Paula Weishoff is in her sixth season as the UC Irvine Women’s Volleyball head coach. The three-time Olympian saw four Anteaters honored on the All-Big West teams last year, including returning players, Marisa Bubica, Shelley Anderson and Cassidy Pickrell and has mentored nine Anteaters to a combined 14 all-conference honors and three All-America accolades.
There are few with Weishoff’s resume. A three-time Olympian, Weishoff also served two seasons as an assistant coach with the U.S. Women’s National Team and helped Team USA capture a silver medal at the 2012 London Games. Team USA posted a 7-1 mark in tournament action and a 30-2 record that year. It was Weishoff’s first appearance at the Olympics as a coach but marked a continued involvement with the national team that has spanned three decades.
She competed for the Team USA at the 1984, 1992 and 1996 Games, earning the title of Most Valuable Player of the '84 team in Los Angeles. Following a silver medal ’84, Weishoff was selected as the USOC Female Volleyball Athlete of the Year and her Olympic dreams continued in Barcelona, Spain, where she guided USA to a bronze medal and was voted the MVP of the ’92 Games.
Her career with the national team began in 1981, winning gold at the ‘81 and ‘83 NORCECA Championships as well as the 1995 World Grand Prix. She also captured silver at the 1983 Pan American Games and bronze at the 1982 World Championships, 1986 Goodwill games and the 1992 FIVB Super Four. As a player she also helped Team USA capture a silver medal at the Montreux Volley Masters in Switzerland and the bronze at the Pan American Cup in Mexico. Team USA handed losses to Japan, Germany and Cuba in its silver medal run and posted five straight wins in the Pan American Cup before suffering a loss to the Dominican Republic. The U.S. rebounded by defeating Cuba to reach the podium and secure its first medal at the Pan American Cup since 2004.
In her first season with the Anteaters, UCI enjoyed one of its best seasons under Weishoff. She led the Anteaters to a 22-8 overall record, becoming the first coach since 1977 to lead the women’s volleyball program to a winning season in her initial year at the helm. The Anteaters set a record with a program-best .733 win-loss percentage and their eight losses are the fewest since UCI went 12-5 in 1978. The Weishoff era began with an upset over No. 6 California and the Anteaters went on to win three tournament titles for the first time in program history before opening Big West Conference play. UCI posted a school-record five consecutive Big West Conference wins en route to an 11-5 conference mark and also rewrote a program record by going 11-1 on its home court. Under Weishoff’s guidance, the Anteaters’ bid for a first conference title came down to the final Big West match of the season. UCI tied for second in the league standings and Weishoff mentored four All-Big West selections, including three All-Big West first-team choices.
Prior to becoming UC Irvine’s fifth head coach, Weishoff helmed the women’s program at Concordia University, Irvine, where she was the winningest coach in school history, boasting a 146-33 (.816) record. She guided Concordia to the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) national finals twice and the semifinals on two other occasions in her tenure. Weishoff was named NAIA Coach of the Year in 2008 after leading the Eagles to a 31-6 overall record and the national championship match.
She coached 10 NAIA All-Americans, including 2008 first-team selections Traci Weamer and Stephanie Scheele, and 16 of her players were named to the All-Golden State Athletic Conference team during her tenure at Concordia.
She was part of three Division I national titles at USC - one as a player in 1980 and two as an assistant coach (2002 and 2003). She began her coaching career at USC (1997-04), serving as the primary recruiting coordinator for seven years before being promoted to associate head coach in 2003. Weishoff was inducted into the USC Hall of Fame in 2005.
Her playing career took her overseas to Japan, Brazil and Italy, where she continued to showcase her talent. Weishoff was named the MVP after leading the Daiei Volleyball Club (Japan) to the 1995 pro league championship. She was a four-time MVP in Italy (1986-89) and spent 10 years playing for various teams in the Italian First (A1) Division.
The former middle blocker has been involved with USA Volleyball as a coach for more than a decade (1998-present) and joined the organization in 1998 as an instructor for the USA High Performance Camp. She was an assistant on the youth national team that won the silver medal at the 2000 NORCECA Youth Tournament and captured gold as an assistant with the A2 training team in Atlanta in 2003. In 2008 Weishoff led the juniors team to gold at the NORCECA Women’s Junior Tournament.
Weishoff was inducted into the USA Volleyball Hall of Fame in 1998 and received the All-Time Great Player Award that same year. She was also named to the USA Volleyball 75th Anniversary All-Era (1978-2002) Team in 2003.
A graduate of West Torrance High School, she lettered in volleyball, track, soccer and softball. She won a silver medal in volleyball at the 1979 U.S. Olympic Festival and was named MVP at the 1980 U.S. Junior Olympics.
Following her competitive career, Weishoff returned to USC and graduated in 2000 with a bachelor's degree in humanities and a minor in business.
Weishoff and her husband, Karl Hanold, reside in Huntington Beach.
