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Post by cbusvball on Dec 3, 2019 20:46:32 GMT -5
I am surprised Geoff got fired after this year because it goes against the norm for the non-revenue sports where if a coach has success early, some struggles and the recruiting classes pick up. I am thinking of Tom Ryan (wrestling) and Jim Foster (women's basketball), specifically who followed this trend and were given longer with their highly rated recruiting classes after the couple of seasons of struggling. I have been closely following the program since my freshman year in 2008, so Geoff is the only coach I have known as a fan. I enjoyed watching his teams compete, especially when they seemed to always peak in the tournament during the Sandbothe run, but I am excited by the chance to take a step up as a program. Gene Smith has shown the ability to hire the right coach in a variety of sports and with the new arena, hopefully OSU is ready to pay for who he thinks is the best coach for the job. I know the recruits for 2020 all signed their letters, but I think they can get out of them due to a coaching change, so it will be interesting to see if any change their minds and who if anyone transfers out with the coaching change. When our women's hockey program was in the dumpster, he actually pulled aside an Assistant AD and made it their sole job to locate the best possible coach and to revive the program. Since then, they are a perennial Top 10 team and were an OT goal a few years ago fro making the National Championship. I'm curious if a similar strategy is employed here. Give the program focused attention and put in the manpower and resources to make the program nationally relevant like every tOSU team should be. As you stated, Gene has a pretty good track record here, so I'll trust in his vision for the program. Interesting, I knew that program made a giant leap forward when they changed coaches, but was unaware of that aspect of the story. I noticed that the release had a quote from an assistant AD (Janine Oman) and not Gene, which I found weird, but this is a possible explanation why. BTW. I have gone to most home games since 2008 and there hasn't been a Block O volleyball leader who could get the students as involved as you could during my freshman and sophomore years.
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Post by mnsports255 on Dec 3, 2019 23:10:24 GMT -5
When our women's hockey program was in the dumpster, he actually pulled aside an Assistant AD and made it their sole job to locate the best possible coach and to revive the program. Since then, they are a perennial Top 10 team and were an OT goal a few years ago fro making the National Championship. I'm curious if a similar strategy is employed here. Give the program focused attention and put in the manpower and resources to make the program nationally relevant like every tOSU team should be. As you stated, Gene has a pretty good track record here, so I'll trust in his vision for the program. Interesting, I knew that program made a giant leap forward when they changed coaches, but was unaware of that aspect of the story. I noticed that the release had a quote from an assistant AD (Janine Oman) and not Gene, which I found weird, but this is a possible explanation why. BTW. I have gone to most home games since 2008 and there hasn't been a Block O volleyball leader who could get the students as involved as you could during my freshman and sophomore years. Half the battle is getting the students to show up. Can always count on the block o diehards to be there, but the student section exponentiates when they are able to draw real student interest beyond Block O. When the student section is full you can normally count on them to be pretty engaged. That being said, OSU hasn’t had a good team since 2016, thus the only good student turnouts are going to be when the marketing team runs those match specific promotions and giveaways. The challenge now in getting the students to show up is combating how dang far away Covelli is from campus (esp South campus and East residential for all the upperclassmen) + just generally fielding a good team. With how well the football and the basketball team is doing now, students aren’t going to show up unless the volleyball team puts a similar product on the court (think top 10 team who can compete for DEEP tournament runs).
