The Building of the Volleyball Program at Maryland-Blog from Todd Carton - Terp Talk

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Honor the past. Compete in the present. Build for the future. Three traits every successful college athletic program share. Maryland volleyball displayed a bit of all three over the past few weeks.

Since his arrival at Maryland, head coach Steve Aird’s mantra has been, “I’m building a program.” The earliest evidence of that came when he chose to honor the commitments of the previous staff and set his sights on recruiting two, three and four years down the road. And in this area he has been more successful more quickly than even he likely imagined.

But he has also demonstrated an understanding that building a program requires more than merely recruiting good players and turning losses into wins. Successful programs engage the community by building support among students, fans and boosters. Successful programs remember their roots and embrace them and Maryland took a step along that path as well.

Just to try and recall the whole year

When he arrived on campus, Aird inherited a rather dispirited group of players who, for a number of reasons had lost most of their love and enthusiasm for the game of volleyball. He saw that his first task was rekindling that fervor and getting his team excited about coming into the gym. With that accomplished, the staff began working with the roster to best utilize their skills and put them in the best position to compete. Whatever steps he took worked – to a point.

Although he tried to impress upon his squad the need to exponentially increase their efforts not only in following his tutelage in practice but in building their strength and conditioning to face the rigors of a Big Ten season, it took the team one pass through the league before they began to fully grasp the notion. By then it was too late because as any coach will tell you, championships are won in the off season.

Aird also recognized the importance of reaching out to the community beyond volleyball. Whether it was meeting with other Terrapins coaches to learn some of the secrets of their success, or gaining an understanding of Maryland’s athletic culture, he navigated that road as well.

Hired in late January 2014, the coach could be seen attending many Maryland sporting events. When Cathy Reese’s women’s lacrosse team faced Syracuse for the national championship in May, Aird cut short a recruiting trip to attend the game because he saw that as a necessary part of being in the Maryland community.

And he also spent time reaching out to student groups. Coming from Penn State, Aird was intimately acquainted with the culture and atmosphere of Big Ten volleyball. He understood that duplicating that excitement but putting a unique Maryland stamp on it was one more program building piece. Maryland set attendance records and finished in the top 25 nationally in home attendance.

Wonderin’ where they all disappeared

The staff in place prior to Aird’s arrival not only eschewed reaching out to past players and coaches but closed their practices to both the public and to those members who represented Terrapins’ volleyball history – some of which had been quite successful.

That changed immediately. Aird opened his practices and invited Janice Kruger, who had won four ACC Coach of the Year awards during her time at Maryland, back to become an active participant in his program.

Those efforts culminated on Saturday, April 11th when Aird and his staff hosted their first Alumni Day. As with so much else, the event was the first step in a process that should continue to grow.

Nearly 40 former Terps made the trip to College Park many with spouses and children in tow. Although most of the attendees graduated in 2000 or later, the full range spanned the years from Sue Cunningham, who graduated in 1984 to the 2015 senior class of Catie Coyle, Ashleigh Crutcher, Kaitlyn King and Nicola Ribisi.

The staff started their day with a friendly competition between the alumni and the current squad. With their families cheering them on, the alums put forth a brave effort in their two sets but couldn’t overcome the more practiced skills of the younger Terps. Enough alumni attended that they then split into teams and competed against themselves. The alumni won.

The day concluded with an early evening reception and buffet dinner for not only the teams and their families who could attend but for members of the recently created EnTERPrise volleyball booster support group which represents yet another piece of Aird’s vision for Maryland volleyball.

Although the specific words differed, everyone who attended expressed a singular sentiment: It had been a wonderful day. It was something that should have been done before. And it was something they’d all look forward to doing again.

Reading departure signs in some big airport

One thing Aird and his staff of Kristin Kenney, Adam Hughes, and Steve Yates know is that building Maryland’s fearless future requires more than reestablishing ties to the proud past. Building goodwill and sharing good times are small pieces (though important ones) that will build the engine that drives them toward their ultimate goal. The key component is building a winning roster.

We noted above that in this, Aird has taken a longer term, big picture approach. In 2014, Maryland finished 10-21 and 3-17 in conference play. Had some of the losses broken the right way, the Terps could have won as many as six games in the B1G. Had some of the wins broken the wrong way, Maryland could have been Rutgers and finished 0-20.

If the Terps can stay healthy, the 2015 season should be better than 2014 but likely only marginally so. Most of the current squad has had a year of coaching from the staff and, having experienced their first Big Ten season, have a better understanding of what is required to compete at that level.

I have little doubt that the squad will benefit from both experiences and will work hard to improve. Aird believes he will get immediate contributions from some of his 2015 freshman class as well. However, without intending any disrespect to the current team, I also have little doubt that from a standpoint of size, strength and athleticism, just as Maryland’s football team was not comprised of players with those attributes to compete with say Ohio State or Wisconsin, the volleyball squad is not yet a team constructed to be competitive with B1G programs. But that will soon change.

