Burch named OSU men's volleyball coach

Ohio State named Kevin Burch as its men’s volleyball coach Tuesday, succeeding Pete Hanson, who retired last month after 35 years as coach.

Burch, a 2011 Ohio State graduate, has been an assistant under Hanson since 2015. The next year, the Buckeyes won the first of two consecutive national championships. Burch was a volunteer assistant coach for the Buckeyes’ 2011 national title team.

In fact, Burch has been a part of national championship teams every year since his graduation. He was an assistant coach for Division III Springfield (Massachusetts) College when it won the men’s title in 2012 and ’14, was an assistant coach for the California Irvine men’s title team in 2013 and was director of operations for the 2015 Penn State women’s team, which won it in 2015.

“I’m honored and grateful to be presented this responsibility at an institution that is dear to my heart,” Burch said in a prepared statement.

Burch is a California native. His grandfather earned three degrees from Ohio State in the 1950s.

“Kevin Burch has constructed a blueprint for the men’s volleyball program built on the same pillars and goals utilized as the foundation to our strategic plan,” said deputy athletic director Janine Oman, the men’s volleyball administrator.