The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
What was your volleyball upbringing like and what was your journey to becoming the Head Coach at Texas?
I grew up in Southern California and played baseball growing up. During my sophomore year of high school, a friend of mine asked me to play volleyball, so I tried it out and ended up on varsity by the end of the year. I fell in love with the sport. For college, I decided to go play at Pepperdine University and then after three years I transferred to Hawaii. After I graduated, I got into coaching at Cal State Northridge and shortly after decided to start my own club. After growing my club for two years, I was approached about getting into the college game, so I volunteered at USC and worked my way up over six years to becoming the Head Coach. Texas was always my dream school. I fell in love with the city while visiting my friend. I was incredibly fortunate to be offered the head coach position at Texas in 2001, and I’ve loved every day of my 21-year career since then.
How has this city and this University grown since that initial trip you made to visit a friend?
There were basically no high rises in downtown Austin. Then the tech side of things shifted, and this place exploded. The University has also changed over the years. The Texas Athletics senior leadership members such as Mack Brown and Chris Plonsky had a strong vision for our UT. They really created a one-of-a-kind brand behind Texas that has evolved into a larger than life deal. It has been a pleasure to watch this University take pride not only in supporting men, but also in empowering women by providing excellent resources for all sports. I feel extremely fortunate and lucky every day that I get to coach at Texas.
How important are donors to the success of your program?
Once the donors come and see our sport, they fall in love with it. There is a lot of pride in being a Longhorn. Once the donors come and see our sport they fall in love with it. I think every donor that has a daughter can understand and appreciate the importance of women’s sports, such as volleyball, and the way it has shaped so many lives. Volleyball is one of the fastest growing sports in our country and to keep that trend going on every level possible, especially the collegiate level, the support from donors is crucial. I think the alumni base and the donor base could work together to help accentuate the passion and success growing for Texas Women’s volleyball. All in all, we appreciate everything that the donors have done for our program.
What has been your experience with the Point Texas Club over the years?
We are trying to create a family in that atmosphere. We go and speak to the donors before games, and it’s been fun interacting with them. We have our die-hard fans who have been following us for years, but I would love to see that fanbase grow in the near future. I think opening up our program will help with this. I’d love to create a way for fans to have more behind the scenes access to our team so they can feel a part of the winning environment. I try to run this program like a family and that extends to the fans and donors – I want them to be involved in all our successes. It is always fun to be part of a winning program.
What do you hope to instill in your players after they graduate?
A big thing that we talk about in our program is being a Longhorn for Life. As a coach, I’ve been through some tough times, but in those tough times I think about my purpose as a mentor and a leader here at Texas. That purpose has been reinforced over the years, but at the end of the day I want my student-athletes feeling empowered when they graduate. I want them to think differently and hopefully encourage them to be better versions of themselves.
It has been a pleasure to watch this University take pride not only in supporting men, but also in empowering women by providing excellent resources for all sports. I feel extremely fortunate and lucky every day that I get to coach at Texas.
As a former student-athlete, can you speak to the impact a scholarship can have on a young person’s life?
Title IX has been huge in empowering women and giving them a voice. You see someone like Logan Eggleston who has crushed it on the court, but she has also plugged herself into the University and that has helped make her a very strong and successful young adult. Asjia O’Neal is another great example of someone who takes advantage of what Texas is – it’s not just playing and going to class. It’s utilizing the resources UT has to offer and enriching themselves by becoming the best person they can be. Yes, we are focused on them as student-athletes, but we are also focused on them as human beings.
What is the Texas Volleyball team looking like this year?
I am super excited about this group. The energy that we have and the experience in our gym is tremendous. We had a very successful offseason in terms of the transfer portal. We have a lot of experience paired with some great young talent. Most importantly, these girls want to be here. They want to be loved by Longhorn Nation and they want a shot at winning a national championship. Our big challenge will be getting them to mesh fast over these next four months. But we are talented at every position, and we are deep at every position. To be honest, if you split our team in half, you would arguably have two separate top-10 teams.
