Jon Girten completed his seventh season as a Triton coach in 2024.
Girten first joined the Tritons' staff as an assistant coach in September of 2017. The 2018 season, the inaugural year of Big West Men's Volleyball, was his first on the Triton bench.
The 2024 campaign saw UC San Diego post a 12-15 overall record and a 6-7 mark in the Big West. The Tritons earned six victories over nationally-ranked teams including No. 5 Hawaiî, No. 12 USC, No. 16 CSUN (twice), No. 18 UC Santa Barbara, and No. 20 George Mason. UC San Diego climbed as high as No. 16 in the AVCA national poll.
Opposite Anthony Cherfan was an AVCA All-America Honorable Mention selection. He was also named to the All-Big West First Team while outside hitter Sebastian Lara earned All-Big West Honorable Mention.
In 2023, UC San Diego produced five All-Big West honorees. Senior outside hitter Ryan Ka was named All-Big West Honorable Mention. A quartet of Tritons were selected to the Big West All-Freshman Team including libero Evan Boyle, outside Josh Ewert, middle Jim Garrison, and outside Josh Schellinger.
The 2022 campaign saw the Tritons, who were ranked as high as eighth in the country, defeat a nationally-ranked team on seven occasions, which included back-to-back victories against No. 11 BYU on the road. It was the first time UC San Diego had beaten the Cougars. The Tritons also defeated No. 2 Long Beach State and No. 3 Hawaii during the regular season.
In 2021, UC San Diego won its first-ever postseason contest by topping CSUN in the opening round of the Big West Championship. The Tritons advanced to the title match by beating No. 1-ranked, undefeated, and eventual national champion Hawaii in the semifinals. The team was ranked as high as No. 9 in the national poll.
In a pandemic-shortened 2020 season, the Tritons posted a 14-5 record, the team's most wins during its NCAA Division I/II years. UC San Diego was ranked sixth nationally for three-straight weeks, the team's highest-ever ranking.
Girten coached at Mt. Carmel High School in San Diego for 11 seasons from 2007-17, initially for seven years as the junior varsity and assistant varsity coach, aiding in three CIF titles from 2008-10. Over the past four seasons as the boy's varsity head coach, he directed his squad to three-straight Palomar League crowns from 2015-17 as well as two CIF Division I championships in 2014 and 2016. He was named Mt. Carmel's Coach of the Year in 2016.
At the club level, Girten has been coaching with WAVE since 2020. Before that, he was with Seaside, which won a bronze medal in the Open Division at the 2017 Junior Nationals.
Girten was a two-year varsity player as a middle blocker at Mt. Carmel before becoming a two-time All-Orange Empire Conference First Team selection at Palomar College in San Diego County.
