experience includes a two-year stint assisting head coach Steve Stratos at Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles and a season (2005) as an assistant on the staff of head coach Brandon Rosenthal at Lipscomb University in Nashville, Tenn.

During his term at LMU, the Lions posted a combined two-year record of 35-25, placing one player on the AVCA All-Region team and five players on the All-West Coast Conference team and two more on the WCC All-Freshman unit.

The new Bulldog assistant also invaluable expertise as a head coach in the highly-competitive California club volleyball ranks, guiding the South Bay Volleyball Club in Torrance, the Santa Monica Beach Club in Sherman Oaks and the Santa Clarita Athletic Club. He has lent his volleyball expertise to numerous camps and clinics throughout the nation, including the Kevin Barnett Pro Performance Camp in Norfolk, Neb., and the Nina Matthies Volleyball Camp at his alma mater, Pepperdine. In 2008 Higa served as an assistant coach with USA Beach Volleyball in Los Angeles, the organization that selects and trains athletes for the Youth Junior National teams.

Higa played collegiately for three seasons at Pepperdine University in Malibu, Calif., where he earned a double major in international studies and public relations in 1998. He was a member of the coach Marv Dunphy’s nationally-ranked volleyball program from 1995 to 1997. His team finished third in the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation in both 1996 and 1997 and concluded the 1997 season with a No. 6 national ranking.

For seven years after his graduation at Pepperdine, Higa served his alma mater as Coordinator of International Programs and later as Assistant Director of the Office of International Student Services.

A graduate of Quartz Hill (Calif.) High School, Higa launched his collegiate volleyball career at Pierce College in Woodland Hills, Calif., where he was honored as the 1994 California Junior College Most Outstanding Player after guiding coach Ken Stanley’s Pierce College Brahmas to a 21-1 mark and a runner-up finish in the California Community College Athletic Association. He was accorded the 1994 Brahma Award for team leadership.

Higa, currently complete graduate degree work in sports administration at Mississippi State, is married to the former Tori Westphal of Scottsdale, Ariz. They are the parents of a son, Kainoa James-Paul, age 4, and daughter, Maile Rose, born in August 2010.