How San Diego Mojo Head Coach Alisha Childress Made the Jump From Player to Coach
Alisha Glass Childress made her professional head coaching debut with Major League Volleyball’s San Diego Mojo this season, becoming just the second head coach in franchise history. But she’s hardly new to the league. Just a year ago, she was the Vegas Thrill’s starting setter.
The transition from player to coach happened quickly. She competed in MLV through the spring of 2025 before stepping into her first head coaching role when the league’s third season kicked off this month, and now she’s making herself at home with a new franchise.
“I think that San Diego is a really good opportunity to really build something,” Childress said this fall ahead of the season’s start. “I think the organization and the community see the vision of what it can be to have a professional volleyball team in San Diego and California, specifically being so rich in its volleyball history.”
The timeline of her transition now allows her to bring fresh experience and a deep understanding of what her players are going through on the court, but MLV wasn’t her first coaching credit following her retirement last spring. This fall, she served as a coach during the Athletes Unlimited Pro Volleyball Championship, where she assisted a new captain each week and gained a head start in developing some player-coach relationships with members of her Mojo squad.
Five players on the San Diego roster competed under Childress during the Athletes Unlimited season: McKenna Vicini, Kayla Caffey, Taylor Sandbothe, Carly Graham, and Marlie Monserez, who currently ranks third in the league with 94 assists (8.55 per set).
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Playing Career
Childress brings a decorated playing resume to her first head coaching role. Her nine-year professional career took her across the United States, Italy, Turkey, Poland, Puerto Rico, and Brazil, establishing her as one of the top setters in the world.
She finished her playing career with the Vegas Thrill, competing in MLV’s inaugural 2024 and 2025 seasons. She earned All-League honors in 2024 along with Most Inspirational Player recognition from the league’s coaches and appeared in the league’s inaugural All-Star Match in 2025. Meanwhile, she also competed in AU from 2022-24, setting the league record with 1,167 career assists while adding eighth-best double-doubles and tenth-best 302 career digs.
Her international resume includes directing the U.S. National Team’s offensive attacks for six years. She helped lead Team USA to a bronze medal at the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio, where she earned Best Setter honors. She was also selected Best Setter of the 2016 NORCECA Olympic Qualification Tournament, guiding the U.S. to gold and an automatic spot in the Rio Games. Childress is a two-time USA Volleyball Indoor Athlete of the Year (2013, 2014) and earned gold medals in three consecutive FIVB World Grand Prix Finals (2010, 2011, 2012).
Childress played collegiately at Penn State from 2006 to 2009 under head coach Russ Rose, leading the Nittany Lions to three consecutive national titles and posting a 110-2 record during that run. She was a three-time AVCA All-American, three-time All-Big Ten Conference selection, and three-time NCAA Championship All-Tournament honoree. She concluded her Penn State career ranked fourth in program history with 5,800 assists and 12.47 assists per set.
The Transition to Coaching
The quick pivot from court to sideline wasn’t as jarring as it might seem. Childress found herself taking on coaching responsibilities during the later stages of her playing career, especially as one of the most experienced players in the gym.
“I think that as I’ve gotten older and became one of the oldest in the gym, I felt like I was half playing, half coaching, you know, sharing the things that I see, sharing maybe some technical changes, some strategic changes,” she explained. “And so it feels in some ways, very natural to now move into this space…I think it was part of who I was as a player, kind of in the later stage of my career, and so this feels very adjacent or similar.”
That recent playing experience gives her an immediate connection with the athletes she coaches.
“I think me, having played so recently, I really know exactly what they’re feeling. And I think when you’re coming from that place, it kind of has an instant connection, or an instant relationship built or trust. They go, ‘Oh yeah, she really does know what this feels like.’ And so I think when I come from that place, it feels really authentic,” she said.
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Coaching Experience
Childress brings previous coaching experience to the Mojo beyond her player-coach hybrid role of recent years. She joined the Stanford coaching staff in 2019 and spent two seasons on the Cardinal sideline, playing a pivotal role in helping guide the program to victory in the 2019 NCAA National Championship. She worked with future Athletes Unlimited and MLV players Morgan Hentz and Vicini during that time.
Before Stanford, Childress served as an assistant coach with the U.S. National Team during the 2018 Pan American Cup, where the U.S. rallied to win gold over the host Dominican Republic team. That roster included Sarah Wilhite Parsons, Molly McCage, and Justine Wong-Orantes, all of whom went on to compete in AU Pro Volleyball and now play in MLV and League One Volleyball.
Childress draws on every coach she’s worked with throughout her career to shape her philosophy.
“I think every coach that I’ve had has an impact on how I coach now. And I think there’s just a little piece of each and every one of them, whether it’s the competitive drive or the way that they plan practice, or the way that they treat their athletes and build relationships,” she explained.
The Mojo represent an opportunity for Childress to build a winning culture in a region with deep volleyball roots. She’s doing it with a roster that includes players who know her voice, her system, and her expectations after competing alongside or under her just months ago.
Siera Jones is the digital media reporter at Athletes Unlimited. You can follow her on Instagram and X @sieraajones.
