BYU 2022

[mintonetteman]

I agree--very dangerous to assume why kids transfer. That being said, I do think 95% of the reasons are associated with playing time or prospective playing time in the future--so it is easy to make that assumption. The harsh reality is that we live in a "transfer" culture now--just look a couple of threads up.

[Deleted]

Jun 9, 2021 12:05:52 GMT -5 atticus said:

Jun 7, 2021 14:30:10 GMT -5 kk1971 said:

The competition culture of BYU has claimed another casualty: Grace Wee.

That’s one possible explanation but playing time isn’t the only reason people transfer. I don’t think we should assume that Wee didn’t think she’d be able to compete. Dodson got all the playing time she could’ve hoped for and she’s leaving.

Dodson wanted to be closer to home. Is down to final three near home.

[Deleted]

Volleyball isn't the main factor in a lot of these girls' lives so I don't think we should assume why they're transferring.

[kk1971]

Jun 7, 2021 14:52:19 GMT -5 bayarea said:

Jun 7, 2021 14:30:10 GMT -5 kk1971 said:

The competition culture of BYU has claimed another casualty: Grace Wee.

Hmm.  Well, they definitely have too many high caliber players on their roster to keep everyone happy.  So, if  you love the school and want to be part of the winning program, even from the bench, I guess you stay.  Otherwise, you seek a smaller roster/less competitive program and find some court time.  It's got to be a tough decision for many players.

[kk1971]

The addition of Aria McComber may be incidental to Wee's departure, as some of you were so quick to point out. Or not. Either way, interesting stuff about the new level of competition on our back row. And make no mistake about it. this level of competition is only a good thing. I personally think that Allen still starts at Libero, and if so, between McComber and Reinart there should be some good competition for DS. Or maybe Allen gets redshirted if Reinert does win the Libero job? Lots of possibilities but that is only good for the team.

[bbg95]

Jun 12, 2021 10:20:46 GMT -5 kk1971 said:

The addition of Aria McComber may be incidental to Wee's departure, as some of you were so quick to point out. Or not. Either way, interesting stuff about the new level of competition on our back row. And make no mistake about it. this level of competition is only a good thing. I personally think that Allen still starts at Libero, and if so, between McComber and Reinart there should be some good competition for DS. Or maybe Allen gets redshirted if Reinert does win the Libero job? Lots of possibilities but that is only good for the team.

Allen was better than Reinert last year, so I have a hard time seeing Allen not keeping the libero job. Reinert wants to be a coach, and I think a lot of her transfer was more about being mentored by Heather Olmstead rather than trying to win the libero job. I do expert Reinert to play at DS.

[azvb]

So, does Abby Dayton slide to the end of the bench? Excited to see improved passing with these liberos transferring in.

[pelagius]

Jun 12, 2021 13:44:15 GMT -5 azvb said:

So, does Abby Dayton slide to the end of the bench? Excited to see improved passing with these liberos transferring in.

I would think so; even if Olmstead goes with Koerber as the only six rotation player, the backrow passers would likely be: Allen, McComber, Reinart, and Koerber. I guess it's possible that Dayton beats out one of those new littles, but it seems unlikely.

Also, I think it's more likely that McComber beats out Allen at Libero than Reinart. It would be interesting to see McComber's passing stats this last year.

[Deleted]

Jun 12, 2021 16:34:52 GMT -5 pelagius said:

Jun 12, 2021 13:44:15 GMT -5 azvb said:

So, does Abby Dayton slide to the end of the bench? Excited to see improved passing with these liberos transferring in.

Also, I think it's more likely that McComber beats out Allen at Libero than Reinart. It would be interesting to see McComber's passing stats this last year.

I doubt that. McComber didn't play great this spring and was hidden at times in SR. If Dalton had been capable of playing 6-ro, I think Tusa would've been the libero.

I like Allen. The issues she had in SR, in my opinion, were more the result of her having to pass so much floor due to the limitations of the other BYU passers. The additions of Koerber, Reinart & McComber will help Allen but I don't see anyone taking the jersey from her.

[mintonetteman]

I can't take issue with anything what bwf or Pelagius have said. However, IMO Allen is still an unknown because she really wasn't tested and when she was...(you can decide how you think she performed). Simply put, BYU's passing was so bad, even those that were not targeted consistently should not feel safe. I think the competition for all back row positions will be open and intense (as it should be). Hopefully this year we will not have to play rotational defense to hide a DS. IMO, Allen has a leg up simply because she is an underclassman and has time in a passing system that is not intuitive.

