Steve Aird

[jaleehel90]

Anyone know how the environment at Maryland was under Aird? It seems nothing positive is coming out of his time at Indiana. Players transferring , players quitting volleyball completely a lot of rumblings of toxic environment.

[vbcoltrane]

I remember the quick transition from MD to IND and people saying that he'd bring IND up quickly - midtier B1G, a team that pulled upsets, made the tournament regularly - especially considering the close-by good recruiting grounds. I don't know much about him, so I have no idea why it hasn't worked out.

[Wiswell]

Tommi Stockham was his big get....

I think his seat could be warm, but he left Maryland faster than the Colts so maybe he has a strong safety clause.

[vollectator]

the coaching bar's set very high in the BIG

[taxidea]

I don’t know about him and the Indiana team except the record and on-court performance. But it’s nearly impossible to save yourself from a slide or sinkhole, without a revolution and/or abject heroism of/by the program. Maintaining status quo is, well..

Indiana admin must know that. (

[n00b]

Dec 18, 2021 17:19:32 GMT -5 taxidea said:

I don’t know about him and the Indiana team except the record and on-court performance. But it’s nearly impossible to save yourself from a slide or sinkhole, without a revolution and/or abject heroism of/by the program. Maintaining status quo is, well..

Indiana admin must know that. (;)

Think that’s what Aird said in his interview?

[azvolleydad]

Dec 18, 2021 16:46:44 GMT -5 Wiswell said:

Tommi Stockton was his big get... and she went off to play beach.

I think his seat could be warm, but he left Maryland faster than the Colts so maybe he has a strong safety clause.

Stockham and she’s playing indoor too.

[Wiswell]

I should use google better! Thanks for the correction, obviously going from memory and the speculation she was playing beach.

[hipsterfilth]

I think it's really, really hard to sell people on a thing, jump ship, and then try to sell recruits on the exact same thing again.

Aird had something brewing in Maryland -- Milana, Dreschel, Pritchard, Meyers, Jones... that's an extremely solid team. I remember reading very mixed reviews when he left so quickly for Indiana. Some folks saying "Yes, MD is much better now... but what did he really accomplish?" and other people saying "He's taking a formula that's proven into a much hotter recruiting bed. It makes sense."

Personally, I was in the first camp. He just didn't have enough to point to from his time at Maryland, IMO, to prove to recruits that he'd be able to build something at Indiana. It was telling that Milana went to Baylor and Dreschsel went home to Washington. It showed me they had been sold on building Maryland into a power and having the chance to build a program from the ground up... but what exactly do you do if halfway through college your coach leaves to go try to build somewhere else up?

Imagine taking a job as an Executive with a very specific goal in mind, hiring a team of A-players, and then halfway through the major project you jump ship to take another job elsewhere. Are those people really going to go along with you? Are new top performers going to flock to you when you didn't finish what you started the last time?

[hammer]

Meanwhile, the Aird Era continues.

[Deleted]

Dec 18, 2021 17:41:21 GMT -5 hipsterfilth said:

I think it's really, really hard to sell people on a thing, jump ship, and then try to sell recruits on the exact same thing again.

Aird had something brewing in Maryland -- Milana, Dreschel, Pritchard, Meyers, Jones... that's an extremely solid team. I remember reading very mixed reviews when he left so quickly for Indiana. Some folks saying "Yes, MD is much better now... but what did he really accomplish?" and other people saying "He's taking a formula that's proven into a much hotter recruiting bed. It makes sense."

Personally, I was in the first camp. He just didn't have enough to point to from his time at Maryland, IMO, to prove to recruits that he'd be able to build something at Indiana. It was telling that Milana went to Baylor and Dreschsel went home to Washington. It showed me they had been sold on building Maryland into a power and having the chance to build a program from the ground up... but what exactly do you do if halfway through college your coach leaves to go try to build somewhere else up?

Imagine taking a job as an Executive with a very specific goal in mind, hiring a team of A-players, and then halfway through the major project you jump ship to take another job elsewhere. Are those people really going to go along with you? Are new top performers going to flock to you when you didn't finish what you started the last
time?

