Coaches

JASON MANSFIELD
Head Coach

Jason Mansfield, who has been a part of seven NCAA Final Fours and one national championship during stints at Stanford and Washington, enters his first season at the helm of the Kansas State volleyball program after being selected as the ninth head coach on Dec. 27, 2022.

One of the most experienced and accomplished assistant coaches in the country, Mansfield has mentored a total of 25 individual players that have earned 65 All-America honors during his 20 years of coaching and has coached five athletes that have gone on to compete in the Olympic Games for Team USA.

In his five seasons at Washington, Mansfield helped the Huskies advance to the Sweet 16 of the NCAA Tournament four times, the Elite Eight in 2019, and then to the Final Four in the spring of 2021. His work with the outside hitters netted seven All-America honors for three Huskies: Kara Bajema, Samantha Drechsel, and Claire Hoffman, with Bajema and Drechsel each garnering first-team status. Bajema broke the UW single season kills record in 2019 and ranked fourth in the NCAA with 597 and has since gone on to a stellar pro career overseas and a spot on the U.S. Senior National Team. Hoffman landed on the second team in 2020 and 2022 and was a third-team selection in 2021. With her third All-America honor, Hoffman joined an elite group of Husky outside hitters with three or more All-America honors.

As an assistant coach at Stanford working with AVCA Hall of Fame Head Coach John Dunning, Mansfield coached 17 different All-Americans, four National Players of the Year, and four future Olympians (Logan Tom, Ogonna Nnamani, Foluke Akinradewo, Alix Klineman). The 2004 squad won the national championship, while the Cardinal advanced to the Final Four six times in 14 total NCAA Tournament appearances with Mansfield on staff.

At Illinois (2016-2018), he coached three more All-Americans in two seasons and another future U.S. Olympian in Jordyn Poulter. The 20 All-America players he coached at Stanford and Illinois combined for 46 total AVCA honors. In his second and final season at Illinois, the Fighting Illini advanced to the NCAA Round of 16, upsetting Washington in the second round.

Mansfield also compiled a stellar run as a club coach with the Vision Volleyball Club from 2000 to 2016 with his teams earning seven Junior Olympic medals, 26 Junior Olympic All-Tournament selections, and the club producing 19 Volleyball Magazine "Fab 50" recruits. His first volleyball coaching experience came at Foothill Community College from 1997-99.

Mansfield and his wife, Kim, have an eight-year-old daughter, Rylee, and a six-year-old son, Dylan. He completed his Bachelor of Arts in 2016 from Ashworth College.

STEVE ASTOR
Associate Head Coach

Steve Astor joins the Wildcats sideline in January 2023 as the associate head coach while also serving as the defensive coordinator and primary lead for player development.

Astor brings over 20 years of coaching experience to Manhattan, spanning over various sports at the collegiate, high school, and club levels. The Vanguard University alum spent the last three seasons at Pepperdine as the assistant indoor women’s volleyball coach and recruiting coordinator under head coach Scott Wong. He helped guide the Waves to three consecutive NCAA Tournament appearances with an overall 58-21 record for a .734 winning percentage.

In 2020, Astor helped Madison Shields to become just the sixth player in program history to receive the West Coast Conference’s top defensive award, earning WCC Libero of the Year accolades. Shields finished her career ranked in the Waves all-time Top 10 leaderboard in of four categories: career digs (9th, 1,152), single-season digs (5th, 457), single-season digs per set (6th, 4.31), and single-match digs (3rd, 34).

Prior to his time in Malibu, Astor coached as a volunteer assistant at the University of Washington alongside Mansfield as part of the Husky squad that reached the NCAA Elite Eight in 2019. His primary responsibilities were placed with coaching liberos and back row defense, while also serving as the in-game serve and pass coordinator. He also served a brief stint as a volunteer assistant for the UC Irvine men's squad.

Before making the jump to college, Astor most recently coached at the helm of the Corona del Mar High School where he led the program to an impressive 139-49 record, including six straight league championships from 2013-18. Before CDMHS, he was the head boys’ varsity coach at Newport Harbor High School and an associate head coach for the boys’ and girls’ programs at Laguna Beach High School. The Laguna Beach boys won the 2010 CIF state title with Astor as interim Head Coach.

At the club level, Astor spent eight seasons coaching for the Balboa Bay Volleyball Club from 2011 to 2018, leading his squad to a pair of silver medal finishes at U.S. Junior Nationals in 2012 and 2014. He also served as an assistant men's coach for Orange Coast College from 2008-11, helping the team earn state runner-up finishes in 2008 and 2009, and semifinal finishes in 2010 and 2011. While with the club, he coached with the likes of current USA Men’s Volleyball Head Coach John Speraw.

While at BBVC, Astor was also an Associate Head Coach for both girls and boys and Laguna Beach High School from 2006-12, leading the boys’ squad as Interim Head Coach for a part of the season to 2010 CIF and CIF State Regional titles in 2010.  He led the girls’ team to CIF D2 crowns in both 2006 and 2007.

Astor, a native of Tustin, Calif., earned his Bachelor of Arts in Organizational Management from Vanguard University in Costa Mesa, Calif., graduating in 2012 before he obtained his Single Subject Teaching Credential in Mathematics from National University in 2018.

FIONA FONOTI
Assistant Coach, Recruiting Coordinator

Fiona Fonoti is no stranger to Big 12 volleyball as the former Nebraska All-American joined the K-State coaching staff in January 2023 after serving as an assistant coach at West Virginia and Iowa State. Fonoti's will also be the lead recruiting coordinator while serving as the Wildcats' offensive coordinator.

Fonoti previously spent one season at WVU, following a three-year stint at Iowa State. In her three seasons at ISU, the Honolulu, Hawaii native worked with the defensive specialists and liberos. In 2021, Fonoti helped Marija Popovic claim Big 12 Libero of the Year accolades after she led the league in digs per set (4.56). Popovic also compiled First Team All-Big 12, AVCA All-Midwest Region First Team and Volleyball Magazine All-American honors.

Prior to her time in Ames, Fonoti was an assistant varsity girls coach at Punahou School in Honolulu, Hawaii as well as a personal setter coach at the Elite Setting Academy in Pearl City, Hawaii. Fonoti also spent time coaching in Hawaii at Pearl City High School and McKinley High School. She also spent six years as the head coach for the Lil Spiker Academy.

During her time in Hawaii, Fonoti was also a teacher, teaching math and special education at a variety of grades and levels across the past 15 years.

Fonoti, formally Fiona Nepo, had a standout career as a setter at Nebraska where she was part of the Husker squad that made three trips to the NCAA Final Four, including the 1995 National Championship. During her four-year career with the Huskers, she became a three-time AVCA All-American and three-time All-Big 12 First Team honoree, receiving Big 12 Player of the Year recognition as well as a finalist for the NCAA Player of the Year and Honda Broderick Awards.

To this day, Fonoti remains the all-time leader in single-season assists (1,653) and single-match assists (63) while ranking only second to current Husker Nicklin Hames with 4,824 career assists.

Fiona and her husband Chris have five children: Savion, Sylus, Serania, Sideon and S'hani.