[azvb]

I hope Taylen is getting LOTS of passing reps this summer.

[bbg95]

I didn't realize this at first, but despite being a grad transfer, McComber apparently has three years of eligibility left.

[kk1971]

(LONG) I am a big believer in the importance of recruiting as well as a life long BYU volleyball fan. And when I saw Heather start to reel in some big recruiting classes a few years ago, I created a spreadsheet to help me keep track of who could be available in various years. Here is the link for anyone who might be interested: docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1bP5WJxvOY5u-eL38LLMYvrwkKNwrKTWOLNNsh4mvKgk/edit?usp=sharing. I hope that works as I haven't tried to share it before.

A few caveats. For starters, you could make a great argument against color coding each person. Recruiting is anything BUT an exact science. Professionally, I manage money and live in the world of investments, and I can tell you that youth volleyball is a most inefficient market. where judgements can be made with incomplete information, and some of the most important intangibles are unmeasurable. My admittedly randomized method of assigning recruits ranked in the top 50 of PrepVolleyball as green, those in the top 250 as yellow, and "others" as red as a means of judging strength in a particular position can absolutely be challenged by many of you. In fact, it should be. Some top recruits wash out, never can overcome certain injuries, can't handle competition, don't have the mental toughness, deal with personal tragedies, etc. Others come in under the radar and leave at the top (RJP being just one recent example). True competitors don't allow others to define them. I certainly can't. That said, this does allow me at a glance to, for example, look at 2023 and see what kind of quality we might have at the MB position. I like that.

Some will argue that this new era of transfers using the portal make this less meaningful than in the past, and I accept that as somewhat valid (it certainly makes it harder to keep a spreadsheet!) But I believe the core of the team always comes from the hs recruits and transfers help fill in areas of weakness, as they have this year with our passing.

I also like that this spreadsheet helps me see possibility. For example, we have a real cluster of talent forming in years 2023-24. This doesn't mean I am predicting that we will win the Natty, get back to the final four, whatever. But we could--and should--do very well those years--far better than just win the WCC and make the Sweet 16 again. And it helps me to better assess the impact a particular recruit might have based on seeing who might be around them. In the spirit, let me say that Maggie Mendelson is a key recruit for Heather Olmstead. For those who may not know about her yet, she is a 6'5'' soon to be Junior in high school, plays for Fremont HS and Hive volleyball club, and is a dominant at both sports. Is a true athlete and not just a tall person dominating shorter opponents. Possibly better at basketball than volleyball but who knows. I know nothing about her or where she is leaning. On her club teams she plays the middle, but I also know that her coach in HS has been playing her at OH. I am assuming that at BYU she would play MB, and that is where she could really help us, but again, I have no insight other than what I read and have watched on film. Prepvolleyball ranks her as the #2 recruit in the nation for that class (not at her position but overall). She would be in the same class as Claire Little (already committed and ranked #4), and possible recruit and fellow teammate Jordan Harvey (ranked #13) would give us the type of recruiting class that could truly put us over the top. Anyone who knows more than the little I know, please share.

Heather Olmstead has done nothing but impress me. My hope is that she has a Mark Pope kind of energy about recruiting where she is not afraid to go after everyone. It would be very easy at BYU to go after legacy recruits, work your camps, snare the younger sister of brothers in the program, etc. and do very well over many years without expending too much energy. But I believe that BYU is that kind of special recruiting energy away from more final four runs and possibly even a Natty if she has it. There is that much talent in the pipeline, committed and potential. I wouldn't bet against her.

[bbg95]

Jun 22, 2021 17:33:57 GMT -5 kk1971 said:

(LONG) I am a big believer in the importance of recruiting as well as a life long BYU volleyball fan. And when I saw Heather start to reel in some big recruiting classes a few years ago, I created a spreadsheet to help me keep track of who could be available in various years. Here is the link for anyone who might be interested: docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1bP5WJxvOY5u-eL38LLMYvrwkKNwrKTWOLNNsh4mvKgk/edit?usp=sharing. I hope that works as I haven't tried to share it before.

