Bio

At the end of his seventh season as an assistant coach for Simpson in 2019, Tony Sunga was named the interim head coach on March 9, 2020.

A Former Drake University head coach and veteran club coach, Tony Sunga joined the staff in April 2013.

Sunga brings more than 20 years of coaching experience to Simpson, ranging from high school and club volleyball all the way to the NCAA Division I level. Sunga is also familiar with Simpson and current head coach, Lana Smith. He spent the early part of his career as an assistant coach for the Storm and currently serves with Smith as co-head coach of the Central Iowa Select 16-Under Maroon girls team.

“I am very excited to have Tony join the program,” Smith said in 2013. “He has a wealth of experience as a teacher of the game and is an experienced recruiter in Iowa and the Midwest. Tony is a great addition to Simpson College.”

Sunga and Smith coached Central Iowa Select to the USA Volleyball American Division National Championship in 2012. The team picked up 10 straight wins en-route to the title, beating the Mavericks 900 club from Southern California in the championship.

Sunga comes to Simpson from Drake, where he spent two seasons as the head coach of the Bulldogs.

Prior to taking over at Drake, Sunga enjoyed three very successful seasons as an assistant coach at the University of Wyoming. From 2008-10, Sunga helped transform the Cowgirls into a contender in the Mountain West Conference. Wyoming saw a 17-game improvement during his three seasons on staff, going from five wins in 2008 to 22 in 2010.

Before joining the staff at Wyoming, Sunga was an assistant coach and recruiting coordinator at Drake from 2005-08. He also served as the head coach of Iowa High Performance of USA Volleyball during that time and was a volunteer assistant for Iowa State in 2004.

Sunga’s first full-time assistant coaching duties came at Simpson, where he was an assistant volleyball coach from 1993-1997 and an assistant women’s basketball coach from 1996-2000.

In volleyball, Sunga coched under the late Shelley (Scott) O’Meara, leading Simpson to an Iowa Conference Championship in 1994 and NCAA Tournament berths in 1994 and 1997. In basketball, Sunga served under current head coach and Director of Athletics, Brian Niemuth. He helped the Storm to three straight conference titles (1998-2000) and bids to the NCAA Tournament in 1999 and 2000.

In addition, Sunga has also been the head coach at Des Moines Lincoln High School (2001-04), and Hoover High School (1992-93), a graduate assistant at Drake (1991-92) and a volunteer assistant at Drake (1990-91).

Sunga and his wife Melissa have three sons: Michael, Phillip and Daniel.