Next Volleyball Coach

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4EverAGopher said:
Now that Choboy has announced her commitment to Nebraska and not Minnesota, it is essential this program needs a TOP Head Coach. IMO this is a HUGE HUGE LOSS for the Future of Minnesota Volleyball, especially with the present player situation. We really really really need a solid back court starting next season.
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Yeah, that really stings.
 

She was never coming here.

Hugh leaving is the unicorn excuse she desperately was looking for. She would've had to make something else up.


Over her already, next.
 

Gophers_4life said:
She was never coming here.

Hugh leaving is the unicorn excuse she desperately was looking for. She would've had to make something else up.


Over her already, next.
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I trust your view of the matter. I think she is one helluva athlete though.
 

Gophers_4life said:
She was never coming here.

Hugh leaving is the unicorn excuse she desperately was looking for. She would've had to make something else up.


Over her already, next.
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If she was never coming here, why would she commit two year ago and not s@y anything. Not buying your thought on this. I think Hugh’s leaving is why she looked elsewhere. My fear now is how many OH with look elsewhere unless we get a couple of strong defensive players from the portal.
 

4EverAGopher said:
Now that Choboy has announced her commitment to Nebraska and not Minnesota, it is essential this program needs a TOP Head Coach. IMO this is a HUGE HUGE LOSS for the Future of Minnesota Volleyball, especially with the present player situation. We really really really need a solid back court starting next season.
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With Lexi Rodriguez already one of the top liberos, Choboy will probably be a junior before she sees significant time unless she's willing to play some DS.
 


www.startribune.com

Top volleyball recruit Laney Choboy switches commitment from Gophers to Nebraska

Choboy, generally considered the best libero in the country, said her decision stemmed from the news that Gophers volleyball coach Hugh McCutcheon will resign at the end of the season.
www.startribune.com www.startribune.com

"I understand why he had to do it," Choboy said. "Just like me leaving Minnesota, you do what's best for you. I think that's what was best for him. I was really looking forward to being taught and mentored by him. ... But there's absolutely no hard feelings with how it had to go down, and I'm actually really thankful he told me before I signed because now I had an opportunity to do what's best for me and look for other options."

Choboy said she stayed in contact with McCutcheon and associate head coach Matt Houk as she reopened her recruitment — taking visits to Texas and Nebraska over a whirlwind seven days.

In the end, she wanted a level of certainty that was hard to find with the Gophers because they will not be naming a new head coach until after the season.

"It was not easy when I called Hugh," Choboy said. "He actually called me [Thursday] and I had talked to Matt a couple of days ago, and I just really get emotional when I talk about it and especially when I talk to them. Just because of how amazing they are and how much they believed in me and the relationship we built."
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dlw4gophers said:
If she was never coming here, why would she commit two year ago and not s@y anything. Not buying your thought on this. I think Hugh’s leaving is why she looked elsewhere. My fear now is how many OH with look elsewhere unless we get a couple of strong defensive players from the portal.
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The rumor is that she only came here because Neb would not offer a 4-year scholly but Minn would.

Note: it's very common practice in volleyball to withhold a scholly the first year on the team, to allow the team to get around the rule of having to guarantee the scholly for 4 years. That new-ish rule allows the loophole if the scholly isn't given in the first year.
 







FredCoxRocks said:
It took Wisconsin a super senior-laden team to get their title. Thank you, COVID. :(
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Put an Anna Smrek and a Dana Rettke simultaneously on the Gophers roster and we will win a national title too.

Winning national titles is heavily about luck. It is just a bad measure when evaluating who is a good volleyball program and who is a good volleyball coach.
 



ecoperson said:
If WI and KY can put together the pieces to win, there is no reason the Gophers cannot.
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Probably not in the next 4 years she has to play and with a new coach as well it makes it even less likely. I get why she switched, she is going to play for the most successful volleyball coach coaching today.
 

As a reminder, there are 344 ncaa volleyball teams. I wager that if you look at the last quarter century, the Gophers are in the top ten, maybe top 5, of all those ncaa teams in total wins. The Gopher volleyball program WINS, is a WINNING, program, and wins way disproportionately to what we deserve to. Gophers volleyball has been fun to follow and watch for each of the last 25 years and I just don’t know why we don’t have happier, more content fans because… you know… it could always get worse.
 

ClassOf98Gopher said:
As a reminder, there are 344 ncaa volleyball teams. I wager that if you look at the last quarter century, the Gophers are in the top ten, maybe top 5, of all those ncaa teams in total wins. The Gopher volleyball program WINS, is a WINNING, program, and wins way disproportionately to what we deserve to. Gophers volleyball has been fun to follow and watch for each of the last 25 years and I just don’t know why we don’t have happier, more content fans because… you know… it could always get worse.
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It could get even better, too. Why not strive for that? A realistic goal each year can be building a consistently powerful program that's always aiming at the NCAA final four. If you get there and keep knocking at the door, then one year a big breakthrough may take place. That's what happened to Florida State in softball 3-4 years ago. After years of being close, they got red hot at the WCWS and won it all when, as I recall, UCLA was favored.
 

