A primary strength of the Mesa MVB program, the coaching staff has over 60 years of combined experience in the sport, including Olympic gold and bronze medals, a pro league title, USA Volleyball National Team and High Performance program experience, NCAA D-I and D-II experience, six California state championships, and a California JC State Championship runner-up spot. They are incredibly passionate about the sport of volleyball, and in improving the lives of the student-athletes who represent SD Mesa College.
Head Coach John Landicho
Fresh off a CIF California State Championship and CIF-San Diego Section Coach of the Year honors, John Landicho is in his fifth year leading Mesa's mens volleyball program.
An accomplished teacher of the sport, Landicho is also known for his time in the championship volleyball program at Francis Parker School, where he is the current girls head coach, was the longtime top assistant coach in the girls program led by Olympic gold & bronze medallist Eric Sato, and also logged 10 seasons as an assistant coach in the School's boys program. In his 23 seasons at Parker he helped Lancer volleyball teams to 53 championships, including 16 CIF-SD Championships, five Southern California regional titles, girls CIF State Championships in 1998, 2004, 2005, and 2012, and four season-ending #1 rankings in San Diego County. His efforts in his first season as girls head coach, which resulted in a 37-2 season and the School's seventh CA state championship, earned him CIF-SDS Coach of the Year honors. He is a three-time inductee into the Parker Athletic Hall of Fame, as part of the school's standout 1998 boys volleyball team, as a member of Parker's 1998 girls state championship-winning squad, and as a member of the Lancers' 2005 boys volleyball team (CalHiSports.com 2005 State Team of the Year).
Landicho was an assistant coach & technical coordinator for the 2007 UC San Diego men's team, helping the NCAA Division-II Tritons to wins over two D-I Top-15 teams. Landicho has been an active staff member of USA Volleyball's High Performance program since 2001. He has coached in the last three USAV HiPo Holiday camps, helping train members of the 2010 and 2011 USA Men's Youth National Teams, and also coached in three HP A3/Youth Training camps. He is a past member of the coaching staff at Epic Volleyball Club, where his last team (boys 17-1) earned a top-10 finish at the 2007 USA Volleyball Junior Olympics. Landicho served as a technical advisor to the 1996 USA Men's Olympic Team, putting together the defensive scouting tapes the team used in the Atlanta Olympic Games. He helped Grossmont College's 2001 women's squad to a 12-0 Pacific Coast Conference championship as the team's assistant coach. Landicho has previously coached for San Diego, Starlings, and Seaside volleyball clubs, helping two teams to USAV Junior Olympic silver medals along the way, and has also coached at numerous volleyball clinics since 1991.
Landicho holds a Master's degree in Coaching and Athletic Administration from Concordia University, and a Bachelor's degree in Physical Education from U.S. International University. He is a member of the American Volleyball Coaches Association and has earned CAP Level I certification through USA Volleyball's Coaching Accreditation Program. Landicho and his wife Sandi are the proud parents of a daughter, Kimi, and reside in the east San Diego County community of Santee.
Associate Head Coach Sarah Munoz
One of San Diego County's fine young coaching talents, Sarah Munoz was elevated to Associate Head Coach of the men’s volleyball team at San Diego Mesa College in May of 2013, afer three years as the program's first assistant coach. She is also the first assistant coach for Mesa's women's volleyball team, and has helped lead the Olympian ladies to two Pacific Coast Athletic Conference championships and berths in the California state JC playoffs. In addition, Munoz serves as an assistant coach for the girls program at Francis Parker School, helping the Lady Lancers to the CIF Division IV State Championship in 2012, and is also an assistant coach for Epic Volleyball Club's 16-Sato team, led by Olympic gold & bronze medallist Eric Sato.
Munoz brings extensive playing experience to the Olympians. As a professional player in Puerto Rico, she led Toa Baja to a Liga de Voleibol Superior Femenino (LVSF) league championship in 2009. She earned four varsity letters as a starter at Virginia Tech University from 2005-2008. At Santa Fe Christian HS, she led the Eagles to a CIF state championship in 2003, and two additional state finals appearances in 2002 and 2004. Munoz was named to the All-State team in 2003 and 2004, was awarded the CIF Sportsmanship Award in 2002, and was named North County Times “Player of the Year” in 2004.
Munoz holds a Bachelor’s degree in Liberal Arts & Human Sciences with three minors in Psychology, Sociology, and Humanities & the Arts, earned from Virginia Tech in 2009. She is single and resides in San Diego.
Assistant Coach Ikaika Lewis
Fresh off a California JC state finals run with Grossmont College in 2011, Ikaika Lewis joined the Mesa MVB program in 2012 as second assistant coach.
Lewis served as a part-time volunteer assistant coach under Grossmont’s Hall of Fame coach Fred Featherstone, helping the Griffins to a state runner-up finish in 2011. As a player at Grossmont in 2009, he led the Griffins in ace percentage as a part-time starter at outside hitter, at the age of 30. Lewis was an All-Oahu Interscholastic Assn. first team selection in 1997 while playing volleyball for Kalani HS, where he was a three-sport athlete.
A US Coast Guard veteran, Lewis was the recepient of a USCG Commendation Medal for a solo rescue of a 15 year old girl, and earned other service medals for law enforcement and search & rescue duties. Now retired from the service, he is the owner/operator of Lighthouse Industries, a contracting company specializing in the implementation/construction of retail store interior design plans. An avid surfer and beach volleyball player, Lewis resides in Ocean Beach, where he and his girlfriend Kaitlin are the proud parents of a new baby boy, Kalani.
Consultant Coach Eric Sato
Olympic volleyball medallist and award-winning coach Eric Sato has joined the Mesa MVB staff, as a part-time consultant coach. Sato will assist with all aspects of the Mesa MVB program, with a primary focus on training the team's setters.
Known as the best defensive specialist in the world in the late '80's and early '90's while playing for the USA National Team, Sato is a two-time Olympic medallist (Gold '88, Bronze '92), and also owns gold medals from the 1986 World Championships and the 1987 Pan-Am Games, and bronze medals from the 1991 World Cup and the 1994 World Championships. Sato was also a member of two USA Volleyball Open national championship teams, and was also named Defensive Player of the Year on the 4-man pro beach tour in 1997.
As a coach, Sato has had success at the community college level; as the head women's coach at Grossmont College from 1998-2000, Sato led the Griffins to Pacific Coast Conference championships in 1999 and 2000, earning conference Coach of the Year honors both seasons. In his ten seasons at the helm of Francis Parker High School's Varsity Girls Volleyball team, Sato guided his squads to the 2004 and 2005 CIF Division IV state championships and four CIF-San Diego Section D-IV titles ('02, '04, '05 '06), while making six straight CIF Finals appearances. His teams also captured seven consecutive Coastal League South championships. He was named San Diego County and California State Coach of the Year for the 2004 girls' season, and repeated as SD County Coach of the Year in 2005. The CIF San Diego Section named Sato 2005-2006 CIFSDS Coach of the Year.
In 2003, Sato was honored by USA Volleyball as one of the members of USAV's 75th Anniversary All-Era (1978-2002) Team. Also a highly sought clinician, Sato is also currently the head coach for the girls' 16-Sato team at Epic Volleyball Club, and has previously coached for Starlings, San Diego, and Seaside Volleyball Clubs. Sato was part of the the coaching staff of the Karch Kiraly Volleyball Academy in 2007.