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Post by stanfordvb on Dec 3, 2019 23:27:40 GMT -5
I'm excited. I hope they get a really good new coach who's young and passionate and will takeover the program for years. They need what dani busboom kelly did for Louisville. A team picked to finish 8th in their conference and winning it all with a new coach. I don't think that will happen. But they have the talent coming in from the 2019-2021 classes to challenge these top programs in about 2 years. Ohio state is great to their athletes and if they can get a top volleyball program going there they would get almost whoever they want. Ohio state is a dream school to play at for most other top athletes, it's time volleyball catches up
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Post by rampageripster on Dec 4, 2019 8:56:46 GMT -5
When our women's hockey program was in the dumpster, he actually pulled aside an Assistant AD and made it their sole job to locate the best possible coach and to revive the program. Since then, they are a perennial Top 10 team and were an OT goal a few years ago fro making the National Championship. I'm curious if a similar strategy is employed here. Give the program focused attention and put in the manpower and resources to make the program nationally relevant like every tOSU team should be. As you stated, Gene has a pretty good track record here, so I'll trust in his vision for the program. Interesting, I knew that program made a giant leap forward when they changed coaches, but was unaware of that aspect of the story. I noticed that the release had a quote from an assistant AD (Janine Oman) and not Gene, which I found weird, but this is a possible explanation why. BTW. I have gone to most home games since 2008 and there hasn't been a Block O volleyball leader who could get the students as involved as you could during my freshman and sophomore years. Thanks for the kind words. It was a ton of work and certainly a complete passion project for me. Lots of really proud moments (like that first match against TTUN where we stormed the court with like 200 students to sing Carmen even though we lost). It is such a missed opportunity to not have a strong student presence. It doesn't take a ton of students to make a big difference in a match, especially in the more intimate setting they are now in. It just takes passion, organization, and grit.
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Post by rampageripster on Dec 4, 2019 9:53:02 GMT -5
Interesting, I knew that program made a giant leap forward when they changed coaches, but was unaware of that aspect of the story. I noticed that the release had a quote from an assistant AD (Janine Oman) and not Gene, which I found weird, but this is a possible explanation why. BTW. I have gone to most home games since 2008 and there hasn't been a Block O volleyball leader who could get the students as involved as you could during my freshman and sophomore years. Half the battle is getting the students to show up. Can always count on the block o diehards to be there, but the student section exponentiates when they are able to draw real student interest beyond Block O. When the student section is full you can normally count on them to be pretty engaged. That being said, OSU hasn’t had a good team since 2016, thus the only good student turnouts are going to be when the marketing team runs those match specific promotions and giveaways. The challenge now in getting the students to show up is combating how dang far away Covelli is from campus (esp South campus and East residential for all the upperclassmen) + just generally fielding a good team. With how well the football and the basketball team is doing now, students aren’t going to show up unless the volleyball team puts a similar product on the court (think top 10 team who can compete for DEEP tournament runs). The two years they are referring to (the years I was in charge of the section) the team went a combined 27-30 (including a 12-20 2008).... So it doesn't take a powerhouse team in order to get an engaged student base.
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Post by Brutus Buckeye on Dec 5, 2019 16:18:29 GMT -5
Who is the interim if they haven't hired anyone by Spring ball?
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Post by rampageripster on Dec 6, 2019 12:46:28 GMT -5
Who is the interim if they haven't hired anyone by Spring ball? I think Asst. Susan Halverson (or whatever her new name is... can't remember) is serving as interim.
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Post by Brutus Buckeye on Dec 8, 2019 9:58:18 GMT -5
Off-season Roster 5th Year Senior (2016) MB Jordan Fry (Kentucky)
Jr Seniors (2017) S Becca Mauer
DS Hannah Gruensfelder
MB Lauren Witte
Jr Sophs (2018) OH Mia Grunze
DS Camryn Moeller
OH Adria Powell
Opp Vanja Bukilić Froshmores (2019)
L Kylie Murr
OH Gabby Gonzales
MB Reilley MacNeil
OH Janaisya Moore
S Cecelia Rocafort
S Mac Podraza
Recruits (2020)
Rylee Rader
Emily Londot
Sarah Morbitzer
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Post by Brutus Buckeye on Dec 8, 2019 12:15:59 GMT -5
Any medical redshirts for 2019? Reilly Mac only played in 5 sets. I know that she was in a boot and a scoot by seasons end. Rocafort only played in 3 sets; not sure if injury related. Both positions saw quite a bit of platooning over the course of the season.
What was up with the sophomore slumps? Bukilic had been the top hitter on the team as a freshman iirc, but saw action in only 38 sets this year. Moeller was a 6 rotation player as a freshman, and only managed to muster 40 sp as a sophomore DS. Grunze and Powell both barely cracked 50 sets played as sophomores. Grunze got a lot of court time early in 2019, while Powell was out there a lot towards the end of the year.
On the plus side it seems that most of the Freshman got better as the season progressed; Moore, Gonzo, Murr, etc. Podraza might have hit a little bit of a freshman wall, losing starts to Mauer down the stretch.
