Thomas Malesky was named the 14th head volleyball coach in Triton College program history in June of 2019. The upcoming 2022 season will be his 33th consecutive as a head coach in the Region IV, one of the longest tenured coaching runs in regional history.
Malesky came to Triton after a successful 29-year run as head volleyball coach at Morton College in Cicero. At Morton, Malesky won 403 games and was twice named Illinois Skyway Collegiate Conference (ISCC) Coach of the Year in 1993 and 2001. He has coached over 80 all-conference athletes, 40 All-Region IV athletes, five athletes to be named ISCC Player of the Year and one National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA) All-American.
In 2020, he led the Trojans to their Region IV championship game appearance since 2004. The 2020-21 squad also had five members who earned NJCAA All-Academic honors and collectively as the group the team achieved a 3.21 cumulative GPA to be recognized as one the NJCAA Academic Teams of the Year.
During his over three decade run at Morton, Malesky has coached a pair of teams to the Region IV final four in 2000 and 2001. The 2001 squad won the Skyway Conference Tournament and finished runners-up in the region.
Malesky’s past teams have exceled in the classroom. His 2008 Morton team was recognized with the NJCAA Academic Team of the Year honors. Both success on the court and in the classroom is something Malesky looks to carryover at Triton to help revitalize the program.
“The challenge is to make Triton College volleyball respected and relevant again. Volleyball is volleyball still and you need athletes that can play. But what I was most proud of at Morton over the past several seasons is that we had outstanding young women both athletically and academically. These are the type of high character individuals we need to be a successful program long-term at Triton.”
In additional to his extensive college coaching experience, Malesky was equally successful at the high school level where he served as head boys’ varsity coach at Nazareth Academy in LaGrange Park from 2008-15. He won over 100 games for the Roadrunners, taking over a program that only won five games in a season as a previous high before winning 19, a school record in 2009.
Malesky has 16 years of experience coaching at the club level with First Alliance. He coached a pair of national qualifying teams finishing in fifth and ninth place.
In his 30 years of coaching, Malesky has had past boys players go on to play at institutions such as the University of Arizona, University of Illinois, Northern Illinois University, Lewis University and St. Xavier University. On the women’s side, he has coached players who moved on to Roosevelt University, Nichols State and Northern Iowa University.
Malesky is also a certified volleyball official with the IHSA and USAV (USA Volleyball). He has officiated at the Asics, AAU, JVA, and USAV national tournaments.
