Grove was the Associate Head Coach at K-State from 2002-2022. He also assisted with the Wildcats from 1997-2000. From helping orchestrate the rise of the program in the late `90s to maintaining its success with Head Coach Suzie Fritz for 20 years, Grove has played a big role in K-State being one of the nation’s top programs.

In his 23 years as an assistant, a stretch that includes 15 winning seasons, Grove has helped lead K-State to 390 wins, 14 NCAA Tournament appearances, and a Big 12 Conference title in 2003. As the defensive coordinator for the Wildcats, he has also coached a number of great defensive players, including two-time Big 12 Liberos of the Year Laura Downey-Wallace and Angie Lastra, First Team All-Big 12 and AVCA All-American Lauren Goehring, and Volleyball Magazine All-American and three-time First Team All-Big 12 Kaitlynn Pelger.
In 2017, Grove made the switch to the offensive side of the ball serving as the Wildcats offensive coordinator which included a trip to the NCAA Tournament in 2021 and a top 3 finish in the Big 12 in 2020.

In addition to the role as the defensive coach, the California native is the team’s associate head coach, helping in the development of all phases of the program, coordinating and evaluating all statistical and video applications, creating opponent scouting reports and game plans.

Grove has coached many outstanding defensive players in K-State history, including Lastra, the most prolific libero for the Wildcats. Lastra finished her career atop the career digs list with 2,032 - a record that still stands. She holds multiple school records, including digs by a freshman and senior as well as digs by any Wildcat in a season. Lastra was also the first libero to be named Big 12 Player of the Week before the conference created an award for both offense and defense.

Grove also helped develop libero Lauren Mathewson, who recorded three of the top-six performances in terms of digs in a single season in program history. Matthewson, a three-time Academic All-Big 12 selection, is second in school history in career digs.

That trend of great liberos has continued with recent graduate Kersten Kober, who finished her career with three consecutive 400-dig seasons – including 2015 when she had 500, the seventh-most by a Wildcat in program history. Kober, the 2015 Big 12 Volleyball Scholar-Athlete of the Year, amassed 1,554 career digs to place her fourth all-time in the K-State record books.

During Grove’s first tour in Manhattan, he was one of the original members of Jim McLaughlin’s staff at K-State and a significant component in building the successful Wildcat program of today. He helped guide the team to a 60-34 overall record from 1997-99 and three consecutive bids to the NCAA Tournament. He was responsible for coaching the outside hitters, including K-State’s first All-American Dawn Cady and former Team USA alternate Kim Zschau. He also assisted with team travel and recruiting.

Before joining McLaughlin’s staff, Grove spent four seasons as an assistant coach at the University of Wyoming from 1993-96. During his tenure on the Cowgirl staff, the program posted a 54-64 (.458) overall record and a 25-33 mark in conference (WAC) play. In 1994, the Cowgirls posted a 17-13 record and advanced to the NCAA Tournament. He began coaching at Wyoming in 1993 after a one-year stint as the lone assistant coach at Weber State in Ogden, Utah.

Grove began his coaching career at his alma mater Azusa Pacific while still an undergraduate. He served as the lone assistant coach for the women’s team to help build the program into one of the top NAIA teams. He was also a player/coach for the men’s club team. He also has experience at the Olympic level serving an internship with the U.S. National Volleyball Teams.

Grove has assisted with USA Volleyball over the years, including serving as an assistant coach for the Junior National A2 Team in July of 2008, working with some of the top young talent in the nation. For 20 years, he was a floor coach/talent evaluator at the U.S. Collegiate National Team tryouts in Colorado Springs.

A native of Goleta, California, Grove earned his bachelor’s degree in communication with a minor in business administration from Azusa Pacific in 1991. He is married to the former Julie Abbott and the couple has two children, Kaitlyn and Jonathan.