Reusse: Hugh McCutcheon Knowledgable and Self-Assured

[Ignatius L Hoops]

Gophers volleyball coach Hugh McCutcheon a lot like Jacques Lemaire: Knowledgable, self-assured

Gophers coach Hugh McCutcheon spends 95% of his time with his long frame perched on a courtside chair, absorbing every action during the frenzy of a match.

www.startribune.com

The Twitter account for NCAA volleyball sent out a short video this week that was advertised as an inside look at a Gophers practice. The snippet reinforced the opinion I’ve formed in occasional interactions with Hugh McCutcheon during his eight seasons as the Gophers coach.

McCutcheon is strolling around during what looks to be a low-intensity practice. Casual though he appears, McCutcheon is taking in everything, emphasizing proper contact for servers, blockers and hitters.

“Make sure you’re not jumping through the ball, like yesterday,’’ he says to one player, and when impressed with another delivery, says, “That’s a spicy little number.’’

McCutcheon came here with a honored international coaching background. It took a while, but I’ve decided this is the comparison among prominent Minnesota coaches:

He’s the volleyball version of Jacques Lemaire, the Wild’s original coach.

Lemaire had an exceptional track record and no doubts about himself as a coach. His knowledge of the game assured Jacques that he was going to give his team the best possible chance to win. He felt no need to sell himself overtly to the public.

Those within the program say that, when McCutcheon gets worked up, it’s usually because of a sloppy, inattentive practice. Such a practice detours the idea of getting better through the course of a season, which is built around playing a rugged nonconference schedule followed by 20 matches — two most weekends — in the unforgiving Big Ten.

There must not have been many such practices in 2019 because this group appears to have improved more than any in McCutcheon’s tenure. For a while, the 2019 Gophers seemed to be the conduit between the Big Ten champions of 2018 and a 2020 team that will feature returning star power joined by a fantastic recruiting class.
Yet, here they are: Final Four, vs. Stanford, defending champion, and Kathryn Plummer, two-time National Player of the Year.