chattanooga MOCS

Darin was named Chattanooga's first head coach for the newly-established Beach Volleyball program in July of 2019 after joining the indoor program in June 2015 as an assistant coach.

As the head of UTC’s beach volleyball program, Van Horn has led the Mocs program to top three finishes in Ohio Valley Conference regular season play in each of the first six full seasons as an NCAA Division I sponsored sport, including helping the Mocs earn go back-to-back as Ohio Valley Conference regular season and tournament champions in the team's 2024 and 2025 seasons.

Subsequently, Van Horn and the rest of the UTC squad would go on to play in the 2024 and 2025 NCAA Beach Volleyball Championships hosted in Gulf Shores, Alabama. The team has attended the prestigious tournament now in two of the program's six years of existence.

The program's 2025 season under Van Horn proved to be one of the team's most historic seasons to date, as the Sandy Mocs toppled numerous program-bests over the course of the year. Posting a program-best 26-6 record, the Mocs finished undefeated in Ohio Valley Conference action, becoming just the second team in OVC history to ever do so, en route to capturing the outright OVC regular season title. Along the way, the Mocs would notch a program record total of 17 sweep wins, the second-most by any OVC team in a single season in conference history.

UTC proceeded to go back-to-back as Ohio Valley Conference Tournament champions, picking up three-straight victories over the course of the weekend before hoisting the championship trophy following a 3-2 victory over UT Martin in the title match. The Mocs were also able to pick up a plethora of postseason accolades from the conference, with the team bringing in 13 honors from the OVC including Neva Clark being named a three-time OVC Player of the Year, Clark and Corina Vale going back-to-back as OVC Pair of the Year, as well as Van Horn and his wife Juliana becoming the first-ever three-time OVC Staff of the Year award winners.

All five of Chattanooga's starting pairs would receive spots on either the All-OVC First Team or All-OVC Second Team for their efforts on the year. It marks the first time in conference history that a team's entire starting lineup received all-conference recognition. Additionally, Van Horn helped guide four of his five starting pairs to AVCA Top Flight status on the year. Going into the 2025 season, the program had only ever had one other AVCA Top Flight pair in the previous five seasons COMBINED.

Under Van Horn the 2024 Mocs team ultimately saw a total of 14 postseason honors come the way of UTC from the Ohio Valley Conference, including Chattanooga becoming the first team in OVC history to sweep all four major awards of Player of the Year, Pair of the Year, Freshman of the Year and Staff of the Year in a single season. Van Horn also would coach a pair of Mocs to earn AVCA Top Flight honors, yet another first in the Chattanooga beach volleyball record books.

Following the 2023 campaign, Van Horn led the team to a program best 19 wins after finishing the season 19-15 overall while earning a spot in the OVC Tournament semifinals as the No. 2 seed in the event. Van Horn helped guide sophomore Neva Clark to the 2023 Ohio Valley Conference Player of the Year honor to cap off a total of four All-OVC selections. Clark and partner Joy Courtright were tabbed to the All-OVC First Team while McKenna Faychak and Maddie Lecik earned spots on the All-OVC Second Team and OVC All-Freshman squad following the season.

In 2022, Van Horn led the Mocs to a 17-14 overall record as the team earned the three seed in the Ohio Valley Conference tournament and fell just two points shy of making the league's championship match. He was also awarded the AVCA 30-Under-Thirty Award in April of 2022.

Darin and assistant coach Juliana Van Horn were tabbed the OVC Co-Coaching Staff of the Year in 2021 after leading the team to an 8-11 overall mark and a 7-3 tally inside league play during its first full season as a program. 

Darin earned his degree in Kinesiology from Penn State in 2013. Van Horn also serves assistant coach for UTC’s indoor volleyball program, a position he has held with the team since 2015. He currently resides in Chattanooga, Tenn., with his wife Juliana Van Horn and their children Bronko and Stetson.

DARIN VAN HORN BEACH VOLLEYBALL HEAD COACHING RECORD