Wilson High School announced the hiring of Gerald Aquiningoc as its new girls’ volleyball head coach, replacing the departed Carlos Briceno who spent the last decade at the helm of the program.
“Wilson is proud to bring on Gerald Aquiningoc as the new girls’ volleyball coach,” said Wilson Athletic Director Warren Smitheran in a statement. “He was impressive throughout the interview process. We loved his energy and enthusiasm about the sport of volleyball and developing student athletes both on and off the court. I am confident Gerald will have our team competing at the highest level. Our goal is to develop and graduate champions. Welcome Coach Aquiningoc to the Bruin family!”
A fixture in the local volleyball community as Director of the Long Beach Volleyball Club, Aquiningoc is eager to take over the Bruins program and be a head coach in the Moore League.
“I’m really excited and grateful, man,” Aquiningoc said about taking over at Wilson. “I know Carlos, so when he stepped down, it was really surprising. The Moore League has a great tradition for volleyball and just to be considered and to be interviewed was awesome for me. And then to get the notification that I’ve been selected to be the coach, I was speechless at the time–it’s an honor.”
Aquiningoc brings plenty of coaching experience at the high school level, coaching at his alma mater Carson High School from 2010-19 and winning a pair of CIF Championships in boys’ volleyball in 2014 and 2019. He also led the Colts to the State Regional final in 2019 and won CIF LA City Section Coach of the Year honors in Division I that year.
As a girls’ volleyball coach, Aquiningioc led San Pedro High to a Division I CIF title in 2018, also claiming Coach of the Year honors after that season.
Also on his resume, Aquiningoc served as an assistant men’s volleyball coach at LBCC in 2020, and he is also an advisor and talent scout for the Guam Men’s National Team.
Aquiningoc says he’s discussed the future of the program with Briceno, and acknowledges that with 11 departing seniors in the Class of 2021 the Bruins will be young this fall. Especially considering that last year’s high school girls’ volleyball season was canceled due to COVID-19, the challenge becomes even greater for a new coach with an inexperienced squad.
“We’re coming off a COVID year and girls haven’t played in a whole year if they’re not playing club or travel ball,” he said. “So just having to teach everybody, re-teach everybody, is going to be a challenge. But I have a three to four year plan, I have a system that I’m going to implement that my staff and I teach, and we’re looking to build a culture the way we want. And it’ll start to pay off, hopefully sooner than later.”