You know I think he has been bidding his time for the psu job and if the rumors of rose are true that could be opening up. He was was great assistant coach but as psu fan he’s not my head coach choice. He hasn’t proven himself enough. First choice has to be Rockwell if she wants it bar none. I hope she has had a change of heart and want to come back to coaching. She could pull recruits for sure.

[hangonsloopy]

Dec 18, 2021 16:35:56 GMT -5 jaleehel90 said:

Anyone know how the environment at Maryland was under Aird? It seems nothing positive is coming out of his time at Indiana. Players transferring , players quitting volleyball completely a lot of rumblings of toxic environment.

I know that Stockham and Blackwell transferred last season which was a huge blow to them and left a lot of question marks…It looks like outside of those two though, most of the players that transferred were older players that were there before he came in and probably knew he was going to play the younger recruits he was bringing in…..that’s just an observation, I don’t know about anything going on over there…..I do know there was a lot of hype and excitement around the program locally in his first two years, I still think there might still be some optimism there, it’s just really comes down to what goals Aird was hired to achieve, I think you can definitely build a respectable program there

[hangonsloopy]

Dec 18, 2021 17:45:00 GMT -5 hammer said:

Meanwhile, the Aird Era continues.

I’ve been waiting for you to show up here lol

[vup]

Yeah, I don't know. At first, I was supportive and thought it was a good move. He brought in a couple huge recruits to Maryland (notably Dreschel and Milana). His 2017 team was on the cusp of making the tourney with a winning record, and then he jumped ship to Indiana. I can understand wanting to downsize from DC to Bloomington, or starting from scratch at flagship U, who has had success in other major sports. Indiana is also a great state for prep volleyball, IU built a new facility for volleyball, Aird had experience at PSU under Rose, and finally, he had relative success at "turning around" Maryland. 

I'm not sure what to make of the situation now. His record at Indiana is 45-71, and finished with a 10-22 this year in his fourth season. His first two years were decent, for a transitioning/building program, going 16-15 and 14-19 in 2018 and 2019, respectively. But I was disappointed when Blackwell and Stockham transferred after the 2020-2021 season, and then this year was awful. Not sure if there's anything going on there. But I think that there's a lot to digest here, and at the very least, has me raising an eyebrow. 🤷‍♂️

[hipsterfilth]

Dec 18, 2021 17:45:12 GMT -5 @boof1224 said:

Dec 18, 2021 17:41:21 GMT -5 hipsterfilth said:

I think it's really, really hard to sell people on a thing, jump ship, and then try to sell recruits on the exact same thing again.

Aird had something brewing in Maryland -- Milana, Dreschel, Pritchard, Meyers, Jones... that's an extremely solid team. I remember reading very mixed reviews when he left so quickly for Indiana. Some folks saying "Yes, MD is much better now... but what did he really accomplish?" and other people saying "He's taking a formula that's proven into a much hotter recruiting bed. It makes sense."

Personally, I was in the first camp. He just didn't have enough to point to from his time at Maryland, IMO, to prove to recruits that he'd be able to build something at Indiana. It was telling that Milana went to Baylor and Dreschsel went home to Washington. It showed me they had been sold on building Maryland into a power and having the chance to build a program from the ground up... but what exactly do you do if halfway through college your coach leaves to go try to build somewhere else up?

Imagine taking a job as an Executive with a very specific goal in mind, hiring a team of A-players, and then halfway through the major project you jump ship to take another job elsewhere. Are those people really going to go along with you? Are new top performers going to flock to you when you didn't finish what you started the last
time?

You know I think he has been bidding his time for the psu job and if the rumors of rose are true that could be opening up. He was was great assistant coach but as psu fan he’s not my head coach choice. He hasn’t proven himself enough. First choice has to be Rockwell if she wants it bar none. I hope she has had a change of heart and want to come back to coaching. She could pull recruits for sure.

Straight up, Nicole Fawcett has been a volunteer assistant coach for exactly two seasons at Ohio State, and I'd take her over Aird. He'd have to majorly turn around Indiana over the course of the next 5-6 seasons before I'd consider him for such a high profile job.