Mauer has racked up at least a million starts, spelling a hobbled Hughs as a freshman, a distracted Dailey as a sophomore, and a puzzled Podraza as a Junior. Witte and Fry have platooned the MB position nicely, but both will be seniors and Reilly Mac is waiting in the wings.
What does the rotation look like next year?
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Post by randomfan on Dec 9, 2019 13:37:05 GMT -5
Any medical redshirts for 2019? Reilly Mac only played in 5 sets. I know that she was in a boot and a scoot by seasons end. Rocafort only played in 3 sets; not sure if injury related. Both positions saw quite a bit of platooning over the course of the season. What was up with the sophomore slumps? Bukilic had been the top hitter on the team as a freshman iirc, but saw action in only 38 sets this year. Moeller was a 6 rotation player as a freshman, and only managed to muster 40 sp as a sophomore DS. Grunze and Powell both barely cracked 50 sets played as sophomores. Grunze got a lot of court time early in 2019, while Powell was out there a lot towards the end of the year. On the plus side it seems that most of the Freshman got better as the season progressed; Moore, Gonzo, Murr, etc. Podraza might have hit a little bit of a freshman wall, losing starts to Mauer down the stretch. Mauer has racked up at least a million starts, spelling a hobbled Hughs as a freshman, a distracted Dailey as a sophomore, and a puzzled Podraza as a Junior. Witte and Fry have platooned the MB position nicely, but both will be seniors and Reilly Mac is waiting in the wings. What does the rotation look like next year? Bukilic struggled with consistency issues in pre-conference play. With a healthier lineup and deeper bench than last year, it seems that she was quickly relegated to Geoff's doghouse and given very few opportunities to redeem herself. I imagine that Geoff's short leash and quick trigger did a number on her confidence and only made matters worse. IMO, she (and the other girls you mention) have upside that's just waiting for the right coach to tap into.
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Post by cbusvball on Dec 10, 2019 17:33:12 GMT -5
Any medical redshirts for 2019? Reilly Mac only played in 5 sets. I know that she was in a boot and a scoot by seasons end. Rocafort only played in 3 sets; not sure if injury related. Both positions saw quite a bit of platooning over the course of the season. What was up with the sophomore slumps? Bukilic had been the top hitter on the team as a freshman iirc, but saw action in only 38 sets this year. Moeller was a 6 rotation player as a freshman, and only managed to muster 40 sp as a sophomore DS. Grunze and Powell both barely cracked 50 sets played as sophomores. Grunze got a lot of court time early in 2019, while Powell was out there a lot towards the end of the year. On the plus side it seems that most of the Freshman got better as the season progressed; Moore, Gonzo, Murr, etc. Podraza might have hit a little bit of a freshman wall, losing starts to Mauer down the stretch. Mauer has racked up at least a million starts, spelling a hobbled Hughs as a freshman, a distracted Dailey as a sophomore, and a puzzled Podraza as a Junior. Witte and Fry have platooned the MB position nicely, but both will be seniors and Reilly Mac is waiting in the wings. What does the rotation look like next year? Rocafort went through full warmups for every game, so I don't think she was injured. If I remember right, she was a late recruit, so was probably brought in more as a project/backup than a immediate player like Podraza. I think the main reason Bukilic was the top hitter last year was because she was the only player above 6 feet to stay healthy all year. I can remember Moeller playing 6 rotations only a couple of times last year and only out of injury necessity. Bia Franklin played a lot more as a hitter when Grunze got hurt and Powell had to move inside with the injuries to Fry and Smeathers. That team was so injured that I wouldn't read anything into the stats, because most games had a bench of only DS and the MB not currently in the game. Guessing the rotation without knowing the coach seems like a fool's errand but here is my guess. S- Podraza L- Murr OH- Gonzalez and Moore MB- Witte and Fry (maybe Riley/Rylee get a chance) OPP- Powell/Londot DS - Gruensfelder
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Post by Brutus Buckeye on Dec 10, 2019 19:01:27 GMT -5
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Post by Brutus Buckeye on Dec 25, 2019 22:08:47 GMT -5
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Post by Brutus Buckeye on Jan 1, 2020 13:03:18 GMT -5
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Post by azvolleydad on Jan 2, 2020 13:55:54 GMT -5
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