Gary Williams had Walt Williams. Brenda Frese had Shay Doron. For these coaches these were players or recruits whose decision to stay at Maryland or enroll there lent an immediate legitimacy and appeal to their program. For Steve Aird, that player could be Gia Milana.

Milana, a rising senior at Romeo High School in Michigan, was a MaxPreps preseason All-American in 2014 and was being heavily wooed by 2013 NCAA finalist Wisconsin. Fortunately for Maryland, she saw Aird’s vision and gave him a verbal commitment in June 2014.

With Milana very publicly on board, other top level players began to take notice. And Aird was quick to take advantage crisscrossing the country and spending inordinate amounts of time in airports and airport lounges.

There’s just too much to see waitin’ in front of me

As I’ve gotten to know Coach Aird over the past year or so, I’ve come to understand his abhorrence of losing. He did come from a national championship program, after all. Because of the limited on court success he has had to learn to look ahead and take pleasure in the small victories.

Milana was the first but she was followed in short order by setter and fellow Michigander Taylor Smith. By mid July – about six weeks after those first two commitments – Aird strengthened his middle and right side when he added Ohio sophomore Katie Myers to his 2016 class and picked up the first player in his five member 2017 class, outside hitter Alexis ‘Lexi’ Alden. But the coach and his staff were far from done.

Continuing their peripatetic ways, Aird and his cohort ventured into parts of the country rarely visited by their Big Ten counterparts. By early fall the seeds planted in those efforts flowered in the commitments of Jada Gardner from Texas and Sam Drechsel who will traverse the breadth of the nation and come to College Park from Bothell, Washington.

Then came the big winter of 2015. Leading off that period was Sam Burgio, one of the top players from New York state. Considered to be among the best players in the country, Bugio is a well-rounded player who projects as a libero when she reaches College Park.

Now, those who follow football recruiting have long been aware of the #DMVtoUMD campaign that seeks to keep a bumper crop of talented local players close to home. Keeping the best local players home is important to most coaches. Ask Mark Turgeon (see Trimble, Melo) or Cathy Reese (see Cummings, Taylor) or Sasho Cirovski (see Campbell, George). The list goes on but you get the idea. The same holds true for volleyball.

One might say that two players currently on Maryland’s roster, rising sophomores Hailey Murray and Sam Higgenbothem laid the foundation for volleyball’s version of a #DMVtoUMD movement. The 2015 class includes Maryland Gatorade Player of the Year, Liz Twilley. Defensive specialist Nell Drummey is part of the 2016 class. A few weeks ago we reported that Rainelle Jones, the daughter of Terrapins basketball star Tom “Speedy” Jones and a native of Prince George’s County offered her verbal commitment for the class of 2018.

The staff was waiting for one last local prize – Middletown’s Erika Pritchard. Although only a sophomore, Pritchard is considered by many to be the best high school volleyball player in Maryland by a wide margin. On April sixth and seventh, Pritchard’s Twitter account went wild with congratulations from future teammates Katie Myers, Abigail Benz (2015 DS), Taylor Smith and others. Like so many of the players mentioned, Pritchard spurned the advances of powerhouse programs from the SEC, ACC and in some cases the B1G and Pac-12, to stay home and represent.

Based on the current roster and the verbal commitments I’ve been able to track through Twitter and other internet sources, here’s what Maryland’s lineup will look like for the next four seasons:

Position

2015-16

2016-17

2017-18

2018-19

Dani Bozzini

Nell Drummey

DS/L

Amy Dion
Sam Burgio

Sam Burgio

MB/OPP

Kelsey Hrebenach

Katie Myers

Adreene Elliott

Gia Milana

Emily Fraik
Erika Pritchard

Erika Pritchard

Ashlyn MacGregor

Jada Gardner

OPP

Chavi St. Hill

Sam Drechsel

Whitney Craigo

Carlotta Oggioni

DS/L

Sam Higgenbothem

Sam Higgenbothem
MB

Hailey Murray

Rainelle Jones

S/DS

Abigail Benz

OPP

Angel Gaskin

Liz Twilley

DS/L

Kelsey Wicinski

S
Taylor Smith

Taylor Smith

Lexi Alden

Lexi Alden
I have heard from many who follow the summer volleyball club circuit that this lineup has real talent and great potential and that some of these players have improved from the time of their commitment. Perhaps the head coach and his staff can develop them into a championship squad. Perhaps not. However, given all they’ve accomplished in these first 14 months little would surprise me.

And for those who are neither as old as I am nor Parrotheads, let me make the header references explicit here:
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Other Maryland Sports, Todd Carton

April 16th, 2015 | 1 Comment »

Team Sports

Every sports has there own story. Where they all got there experience to achieve the trophy for the team. A Volleyball program being establish, to make a higher profit on this season volleyball championship.

Reply · 11/12/2019

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