Under second-year coach Alan Knipe, the United States finished 2010 with a 14-7 record. Losing key players to injuries and family issues hurt the team. They finished eighth in the 2010 World League – where they were grouped with Russia – and did not advance from pool play. The U.S. placed sixth at the FIVB World Championship, suffering an emotional loss to Italy in the quarterfinals and falling to Russia in the fifth-place match. The United States had one of their best ever seasons in 2008 when they won the World League and Olympic gold. The U.S. team had been looking to return to the greatness it experienced in the 1980s and '90s when it won two Olympic gold medals (1984 and '88) and a bronze (1992), as well as the FIVB World Cup (1985) and World Championship (1986). A third-place finish in the 2007 World League and fourth-place at the 2007 World Cup led the team to believe it was on the verge of greater things. The side opened its 2008 campaign by winning the NORCECA Olympic qualifying tournament without dropping a set. In the final round of the 2008 World League, the United States beat Serbia against all the odds to take gold. They followed this up with a gold medal win over Brazil at the Beijing Olympics.

USA Volleyball named Alan Knipe its men’s team coach in 2009. He quickly led them to qualification for the World Championship, second place at the NORCECA Continental Championship and sixth place in the World League. In 2010, the U.S. finished 14-7, barely missing spots in the final round of the World League and the final four of the World Championship. The side finished eighth in the World League and sixth at the World Championship. Knipe took over from Hugh McCutcheon, who guided the U.S. to victories in the 2008 World League and the Beijing Olympics. Knipe was coach at the 2008 Pan America Cup, where the U.S. won gold.