GRAND ISLAND, Neb. — Grand Island Central Catholic is bringing on a former college head coach to replace the winningest high school coach in Nebraska history.

The school announced Wednesday that it hired Trey Salinas as its head volleyball coach. He replaces Sharon Zavala, who retired in December after 49 seasons and 1,117 wins.

“Trey brings an awesome amount of experience to our volleyball program,” Superintendent Dr. Jordan Engle said in a statement. “With the retirement of esteemed coach Sharon Zavala, we’re pleased to have a great new head coach coming in to take the reins at GICC.”

Salinas was the head coach at the University of Illinois Springfield, a Div. ll school, from 2015-2020. Over six seasons, he posted an 87-93 record and was the most successful coach in program history. He guided his squad to the conference tournament semifinals twice and won the conference regular season crown with a 25-8 record in 2018. 

His family relocated to Grand Island last month.

“I find Grand Island Central Catholic to be a unique opportunity to not only mentor and develop athletes to be champions, but also cultivate and foster an athlete’s relationship with Christ,” Salinas said.

Prior to UIS, Salinas worked as an assistant coach at Belmont Abbey (NC) College, Metro State University of Denver and Bishop Machebeuf (CO) High School.

Salinas’ wife, Tina (Dimmitt), will be associate head coach at GICC. She is an Ord native and was an all-American at Hastings College. She has previous coaching experience at UIS, South Point (NC) High School and Bishop Machebeuf High School.