Hometown:
Las Vegas, NV
Geno Frugoli enters his first season as the associate head coach for North Texas and returns to Denton after serving as a volunteer assistant coach for the Mean Green during Palileo's first year at the helm.
A Las Vegas native, Frugoli comes to North Texas after eight months as the director of the Vegas Velocity Volleyball Club. Prior to that, he spent three years as the director and head coach of the Dynasty Volleyball Academy and Community Center in Kansas City.
A 14-year collegiate coaching veteran, Frugoli last coached at the NCAA level at Southeastern Louisiana, where he led the Lions to the most wins since 2004 with 12 in 2013.
Prior to Southeastern, Frugoli spent four seasons as head coach at UMKC, gradually building the program into a competitor in the Summitt League. UMKC made a big jump in competitiveness in Frugoli's third season on the sidelines, as he steered the 'Roos to a 15-16 overall record and a 10-8 mark in league play.
The 15 wins marked the third most wins in school history, while the 10 league wins tied the 1999 squad for the most all-time. UMKC made a late season surge to qualify for the Summit League Tournament for the first time since 2003.
During the season, Frugoli guided UMKC to a series sweep over Oral Roberts. The 'Roos snapped a 34-match losing streak to the Golden Eagles with their 3-1 win on Oct. 9 before completing the first ever season sweep of ORU with a 3-1 triumph in early November.
The program also opened some eyes early in the season, when it took a game off of No. 23 Kansas State in Manhattan on Sept. 1. At the conclusion of the year, a pair of his student-athletes - Jamie Hagerman and Christiana McQuin - garnered Second Team all-Summit League honors. The duo were UMKC's first all-league honorees since the 2005 season and the first teammates to earn post season recognition since 2003.
During Frugoli's second season in Kansas City, he led the 'Roos to a 12-20 overall record and a 5-11 mark in the Summit League. The 12 wins more than doubled his 2007 win total, and they were the most victories for the program since the 2002 season. McQuin became Frugoli's first recruit to earn Summit League all-Freshman team honors after leading the squad with a .263 hitting percentage to go along with 233 kills.
In his first season with the Kangaroos, Frugoli guided the team to a 5-27 overall record and a 2-14 mark in Summit League play. The squad started out the season with a 3-3 overall record, and it pushed ORU to a five-game match in October before ultimately falling by the 3-2 score. It was the first time that UMKC forced a decisive fifth game with ORU since the 1993 season.
In the classroom, two of Frugoli's first three squads earned the AVCA Academic Team Award for having at least a 3.30 cumulative team GPA. In his three years with the 'Roos a total of 32 student-athletes have been named to The Summit League Academic all-League team and 14 were selected to the Commissioner's List of Academic Excellence.
Additionally in 2009, Frugoli's squad was one of just 49 teams in the nation to be recognized as a part of the NCAA's academic reform program. Prior to moving to UMKC, Frugoli was the primary recruiter at Baylor University for three seasons.
During his stint in Waco, he helped bring in seven players that were ranked among the top-150 and the No.1 player from the state of Texas. The Bears' 2006 class received national acclaim, as it was tabbed the No. 16 ranked class in the country.
During his time on the sidelines, Frugoli helped the Bears increase their RPI from 196 to a season-high 32 in 2006. Additionally, he helped the squad to several victories over top-25 programs. The team also thrived in the classroom, as it received several academic all-District awards with a team grade point average of 3.3. Prior to joining the BU staff,
Frugoli started the first men's volleyball program in the state of Nebraska at Peru State College, and his team was ranked No. 7 in the nation when he departed. He was also in charge of the women's program that was the conference runner-up with a 12-6 record in 2003 and advanced to the first MCAC conference final appearance in school history.
During his year on the sidelines, Frugoli coached one honorable mention all-America selection, four all-conference selections and three Academic all-Americans.
From 2000-03, Frugoli served as the head coach at Dakota Wesleyan University in Mitchell, S.D., where he led his team to a top-10 NAIA regional ranking. He coached six all-conference, one all-Region and five Academic all-Americans in his three seasons.
Frugoli also coached at the high school and club levels in Las Vegas from 1993-2000, including serving as director of operations of All Sport Las Vegas Volleyball Club, Nevada's largest club program, during that entire span. He compiled a 82-28 overall record during his time at Las Vegas High School. Additionally, his men's team won the 1999 conference championship, and he was voted as the conference's coach of the year.
Frugoli received a bachelor's degree in business administration from UNLV in 1992 and a bachelor's degree in education in 1996. He also earned his master's degree in educational leadership from the University of Sioux Falls in 2002.