Scott Kneifl is in his seventh year as beach volleyball coach at Wayne State College entering the 2026 beach volleyball season. He has guided the Wildcats to a 58-35 record in the six-year history of the program including four straight double-digit win seasons in 2022, 2023, 2024 and 2025.
The Wildcats continued to achieve milestones during the 2025 season, recording a 14-6 record to match the 2022 team for most wins in program history. WSC also won a pool play match for the first time ever at the AVCA Beach Volleyball Championships advancing to the Silver Bracket Division and finishing 11th in the national championship tournament.
Wayne State ended the 2024 beach season with a 10-6 record, posting a 3-3 mark at the AVCA Small College Beach Championships to end the season.
Under Kneifl in 2023 the Wildcats finished 12-8 on the season, going 2-4 at the AVCA Small College Beach Championships. WSC made school history on March 28th by hosting the first-ever home matches vs. Ottawa (Kan.) as the Wildcats posted 5-0 wins in both contests. The team was also recognized with the USMC/AVCA All-Academic Team Award with a cumulative grade point average of 3.80 while senior Jordan McCormick was voted College Sports Communicators Women's At-Large Academic All-American Second Team. She was one of just three beach volleyball players in NCAA Division II to be named Academic All-American.
Wayne State posted a 14-6 record during the 2022 beach season, the most wins in the short history of the program. The 'Cats went 3-3 at the season-ending AVCA Small College Beach Championships and captured the Bronze Division title. The team also was recognized with the USMC/AVCA All-Academic Team Award with a cumulative grade point average of 3.82.
Kneifl coached the Wildcats to a 5-5 record in the 2021 beach season and a second place finish in the Silver Division at the AVCA Small College Beach Championships.
In Wayne State's first year of beach volleyball the Wildcats recorded a 3-4 record before the season was cut short due to COVID-19.
During the indoor volleyball season, Kneifl has coached the Wildcats to unprecedented success resulting in 13 NCAA Division II Tournament appearances, 18 20-win seasons, two NCAA Central Region titles (2015, 2023), one NCAA Final Four appearance (2015), one NCAA Elite 8 appearance (2023), two NSIC regular season championships (2022, 2023) and one NSIC Tournament title (2007) in his 19 years on the Wildcat bench.
Kneifl, instrumental in getting beach volleyball added as a sport at Wayne State in the summer of 2019, has coached the Wildcats to records of 451-145 overall (.757) and 261-87 (.750) during the indoor season.
A native of Newcastle, Nebraska, Kneifl has also worked with many club volleyball programs that include Logan Valley, Tri-State and Nebraska Juniors. His 1997 Tri-State team won the regional tournament and earned a berth to the national club volleyball tournament.
Scott Kneifl earned his bachelor's degree from Wayne State in 1995 and obtained his master's degree in 2004 in sport management. He resides in Wayne with his wife Jennifer and their three sons - Jacob, Brooks and Jaxson.
Updated 7/14/25
