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Provo • Carl McGown, a former All-America volleyball player and coach who led the BYU men's volleyball team to national championships in 1999 and 2001 and served as head coach of the USA men's team from 1973-76, died Friday afternoon.
McGown most recently served as a volunteer assistant coach at BYU under his son, Chris McGown, who stepped down after the 2015 season. Carl McGown was 79.
He coached the BYU men's team between 1989 and 2002 and compiled a 225-137 record while earning National Coach of the Year honors twice. He led the Cougars to nine top-10 finishes in 13 years and coached 18 All-Americans.
"Carl was a coaching icon in the volleyball community and was recognized worldwide as one of the very best teachers, strategists and innovators the sport has ever known," BYU director of athletics Tom Holmoe said. "Our thoughts and prayers are with [wife] Susan and the McGown family."
Widely regarded as the founder of volleyball at BYU, having coached the Cougars to three national club titles before they began NCAA competition in 1990, McGown was inducted into the American Volleyball Coaches Hall of Fame in 2010 and the BYU's Athletics Hall of Fame in 2011.
McGown also helped coach the U.S. Men's National Team in seven different Olympic games, seven different World Championships, the World University Games and the Pan American Games.
He was the athletic director at BYU-Hawaii from 1964-68.
McGown's death comes a day after BYU lost another of its greatest coaches, former football coach LaVell Edwards.
Twitter: @drewjay