A familiar face in Central Valley Conference volleyball is making his return to the court this fall. Pete Rasmussen, who led rival College of the Sequoias for 15 years, has been named the new head coach of women's volleyball at Porterville College.

“We are extremely fortunate to be able to bring in a coach with the wealth of experience and success that Pete brings to the program," said Director of Athletics and Student Programs Joe Cascio. "He is a proven commodity and will continue the success the program started to see under Coach Franks.”

In 15 seasons (1998-2013) at Sequoias, Rasmussen led the Giants to the Northern California Regional Playoffs nine times while capturing conference championships in 1997 and 2006. Also in 2006, he was named the CVC Coach of the Year. In 2001, he led COS to a seventh-place finish at the State Championships.

Rasmussen also brings extensive coaching experience at the club as well as high school level. He has served as club director for the Visalia/Junior Giants Volleyball Club, Sequoia's Junior Volleyball Club, and also coached for the Central Cal Volleyball Club and Sierra Pacific Volleyball Club. At the prep level, Rasmussen was boy's head coach at Hoover High School in Fresno and JV girl's head coach at Tulare Western.

As a student-athlete, Rasmussen stared for the Fresno State men's volleyball club team and helped lead the Bulldogs to a second-place finish at the 1988 Men's Collegiate Club Nationals. He went on to earn his Bachelor of Arts degree in mathematics from California State University Fresno in 1990 before completing his master's degree in sports management from United States Sports Academy in 2009.

Rasmussen replaces Holly Franks, who was recently named Director of Operations for the Fresno State women's volleyball program after serving as PC head coach for the last two seasons (2015-16).

Rasmussen inherits a Porterville program that is on the rise. In 2015, PC won just three matches, going 3-15 overall and 3-11 in conference play. Last season, the Pirates compiled a 10-15 overall mark and went 7-9 in CVC action to finish in fifth place.