Craig Choate is in his first season as an assistant coach at Utah State, joining the staff in June, 2019.
Choate is in his second stint at Utah State after spending the 2013 season as a volunteer assistant coach. He then served as the head coach at Snow College and Southern Utah. In all, Choate has 26 years of head coaching experience.Â
Choate came to Utah State after retiring at Southern Utah, where he spent three years as the head coach. Before SUU, he spent one season at Snow College, guiding the Badgers to a 20-7 record and a top-10 national ranking. Before his season at Utah State, Choate spent five seasons at Northern Arizona, where he coached nine all-Big Sky Conference honorees, as well as three Big Sky Conference Outstanding Freshman Award winners and two all-Big Sky Conference Tournament selections
Choate was the head coach at San José State from 1993-2006, where he compiled a record of 244-191, including five 20-win seasons. He is the longest-tenured coach in SJSU program history, where he is the all-time leader in victories and matches coached. Choate led San José State to three NCAA Tournament appearances and was named the WAC Coach of the Year in 1999.Â
Prior to his long run at San José State, Choate spent three seasons as the head coach at New Mexico State. In addition to his head coaching experience, he held assistant coaching positions at BYU, Cal Poly and with the Pepperdine men’s program.
As a player, Choate won silver medals at the 1999, 2002, 2003 and 2004 USA Open Volleyball Championships in Atlanta. He participated in the 1981 USVBA senior men’s division open championships and received All-American honors. He played club volleyball as a student at BYU.
Choate was an assistant coach at the Olympic Festival in 1994 and 1995. He holds memberships in the AVCA (American Volleyball Coaches Association), the USAV and has a CAP III (Coaching Accreditation Program) coaching certification.
A native of Los Angeles, Choate graduated from BYU in 1978 with a degree in physical education. He also earned a master’s degree in physical education in 1982 and a second undergraduate degree in history in 1984, both from BYU.