ClassOf98Gopher said:
As a reminder, there are 344 ncaa volleyball teams. I wager that if you look at the last quarter century, the Gophers are in the top ten, maybe top 5, of all those ncaa teams in total wins.
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Best I could find on short notice. not necessarily in order.

Penn State
Nebraska
Stanford
Hawaii
USC
Long Beach St.
Texas
Florida
 



Coyle hired Ben Johnson and Lindsey Whalen, neither of which with any prior head coaching experience, to run the bball programs.

But it is generally understood that he did so with the hope that both would be better able to lure in local talent, and build up the program with energy and recruiting, that way. And neither program, of course, is nationally competitive (or competitive for Big Ten titles, for that matter).


The major Gopher program that is most similar to volleyball, in that sense, I guess would be (men's) hockey. And there, Coyle went out and got St Cloud State's head coach.

So that would be grabbing a talented head coach of a nationally competitive program, from a lesser conference. Which, almost every other conference is lesser than the Big Ten in (women's indoor) volleyball.
 

Gophers_4life said:
Coyle hired Ben Johnson and Lindsey Whalen, neither of which with any prior head coaching experience, to run the bball programs.

But it is generally understood that he did so with the hope that both would be better able to lure in local talent, and build up the program with energy and recruiting, that way. And neither program, of course, is nationally competitive (or competitive for Big Ten titles, for that matter).


The major Gopher program that is most similar to volleyball, in that sense, I guess would be (men's) hockey. And there, Coyle went out and got St Cloud State's head coach.

So that would be grabbing a talented head coach of a nationally competitive program, from a lesser conference. Which, almost every other conference is lesser than the Big Ten in (women's indoor) volleyball.
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I would assume some of this is $$ related too. If you want a top tier proven mens bball coach (say Musselman) that is going to take roughly $4m a year, Johnson got closer to $2m. The difference between a top tier volleyball coach and a run of the mill option might be $150k, thats pretty stark. I would hazard a guess with the prominence of our volleyball program we would be willing to be a top 10 paying job, that will NEVER happen in bball or football.
 


mnvballdad said:
This is a really crucial hire for the program. The B1G is so competitive that it will be pretty easy for a program to slide to the bottom half with a handful of down years.
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It’s easy to throw around names (I especially like the idea of Dani Busboom Kelly), but we really have to figure out what kind of program we want to be. I typically would side with in-state, but it seems like college sports are trending away from that. Are we going to win with speed? Defense? Blocking? Are we going to bank on a small number of high-tier recruits, or shoot for a more balanced team? I love Hugh but I don’t think our program has matched our talent (stylistically), and that’s my biggest concern going forward.
 

IMGopher said:
It’s easy to throw around names (I especially like the idea of Dani Busboom Kelly), but we really have to figure out what kind of program we want to be. I typically would side with in-state, but it seems like college sports are trending away from that. Are we going to win with speed? Defense? Blocking? Are we going to bank on a small number of high-tier recruits, or shoot for a more balanced team? I love Hugh but I don’t think our program has matched our talent (stylistically), and that’s my biggest concern going forward.
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I think that the best programs are going to be using the portal A LOT. Look at Texas, Nebraska and Wisconsin this year. All of them supplemented with the portal and I think you're going to see that more and more. So recruiting is going to be mostly building the base and then going out and finding what you need in the portal. I'm guessing that DS/L is something that you can basically always find in the portal. So make sure you find your pins and middles recruiting, and unless you have a Setter that you think will be a 3+ year starter, you should be looking in the portal.
 

IMGopher said:
It’s easy to throw around names (I especially like the idea of Dani Busboom Kelly), but we really have to figure out what kind of program we want to be. I typically would side with in-state, but it seems like college sports are trending away from that. Are we going to win with speed? Defense? Blocking? Are we going to bank on a small number of high-tier recruits, or shoot for a more balanced team? I love Hugh but I don’t think our program has matched our talent (stylistically), and that’s my biggest concern going forward.
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The average fan, like me, may not know enough about VB to analyze it confidently, but even an amateur spectator can see a gradual downhill slide since 2019. A revitalization is needed.
 

Hrothgar said:
The average fan, like me, may not know enough about VB to analyze it confidently, but even an amateur spectator can see a gradual downhill slide since 2019. A revitalization is needed.
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I’m somewhere in between. I’m below average as far as how much I’ve paid attention historically, but this year I’ve watched most top 10 matches across the board and a majority of B1G matches. So, take everything I say with a grain of salt.
 




IMGopher said:
I’m somewhere in between. I’m below average as far as how much I’ve paid attention historically, but this year I’ve watched most top 10 matches across the board and a majority of B1G matches. So, take everything I say with a grain of salt.
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I wasn't criticizing you or taking it with a grain of salt. In fact, I kinda agree with you. It's just that I'd like to read something incisive from a VB insider, who really knows the sport and can explain the gradual falloff after 2019.
 

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