Athletics

Coaching Staff:

In her third season as Pasadena City College women’s volleyball head coach, Tammy Silva, 30, has brought a renewed interest and excitement in the sport at both the campus and throughout the state volleyball community.

In 2008, Silva guided the No. 19-ranked team in the state, directing the Lancers to a 16-7 overall record and a tie for second place in the South Coast Conference at 11-3. She coached the team to its first Southern California Regional Playoff appearance in seven years.

Silva was the site director for December's 2008 CCCAA Championship Tournament, an event that attracted more than 1,200 spectators at PCC’s home floor, Hutto-Patterson Gymnasium.

In 2007, Silva turned around a Lancers' program that only won eight matches between 2004-2006. She coached PCC to an impressive 9-5 fourth place finish in the South Coast Conference and 11-11 overall record. The team also placed runner-up at the San Diego City College Tournament.

Silva coached the previous four seasons at Citrus College, where she took a mediocre program and turned it into a state Top 10 team. In 2006, she directed Citrus to the second round of the Southern California Regional Playoffs before her team was beaten in a 5-game match by eventual state runner-up Los Angeles Pierce.

Prior to 2009, her overall record of 82-46 and .640 winning percentage put her among the elite coaches in California volleyball. In 2005-2006, she coached Citrus to a 36-9 record and two trips to the SoCal Playoffs second round. Her teams were ranked No. 9 in the CCCWVCA Top 25 Poll in ’06 and No. 12 in ’05.

Silva also coached the team to second place finishes both years in the powerful Western State Conference South Division. In ’06, her team went 8-2 in conference play and went 1-1 against WSC champion LA Pierce, handing that program its only conference defeat.

In 2005, Silva was named the WSC Coach of the Year as her team finished 17-5 overall. Her teams twice won the San Diego City College Tournament titles in ’05-06 and took second place both years at the Santa Ana Tourney.

Silva is strong at moving her players to the next level. She helped three players earn 4-year university scholarships in All-State outside hitter Kelly Fink (UC Riverside), All-WSC middle blocker Jen Washington (Cal State San Bernardino), and CCCWVCA Scholar-Athlete and outside hitter Lucero Vargas (Cal Poly Pomona). Fink was a two-time WSC Player of the Year. PCC’s setter from last year, All-SCC selection Vanessa Amran, is now at Whittier College.

This past season, Silva coached PCC's first All-Southern California Region selection in eight years in outside hitter Candice Price. Price, Ashley Marshman, and libero Marissa Rangel were all picked to the '08 All-South Coast Conference First Team.

In 2007, Silva coached four freshmen players that were selected to the All-SCC teams, including First Teamers Marshman and Price.

Before coaching at Citrus, Silva spent one year as a graduate assistant coach at Southeastern Louisiana University, a NCAA Division I school.

A three-sport star herself at Covina’s Gladstone High School, The 6-foot tall Silva (formerly Tammy Knott) was picked as the San Gabriel Valley Player of the Year for girls’ volleyball in 1995. In 1996-97, she was a two-time All-Foothill Conference selection at Citrus College, leading the state in kills as a freshman and earning conference MVP honors in ’96.

She earned an athletic scholarship at Southeastern Louisiana (1998-2000) and played both volleyball and basketball while earning her B.S. degree and then Master’s degree in Health/Kinesiology. She was an All-Southland Conference choice in volleyball, leading the team in kills and hitting percentage.

Silva is married to Shandon Silva, a football assistant coach who is on the part-time staff at PCC after coaching at Citrus College. The couple has one child, 3-year old daughter Savanna.

Silva’s athletic coaching ties don’t end with her husband, as her older brother John Knott is the head baseball coach at Bonita High, and her sister-in-law, Sasha Silva, is now an assistant PCC volleyball coach.