Dan O'Keefe

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Dan O’Keefe joined the Clemson volleyball staff in January of 2022 after being hired by head coach Jackie Simpson Kirr. O’Keefe, who was an outside hitter at Saint Xavier’s, joined the staff after previously serving as an assistant coach at Wright State. He will serve as Clemson’s recruiting coordinator and spearhead the Tigers’ offensive efforts.

The 2023 season saw the Tigers hit their stride by making their second-consecutive NIVC postseason appearance and advancing to the Quarterfinals. Clemson finished with 271 total blocks. 71 block solos and 2.24 per set to mark the most by the team since 2014 and also tallied 195 aces for the most since 2004. The Tigers also finished with 1,442 kills for the second-most in the last five years of the program trailing only the 2022 season. Clemson claimed tournament victories at the Big Orange Bash and Tulane Invitational. A strong start in preseason helped the team clock in at No. 51 in the first official RPI of 2023 and had the team climbing to No. 45 for the highest program RPI since 2008. During ACC play, the Tigers won three-consecutive ACC matches to mark the most consecutive win since 2019, that included sweeps against Syracuse and Boston College. Individually on the season, O’Keefe guided freshman Kennedy Wagner to earn ACC Freshman of the Week honors after opening the 2023 season with 32 kills during the Big Orange Bash.

In his first season with the Tigers, O’Keefe helped guide the Tigers to the most kills (1,575) and kills per set (12.91) since 2018. The Clemson offense elevated itself by producing 4,288 total attacks, the most by the Tigers since 2013. Junior Camryn Hannah clocked 394 kills (3.43/set) under O’Keefe’s guidance en route to earning All-ACC Second Team honors. With O’Keefe’s help, Clemson clocked 18 kills in the first set against then-No. 2 Louisville for the second-most kills in a single-set against the Cardinals since the Tigers tallied 22 in 2014. The offensive intensity helped the Tigers make their first postseason berth since 2018 by appearing in the 2022 NIVC.

As an assistant at Wright State, O’Keefe helped lead the Raiders to a 79-30 record during his tenure. In his first year at WSU, the team made its first Horizon League Tournament appearance in a decade. The Raiders made the Horizon League Tournament every year during O’Keefe’s four seasons and posted 21 All-Horizon League selections over that span.

With O’Keefe as an assistant, Wright State made waves throughout the athletic department and NCAA Volleyball. In only his second season, the Raiders won the program’s first Horizon League Regular Season title and earned the athletic department’s first ever at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament finishing with a final RPI of 46.

In 2020, WSU won both the Horizon League regular season, posting a perfect 14-0 record, and the Horizon League tournament title. Wright State garnered its second-consecutive NCAA Tournament appearance and earned the first NCAA Tournament win in Horizon League Conference history defeating Samford in a three-set sweep. The Raiders finished the year being named a Top 50 Program by the AVCA and had received votes for seven weeks in the AVCA Coaches Top 25 Poll.

In his final season at Wright State, O’Keefe helped guide libero Jenna Story to her third Horizon League Defensive Player of the Year award and her third consecutive All-Northeast Region Honorable Mention nod. He also led the program’s recruiting efforts, assisted with practice planning and implementation, assisted with yearly fundraising efforts and alumni engagement and more.

Prior to his time at Wright State, O’Keefe was a volunteer assistant at Dayton for the 2017 campaign after graduating from Saint Xavier University. He coached six Atlantic 10 All-Conference players during his time at Dayton, including the Setter of the Year and Player of the Year. Senior middle blocker Amber Erhahon was also named a member of the AVCA Honorable Mention All-America Team after finishing the 2017 season ranked fourth nationally with a .422 hitting percentage and 54th nationally with 1.22 blocks per set. Her .413 career hitting percentage is a Dayton program record. The Flyers finished the 2017 season with an overall record of 23-8, with a conference record of 13-1.

O’Keefe has been an active coach in the club, high school, and local volleyball community in Chicago since 2014. During his time at Michio Chicago Volleyball Academy, he helped lead the Michio 17 National Team to a fifth-place finish at the USAV Girls Junior National Championship (17 Open) in 2015, followed by a ninth-place finish at AAUs (16 Open) with the Michio 16 National Team in 2016.

Before his coaching career began, O’Keefe was an outside hitter on the men’s volleyball team at Saint Xavier. He garnered Chicagoland Collegiate Athletic Conference Second Team honors and was a two-time SXU Student-Athlete Gold Medal winner. He was elected a team captain prior to the 2015 season and was named to the CCAC All-Academic Team each of his four years.

O’Keefe, a native of Chicago, graduated from SXU with a Bachelor of Business Administration with concentrations in marketing and management.