Joe Norton returned to George Mason men’s volleyball in 2016 as an assistant coach on head coach Jay Hosack's staff and will enter his seventh coaching season in 2022.
The Eden, N.Y. native was on staff for the Patriots' 13-1 EIVA season, the best conference record in program history. A former outside hitter, Norton works primarily with the pin hitters and coached three pin hitters to All-EIVA honors, two first-team and one second-team, in 2018.
During his first year back, Norton helped Mason win its first Eastern Intercollegiate Volleyball Association title in 28 years and get an automatic bid to the National Collegiate Men's Volleyball Championship. Norton was the only member on Mason's 2016 roster who had tasted a win against arch-rival Penn State before the Patriots took down the ninth-ranked Nittany Lions on Senior Night, April 16. A week later, Norton lifted the EIVA trophy with Mason at the Nittany Lions' den, Rec Hall, after a 3-1 win over Saint Francis (Pa.). Mason's memorable season came to an end on May 3, when the team fell to eventual national champion Ohio State in the play-in match of the NCAA Championship.
Norton spent five seasons with the men’s volleyball program as an outside hitter between 2008 and 2012, progressing from a redshirt freshman in his first season to one of the Patriots’ leaders in attack four years later. Norton accumulated 362 kills for Mason in 253 sets played across 82 matches as a Patriot and will be remembered with his thunderbolt serves, which allowed him to accumulate 41 aces in his intercollegiate career.
Off the court, Norton was an active member of Mason’s Student-Athlete Advisory Council (SAAC) for four years and was one of the 25 council members to represent the university at the 2010 NCAA National Leadership Conference.
Immediately after obtaining his undergraduate degree in Sport Management in May 2012, Norton began working as a strength and conditioning specialist at a local strength and conditioning facility while continuing his education. In September 2014, once he received his graduate degree in International Sport Management, Mason's former No. 5 returned to volleyball as the head coach of a U17 formation of Northern Virginia Volleyball Association. Soon after, the Eden, N.Y. native assumed the role of strength coordinator in the organization, helping athletes across all NVVA age groups prepare for competition and properly recover afterwards.
