Brian Toron, Daniel Gwitt Named Penn State Volleyball Assistant Coaches

Posted on by Ethan Kasales

Penn State women’s volleyball announced Tuesday afternoon that Brian Toron and Daniel Gwitt were hired as the program’s new assistant coaches on Katie Schumacher-Cawley’s staff.

Toron spent the last two seasons as Penn State volleyball’s director of operations after previous coaching stops at Delaware, where he graduated with a political science degree in 2015, Northwestern, where he was a technical coordinator, and Hofstra, where he was an assistant coach for two seasons before arriving in University Park.

Toron now steps back into a coaching role after being promoted by Schumacher-Cawley, who was named Russ Rose’s successor on January 10 following a nearly three-week national search. Toron has a strong analytics background and is well-versed in the many aspects of what it takes to recruit, scout, and manage the daily tasks of a high-major Division I program.

Gwitt was a member of the Penn State men’s volleyball team and graduated with a communication arts and sciences degree from the university in 2007. That same year, Gwitt took over as interim head coach of Centenary College of Louisiana. At the time, he was the youngest Division I head coach in the country.

After three seasons in Shreveport, Gwitt moved to Southern California and was heavily involved with the club volleyball scene out there as a director of operations and coach for two of the top programs in the state.

Gwitt spent the last four seasons as an assistant coach on Steve Aird’s staff at Indiana. Gwitt was recognized for improving the Hoosiers’ defensive play and helping to assemble the program’s highest-ranked recruiting class ever during the 2020 cycle, a group that checked in at No. 15 nationally, per PrepVolleyball.com.

Gwitt’s coach at Eden High School in New York was Robert Pierce, father of Penn State women’s volleyball alumnae Kendall and Lainy Pierce.

“I am thrilled to have both Dan and Brian on staff,” Schumacher-Cawley said in a release. “Dan is a high-energy coach who has spent time in the conference. He is a proud Penn Stater who will be a major asset in all areas of the program. His ability to communicate and train will be exactly what our team needs.

“Brian has had several roles in the college game. He is knowledgeable, energetic, and has a strong work ethic. He has experience as a director of operations, an assistant coach, and an interim head coach. All his experiences will add to helping each student-athlete on this team.”

The Nittany Lions enter spring practice with a fairly young roster that will almost certainly add some transfers to bolster depth before the season begins in late August.

Schumacher-Cawley further discussed the hires of Gwitt and Toron during her introductory press conference Tuesday afternoon at Rec Hall.

“These ladies are lucky to have coaches like Dan and Brian,” she said. “They both bring high energy, positive energy, are excellent coaches, are students of the game, and have tremendous experience from both of them, at some point, being a head coach to assistant coaches to tech and operations. They bring a wealth of knowledge to this program, and they’re going to be so helpful for these girls.”