Coaching Staff

Volleyball - Head Coach

Email: Jason Smith

Jason Smith returned this past June to begin his second stint at the helm of the Matador Volleyball program, and looks to improve on the great success he enjoyed the first time around. Smith has spent the last two seasons as the lead assistant for the Lady Rebels’ Volleyball team, helping lead the Lady Rebs to a 16-win season during his first year there. This is the second time that Smith has left an NCAA Division I (and Mountain West Conference) program to come to the winning volleyball tradition at AWC, since he first came to AWC four years ago after spending three seasons in Salt Lake City, Utah as the recruiting coordinator and assistant volleyball coach at the University of Utah. When Smith arrived for his first head coaching stint at AWC in 2006, he inherited a very successful Matadors’ program-but one that needed a boost in the level of talent. Smith worked his numerous contacts to bring in a bumper crop of future stars, and despite still being a bit undermanned, Smith led the young, inexperienced 2006 Lady Matadors’ Volleyball squad to the school’s 7th straight Region I Volleyball title and a berth in the District A Finals against top-10 national power Salt Lake Community College. Despite the initial success, Smith didn’t relax at all that off-season, importing more top talent, and the ’07 Matadors won their first ACCAC Volleyball regular season title since 2004 and their 8th straight Region I Championship. The Lady Matadors’ quest for their first NJCAA Tournament berth fell just short in the District A Championship Game against the top team in the nation, Salt Lake, but their 26-9 overall mark was their best record since 2004. Smith’s overall coaching record at AWC is an extremely impressive mark of 46 wins and 27 losses, with a 27-9 record in conference play. Smith’s attention to detail was even more emphasized off the court, since both of his volleyball squads were named to the NJCAA Fall Academic Team of the Year lists, earning the honor by having a cumulative 3.0 grade point average or higher. Before first arriving at AWC, Smith’s recruiting classes at the University of Utah were some of the best anywhere. During his tenure, the Utes won the Mountain West Conference twice, and his ’04-’05 recruiting class was rated 8th-best in the nation. Smith came to Utah from NCAA Division II Ferris State, where as an assistant, he helped lead them to 2 20-win seasons and an NCAA Division II Tournament bid. Smith has also been an assistant at Iowa Western CC when they finished 10th in the NJCAA Tournament, and got his coaching start as an assistant and head coach at NAIA school Avila College. He’s also been a volunteer statistician for the United States men’s national volleyball team. Smith’s playing days were spent in Iowa at Graceland University, where he was a three-time all-region selection and played on several regional championship teams. Smith earned a bachelor’s degree in business and economics while at Graceland.

Jonathan Killingbeck

Volleyball - Assistant Coach

E-Mail:  jonathan.killingbeck@azwestern.edu

Jonathan Killingbeck is the newest member of the Lady Matadors’ coaching staff, having joined the ranks this January. In his five previous years of coaching volleyball, he’s seen and experienced nearly every aspect of the game of volleyball. Killingbeck came to Yuma for his first coaching foray outside of his native state of Washington after spending last season as the lead assistant volleyball coach at Whitman College, an NCAA Division III school in Walla Walla. Killingbeck helped supervise the Lady Wolverines in practice, the weight room and in the film room, while also spending a lot of time out recruiting. Before that, Killingbeck was an assistant and the director of volleyball operations at NCAA Division I Seattle University, where he spent a lot of time helping with recruiting, scouting and video editing. It’s at SU where he also learned the respected Gold Medal Squared volleyball system. Killingbeck also earned his Master’s Degree in Sports Administration and Leadership at SU, graduating with honors in the summer of 2009. Killingbeck first ‘cut his coaching teeth’ while he was earning his Bachelor of Science degree in Geology from Central Washington University in Ellensburg, Washington. He was a volunteer student assistant coach for two years, helping with practice, winter and spring workouts and video editing, and while he was at CWU, the Lady Wildcats reached the NCAA Playoffs both seasons. Killingbeck has also spent the last three years gaining extra coaching experience as head coach of four different club organizations on teams ranging from ages 15 through club teams at Seattle University.

 Jennifer Tagaban

Volleyball - Assistant Coach

E-Mail:  Jennifer Tagaban

The fourth season on the Matador Volleyball bench for Jennifer Tagaban means a return to working for the head coach that first hired her. Tagaban has been a lightning rod for Matador Volleyball success-whether she’s on the bench as a coach or on the court playing-since she’s been a part of 11 Matador teams that have reached the Region I Championship Game… and most of those teams went even further than that. Born in Pomona, California, Tagaban first came to Yuma while in elementary school, and it didn’t take long for her to get the attention of Yuma-area volleyball fans. She was a two-year starting setter for the Lady Raiders’ Volleyball team at Cibola High School, earning All-Southwest Region honors as a senior. The Lady Matadors first came into play for Tagaban in 2002 under then-Lady Matadors’ Head Volleyball Coach James Finley. She worked her way into Finley’s starting lineup, earning All-ACCAC Honorable Mention honors as a sophomore, and leading AWC to Region I titles, NJCAA Tournament berths and 7th-place finishes in the nation both years. Tagaban then decided to focus solely on her academics, earning her Associate’s degree from AWC and her Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration from Northern Arizona University in Flagstaff in December of 2006. She returned from Flagstaff and find that the love of the game was still calling to her, and was only too happy to make AWC her first coaching job when the AWC Head Volleyball Coach then-Jason Smith-came calling himself. Besides her two years playing at AWC, Tagaban also knows the volleyball floor at ‘The House’ well from her three years of playing club volleyball for Club Salsa under Finley and former Lady Matadors’ Head Volleyball Coach Kerry Messersmith on the same court. In addition to her volleyball duties, Tagaban is also a Residence Hall director at AWC.