Taras Liskevych Position: Head Coach Experience: Fifth Season Alma Mater: Loyola (Ill.) '70

Taras ("Terry") Liskevych (Lis-KEHV-ich), former U.S. Olympic women's head coach, will patrol the sidelines of Gill Coliseum for his fifth season as the head volleyball coach at Oregon State.

"It's not every day you have an opportunity to hire a person who is quite frankly a legend in the volleyball community," De Carolis said at the time of Liskevych's hiring. "Terry Liskevych has a wealth of experience at the collegiate and international level, and I'm confident we could have not hired a more qualified individual for the position. This is truly a landmark day for the Oregon State University volleyball program and the entire athletics community."

In 2005, Liskevych's squad showed dramatic improvement, if not with its win-loss record, then certainly with its hustle and determination on the court. In his first season at the helm, Liskevych began the season with a group that included two starters and several role players that were required to step up their games. Through the ups and downs of learning the ins and outs of a new team, a new coaching staff and a new university, the Beavers came together to show improvement in all aspects of the game allowing Liskevych to evaluate the entire program, to determine his needs for the future, both on the court and off.

The 2006 season didn't meet expectations in the win column but with his first recruiting class arriving on campus Liskevych did dramatically improve the athleticism and size in the program. Two rookies received Pac-10 All-Freshman Team honors.

The team took strides in 2007 upsetting a pair of highly ranked teams, including sweeping No. 10 Hawai'i on the road, which had never been done by an unranked team, and defeating No. 4 UCLA in Pauley Pavilion. A pair of players earned All-Pac-10 honors and Liskevych will return the majority of the team, looking for even more improvement in 2008 with his youthful squad.

Liskevych became the 10th volleyball coach in school history April 4, 2005, replacing Nancy Somera who left OSU after leading the Beavers for the previous six seasons.

"It is exciting to come to an institution that is part of the best volleyball conference in the country in the Pac-10," explained Liskevych upon his arrival in Corvallis. "OSU is an excellent university and I really like the vision of the administration. I knew that when I came back to coaching that I wanted to do it at the highest level and that is the Pac-10."

A Chicago native who has lived in California for 30 year, Liskevych spent 12 years (1985-96) as the head coach of the USA National Women's Volleyball Team. During his tenure with the National Team, the U.S. earned bronze medals at the 1992 Olympics and the 1990 World Championships. In 1995 Liskevych led his team to the gold medal at the World Grand Prix and he was selected as the Federation of International Volleyball International Coach of the Year. His teams also finished seventh at the 1988 and 1996 Olympics and fourth at the 1991 World Cup.

Liskevych is a 1970 graduate of Loyola University (Ill.) with a bachelor's degree in biology. He received his Master's of Science in Physical Education from George Williams College (Ill.) in 1973 and finished his doctorate in Physical Education at The Ohio State University in 1976.

Prior to his stint with USA Volleyball, Liskevych spent nine years as the head coach at the University of the Pacific from 1976-84. Liskevych led the Tigers to national prominence, finishing fourth in the country in his fourth season on the job. Pacific never again finished lower than fifth under Liskevych's leadership, including a second-place finish in 1980. The Tigers were undefeated NorCal Champions in 1979, 1980 and 1981 and Liskevych earned NorPac Coach of the Year honors in 1979, 1980, 1981 and 1983 and earned Pacific Coast Athletic Association's Coach of the Year in 1984. He also received the Collegiate Volleyball Coaches Association's National Coach of the Year award in 1983.

Liskevych spent two years (1972-73) as an assistant coach for the men's volleyball team at George Williams College before earning the first head coaching job of his career coaching the Ohio State men's team. Under his supervision from 1974-76, the Buckeyes were co-champions of the Midwest Intercollegiate Volleyball Association both of his seasons and he earned MIVA coach of the year both times.

Liskevych got his start in coaching women as an assistant for the USA Women's National Team at the Pan American Games in 1975.

"It speaks volumes of the reputation Oregon State University has that we have been able to attract a person with Coach Liskevych's credentials," De Carolis added. "He expressed interest immediately in the position and he welcomes the challenges of competing in the `Conference of Champions.'"

Since 2003, Liskevych had been the owner and president of Total Sports, Inc., a sports marketing and consulting company. Prior to Total Sports, Liskevych was the president and co-founder of ARK Digital Technologies, Inc., which produced and marketed digital video systems and developed software solutions for sports. In addition, he has spent time as a consultant for the Australian national teams since 1995.

"I missed coaching and the challenges of coaching and mentoring student-athletes," Liskevych said of his desire to rejoin the collegiate coaching ranks. "College coaching is very fulfilling and gratifying."

Liskevych and his wife, Nancy, have two children. Mark, who graduated from the University of Chicago in June 2008 and lives in Chicago, and Krista, a senior soccer player at the University of Wisconsin.