A few caveats. For starters, you could make a great argument against color coding each person. Recruiting is anything BUT an exact science. Professionally, I manage money and live in the world of investments, and I can tell you that youth volleyball is a most inefficient market. where judgements can be made with incomplete information, and some of the most important intangibles are unmeasurable. My admittedly randomized method of assigning recruits ranked in the top 50 of PrepVolleyball as green, those in the top 250 as yellow, and "others" as red as a means of judging strength in a particular position can absolutely be challenged by many of you. In fact, it should be. Some top recruits wash out, never can overcome certain injuries, can't handle competition, don't have the mental toughness, deal with personal tragedies, etc. Others come in under the radar and leave at the top (RJP being just one recent example). True competitors don't allow others to define them. I certainly can't. That said, this does allow me at a glance to, for example, look at 2023 and see what kind of quality we might have at the MB position. I like that.

Some will argue that this new era of transfers using the portal make this less meaningful than in the past, and I accept that as somewhat valid (it certainly makes it harder to keep a spreadsheet!) But I believe the core of the team always comes from the hs recruits and transfers help fill in areas of weakness, as they have this year with our passing.

I also like that this spreadsheet helps me see possibility. For example, we have a real cluster of talent forming in years 2023-24. This doesn't mean I am predicting that we will win the Natty, get back to the final four, whatever. But we could--and should--do very well those years--far better than just win the WCC and make the Sweet 16 again. And it helps me to better assess the impact a particular recruit might have based on seeing who might be around them. In the spirit, let me say that Maggie Mendelson is a key recruit for Heather Olmstead. For those who may not know about her yet, she is a 6'5'' soon to be Junior in high school, plays for Fremont HS and Hive volleyball club, and is a dominant at both sports. Is a true athlete and not just a tall person dominating shorter opponents. Possibly better at basketball than volleyball but who knows. I know nothing about her or where she is leaning. On her club teams she plays the middle, but I also know that her coach in HS has been playing her at OH. I am assuming that at BYU she would play MB, and that is where she could really help us, but again, I have no insight other than what I read and have watched on film. Prepvolleyball ranks her as the #2 recruit in the nation for that class (not at her position but overall). She would be in the same class as Claire Little (already committed and ranked #4), and possible recruit and fellow teammate Jordan Harvey (ranked #13) would give us the type of recruiting class that could truly put us over the top. Anyone who knows more than the little I know, please share.

Heather Olmstead has done nothing but impress me. My hope is that she has a Mark Pope kind of energy about recruiting where she is not afraid to go after everyone. It would be very easy at BYU to go after legacy recruits, work your camps, snare the younger sister of brothers in the program, etc. and do very well over many years without expending too much energy. But I believe that BYU is that kind of special recruiting energy away from more final four runs and possibly even a Natty if she has it. There is that much talent in the pipeline, committed and potential. I wouldn't bet against her.

Very interesting. Just as an FYI, when I clicked on the link, it said I needed access. In Google Sheets, when you go to share a document, there is an option to change the access from "restricted" to "anyone with the link," and then you can copy that URL so that it can be shared publicly.

As for the content of your post, I agree that Heather Olmstead seems to be a very good recruiter, as evidenced by the string of top-15 classes that she has put together--I'm pretty certain that BYU women's volleyball is in the middle of its best recruiting run ever. Olmstead also seems extremely dedicated to her job, including the recruiting aspect, so I would imagine that she'll continue to have success in this area. The increasing number of transfers across the country complicates recruiting to some degree, but I tend to think that coaches that are good at high school recruiting also are often good at recruiting potential transfers. And obviously Olmstead's success in talent development and her excellent winning percentage and tournament history helps a lot in recruiting.

I agree about not being afraid to go after any top recruit if they'll potentially be a good fit. In another sport, Diljeet Taylor is probably the best cross country and distance coach in the country right now. She's done a great job of developing the athletes she inherited when she came in and just won a national championship with a team of five runners from Utah, one from Wyoming and one from Idaho. But her recruiting is now expanding, as she has top recruits coming in from other parts of the country. The best runners in both Minnesota and North Carolina are coming in, though I'm pretty certain they're both LDS. However, she also got Jenna Hutchins of Tennessee to commit, and she's the best distance recruit in the entire country and isn't LDS. Hutchins said that when her recruitment opened up, BYU wasn't even on her radar, but Taylor did such a great job that Hutchins committed to BYU already, even though she's a junior.

[kk1971]

For anyone interested in the spreadsheet, this link is now available--I think--to anyone who clicks on the link. If you catch mistakes, please let me know and I will edit.

docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1bP5WJxvOY5u-eL38LLMYvrwkKNwrKTWOLNNsh4mvKgk/edit?usp=sharing