Tony Trifonov - Head Volleyball Coach - Volleyball Coaches (2024)

Tanio (Tony) Trifonovwas named head coach of the Cougars women’s volleyball team July 17, 2020 and since his arrival he has taken the CSU volleyball program to new heights. The Cougars achieved the most wins over a four-year span (39), qualified for the Western Athletic Conference Tournament two times after not having done so since joining the conference in 2013, earned berths in two post-season championships for the first time in school history (NIVC 2021, 2023) and was named the WAC Coach of the Year in 2021 after the Cougars finished with a 17-11 record, which was the most single-season wins in school history. He recruited andcoached the 2021 Western Athletic Conference Player of the Year, Yanlis Feliz, who became the first AVCA All-American in Chicago State history and is the first All-American for the university since 1987. She was named to the 2021 All-Western Athletic Conference First Team and hammered 540 kills, the most in Chicago State history, fifth-most in NCAA Division I and most in the WAC in 2017.

Other career highlights during Trifonov'stenure at Chicago State and Florida A&M include a 3-0 sweep over Big Ten foe Indiana, a 3-1 win over No. 2 Nebraska, a pair of victories over Miami including a 3-0 sweep, a 3-0 sweep over No. 25 North Carolina, along with victories over LSU, Georgia, Maryland and Louisville. Along with those notable victories, Trifonov has coached two Olympians, four Pan-American games participants, one World Champion, two World Championship bronze medalists, one Pan-American Games bronze medalist and, most recently, coached Berenice Almeydawho was selected to represent Team Argentina in the 2023 FISU World University Games. He was inducted into the FAMU Sports Hall of Fame in 2012. He also qualified for the NCAA Tournament 10 times with Florida A&M and was the only MEAC team to win an NCAA Tournament match and only MEAC team to be ranked in the AVCA Top 25.

Trifonov came to Chicago State from Seward County Community College (Liberal, KS) where he posted a 63-10 overall record in two seasons (2018-19) which included a 32-0 Kansas Jayhawk Community College Conference (KJCCC) record.He led the Saints to their first-ever national No. 1 ranking, back-to-back National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA) Division I volleyball Final Four appearances and a national runner-up finish in 2019. Trifonov was named College Mid-West Region Coach of the Year following both seasons at SCCC and coached 12 KJCCC all-conference athletes, two KJCCC Players of the Year, four NJCAA Academic All-Americans, one American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA) second team All-American, two AVCA first team All-Americans and three NJCAA first team All-Americans.

Prior to his time at SCCC, Trifonov was the head volleyball coach at Florida A&M University for 21 seasons (1997-2018) where he accumulated a 378-218 overall record, including 206-10 in the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC), winning the MEAC nineteen times. From 2001-08, the Rattlers won 112 consecutive conference matches, the third longest streak in NCAA history.

Trifonov has shown development of players on the court, producing 45 First-Team MEAC All-Conference selections, seven MEAC Players of the Year, four Rookies of the Year, two NCAA All-Americans and an Olympian. As a coach, he was awarded the MEAC Coach of the Year six times.

Prior to Florida A&M, Trifonov founded the Florida West Coast Volleyball Academy where he helped over 30 athletics receive NCAA Division I volleyball scholarships while competing in the Junior Olympic National Championships.

Trifonov played volleyball in his hometown of Sofia, Bulgaria, and competed on the national level, participating on the CSKA-Sofia Junior Clubteamthat won three national championships and the Bulgarian Junior National team. He continued to develop as a player and moved onto the professional ranks, playing with Minyor-Pernik and CSKA-Sofia professional teams.

He crossed over into the coaching ranks at age of 21 and led the Minyor-Pernik Junior team to a national title and was also an assistant coach for the Academic-Sofia women's professional team that finished third at the Bulgarian pro league championship. Trifonov continued his playing career on the Bulgarian National team which placed sixth at the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul, Korea.

Trifonov earned a B.S. in Physical Education at the National Sports Academy “Vassil Levski”, Sofa, Bulgaria, in 1990.