another 10th-place finish at the 2006 FIVB World Championships in Japan. The U.S. Men’s world ranking slipped from fi h to eighth. However, 2006 ended on a high note for McCutcheon, who married U.S. Women’s Na onal Team player and 2004 Olympian Elisabeth “Wiz” Bachman on Dec. 9 in Minneapolis. The U.S. Men’s Team flourished in McCutcheon’s first year as head coach in 2005 by going 27-6 and winning five medals in five tournaments. The team earned a silver medal at the USOC Interna onal Sports Invita onal in San Diego, Calif., gold medals at the Americas’ Cup in Brazil, the FIVB World Championship Qualifying Tournament in Puerto Rico and the NORCECA Con nental Championship in Canada and another silver medal at the FIVB World Grand Champions Cup in Japan. McCutcheon, a former Brigham Young University assistant coach, joined USA Volleyball as a full- me assistant coach for the men’s na onal team program in April 2003. A er leaving BYU, McCutcheon was the head coach of the Vienna Hotvolleys in Austria for two seasons. In his first season there, the Hotvolleys won the 2001-02 Inter-Liga, Austrian Cup and Austrian League championships. He also coached the first Austrian team to ever beat an Italian A1 opponent. McCutcheon’s love for volleyball developed in New Zealand where he played on the junior and senior na onal teams from 1986-90 before coming to the United States. He was also a member of New Zealand’s na onal team in 1996 and represented his country on the FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour in 1997. Copyrighted by USA Volleyball championship in July 2008 a er a bronze medal finish in the same event in 2007, the first me the Americans earned back-to-back medals in the annual event. The U.S. started the 2008 campaign in domina ng fashion by sweeping all five matches at the NORCECA Men’s Con nental Olympic Qualifier to earn its berth in the 2008 Olympics.
He played for BYU from 1991-1993 a er transferring from the University of Canterbury in New Zealand. In 1993 he earned honorable men on All-America honors. In 1992 he earned Academic All-Conference honors from the Mountain Pacific Sports Federa on. A er receiving his bachelor’s degree in physical educa on from BYU in 1993, McCutcheon played professionally for two years in Finland and Japan before returning to BYU to complete his master’s degree in exercise science in 1998.
The U.S. Men opened the 2007 season with a third-place finish at World League. McCutcheon handed the team over to assistant coach Ron Larsen for the 2007 Pan American Games in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. In 1999, McCutcheon received an MBA from BYU’s Marrio School of The United States finished 4-1 in the event, with its only loss coming to Management. hometown favorite Brazil in the gold-medal match. McCutcheon and his men won the gold medal in the 2007 Americas’ Copyrighted by USA Volleyball Cup, defea ng a young Brazilian team in the final. Then the United States hosted and won the 2007 NORCECA Men’s Con nental Championship in Anaheim, Calif. McCutcheon was presented with the inaugural Jim Coleman Award as the tournament’s most outstanding coach. In 2006, the U.S. Men encountered some bumps in the road to Beijing. Nevertheless, the team finished the season with a winning record at 18-14. In April 2006, McCutcheon and the team moved their center of opera ons from Colorado Springs, Colo. The move had many benefits as it put the team in the center of the men’s volleyball universe in Southern California and also removed the effects of Colorado’s high al tude on the team’s serves. But injuries and the disrup on caused by moving the team caught up with Team USA at FIVB World League, where it did not advance from pool play and finished ed for 10th. That was followed by
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