Tony Trifonov was promoted to the Director of Volleyball at LIU in June 2026. Prior to his promotion, Trifonov was named the head coach of the LIU women’s volleyball program on July 17, 2025. Trifonov, the 2024 NEC Coach of the Year and 36-year coaching veteran, joined LIU after five seasons as the head coach at Chicago State University (2020-2024).
Trifonov guided the Sharks to a 20-9 overall record and a 15-1 NEC record in the 2025 season, claiming both NEC regular season and tournament titles along the way. The Sharks returned to the NCAA Tournament for the second time over the past three seasons, earned four first-team All-NEC selections, and had two NEC major award winners in Karly Klaer (Setter of the Year) and Miabella Musignac (Defensive Player of the Year).
Entering his 28th season as a Division I head coach in 2026, Trifonov boasts a 404-282 overall record (.589 win pct.). In 2024, he led Chicago State to the NEC regular season and tournament titles, while sporting a 13-1 conference mark, becoming the first team in school history to reach the NCAA tournament.
In his five-year tenure leading the Cougars, Trifonov won two coach of the year crowns (2024, NEC & 2021, WAC), set a single-season program record for wins (17, 2021), coached two conference players of the year (Patrycja Lagida, 2024, NEC & Yanlis Feliz, 2021, WAC), coached two All-Americans (Lagida & Feliz), and coached one conference setter of the year (Wiktoria Zagumny, 2024), all while his teams maintained at least a 3.0 GPA in every semester.
Trifonov is the only head coach in Chicago State women’s volleyball’s 30-year history to record a winning season, a feat he accomplished three times in five years.
Trifonov joined Chicago State from Seward County Community College in Kansas, where in two seasons (2018-2019) his teams posted a 63-10 overall record, a 32-0 conference record, and two finishes in the top 10 of the national rankings. In 2019, Trifonov’s team claimed National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA) DI national runner-up honors.
Trifonov built his reputation during his 21-year tenure as the head coach at Florida A&M University (1997-2018), where he posted a record of 326-219 (.598). Over more than two decades in Tallahassee, Trifonov claimed 10 Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC) Tournament titles, 10 NCAA tournament appearances, and 19 MEAC regular season titles. He coached seven conference players of the year, four conference rookies of the year, two All-Americans, and two Olympians.
At Florida A&M, Trifonov was named MEAC Coach of the Year six times. He was inducted into the school’s athletic hall of fame in 2012.
Trifonov first became a head coach in 1997 at Gaither High School in Tampa, Florida. He began his coaching career as a volunteer assistant at the University of South Florida in 1990.
Prior to coaching, Trifonov played professionally for 11 seasons and was a member of the Bulgarian national team that placed sixth in the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul, South Korea. He earned a Bachelor of Science in physical education at the National Sports Academy “Vassil Levski,” Sofia, Bulgaria, in 1990.
