UCLA's Al Scates

[history student]

I know Al Scates has coached some great teams in the past and won lots of championships. He's like the John Wooden of men's volleyball. I'll acknowledge that. But I've also heard some not so nice things about him. I'm not trying to start a bash Al Scates thread. Really I'm not. I don't know the man personally. Why is it that when people talk about great coaches in volleyball, they mention Marv Dunphy, Carl Mcgowan, John Dunning, Brian Gimmillaro, etc but I rarely hear the name Al Scates mentioned? I just want to understand. Is the perception that he;'s getting great players to play for him and therefore he's perceived to have such great talent that anyone could coach those boys to championship glory? Anyone who knows Scates personally or who understands the history of men's volleyball, I would like your input. Objective if possible. No slander please.

[roy]

Speaking personally, he kind of goes above and beyond just being mentioned as "great". Everyone you mentioned is a great coach. Scates is kind of the god of men's college volleyball. He has a phenominal program which he built from nothing.

The reason he isn't liked is possibly due to his success. He has 18 naitonal titles and the next closest school has around 5 or 6. I am not positive on exact number, but its still a far strech from the next closest school. With all those titles, every player wants to go there. Scates has a 30 man roster with a ton of talent, while other teams stuggle to get recruits. So, if you're a UCLA fan, you love him. But if you root for any other team, he kind of gets to you because of all the talent he has and his success.

[Will Rogers Beach]

uclabruins.ocsn.com/sports/m-volley/mtt/scates_al00.html

rollshot.com/z1AScates1.htm

Here are some links regarding Al Scates. Al Scates is the most successful active coach in NCAA history.