Springfield, Ohio – Wittenberg University has a rich tradition of athletics excellence, highlighted in recent years by a tremendous run of success in the sport of women’s volleyball. Fittingly, a new but very much complementary varsity sport will emerge in 2015 as Director of Athletics and Recreation Gary Williams has announced the addition of men’s volleyball as Wittenberg’s 24th varsity sport.
Wittenberg has sponsored men’s volleyball as a club sport for many years, but the Tigers will compete for an NCAA Division III championship for the first time in the 2015-16 school year. Wittenberg is applying for membership in the newly formed Midwest Collegiate Volleyball League, which currently includes Carthage College, Benedictine University (Ill.), Dominican University (Ill.), Fontbonne University, Lakeland College, Loras College, the Milwaukee School of Engineering, and Mount St. Joseph University.
In the 2014-15 school year, a total of 66 colleges and universities are sponsoring NCAA Division III men’s volleyball programs, which compete from January until the championship tournament in April. Wittenberg will be just the second program in the division in the state of Ohio, joining Mount St. Joseph.
“This sport addition is part of a much larger strategic vision for Wittenberg’s Department of Athletics as we look to the future,” said Williams. “We are committed to providing a holistic and mission-driven experience for our student-athletes that upholds the need to be fiscally responsible in this ever-changing and competitive environment in higher education.
“This administration will continue to engage our university community to explore all initiatives that will meet these goals and further enhance our commitment to equal access to sport offerings that support the demands of our students."
Williams is no stranger to NCAA Division III men’s volleyball. Formerly an assistant director of athletics at his alma mater, Carthage, Williams was the founding commissioner of the Continental Volleyball Conference (CVC), which included the Redmen until the end of the 2014 season. He also served as the national chair of the NCAA Division III Men’s Volleyball Committee the last three years.
Williams had a front-row seat as Carthage became one of the top men’s volleyball programs in NCAA Division III since its inception in 2004, while the college also annually fields a nationally ranked women’s volleyball squad. The Redmen reached the national semifinals in 2014 before losing to No. 1-ranked Springfield College in men’s volleyball, and Carthage’s women’s team finished the 2014 season last week in the Round of 16 with a loss to No. 1-ranked Calvin.
Williams is hoping for a similar type of parallel success at Wittenberg, and he has enlisted Women’s Volleyball Head Coach Paco Labrador to help make it a reality. A national search is already underway to find the first men’s volleyball head coach, with Labrador, a former club volleyball player at his alma mater, Hiram, and a staunch advocate of the Wittenberg men’s volleyball club team, serving on the selection committee.
Labrador not only knows the landscape of high school girls’ volleyball in Ohio and across the Midwest, but he has gained an appreciation for the growth of the sport on the boys’ side. The Ohio High School Athletic Association (OHSAA) does not sponsor boys’ volleyball as a championship sport, but that hasn’t stopped the sport from growing in the Buckeye state, with the Ohio High School Boys Volleyball Association (OHSBVA) acting as a governing body.
“Ohio boys’ volleyball has exploded in the last few years, thanks in large part to the hard work, commitment and passion for the game by coaches and members of the OHSBVA,” Labrador said. “I’m thrilled that Wittenberg is going to provide a new avenue for the hundreds of high school boys looking to continue their academic and athletic careers with a collegiate, varsity volleyball experience. I look forward to watching this program get established and become a valued part of the Wittenberg community.”
Not only has Wittenberg’s women’s volleyball program enjoyed great success on the court in recent years with 20 NCAA Division III Tournament appearances since 1993, but the Tigers have attracted large, enthusiastic crowds. The championship game of the Springfield Regional of the 2014 NCAA Division III Tournament attracted an audience of more than 1,300 fans, and they were treated to an intense 3-2 victory by second-ranked Hope College over the fourth-ranked Tigers.
Williams is eager to see the thrilling action Wittenberg fans enjoy each fall carried over to the spring with the new men’s volleyball program. Like Labrador, he also sees the sport’s introduction at Wittenberg as an opportunity to welcome student-athletes to campus who may not have considered the university previously.
“This is a great opportunity to maximize the tremendous work the OHSBVA has done to promote the sport of boys’ volleyball in Ohio, especially in the Columbus and Cincinnati areas,” Williams said. “I look forward to watching this program grow and develop at Wittenberg as we extend our first-rate student-athlete experience to a new group of young people.”
Men’s volleyball is the first new sport at Wittenberg since women’s golf in 2003, but its roots are actually well-established at the university thanks to Jim Coleman, class of 1953 and one of the legendary international figures of the game. Coleman was introduced to volleyball as a child growing up in Springfield, and he brought it to Wittenberg as a student and later as a professor at the university.
Married to Lee Doellman Coleman, class of 1958 and a 1988 inductee into Wittenberg’s Athletics Hall of Honor after excelling as both a groundbreaking student-athlete and coach, Jim Coleman served three stints as the United States National Team’s head coach and was involved in the program through most of a 35-year span. He coached in seven Olympic Games, helping the team to gold medals in 1984 and 1988, and he is credited with visionary leadership in the sport itself, teaming with his wife to create statistical systems and the net antennae used in today’s competition.
Coleman was one of the founders of the Midwestern Intercollegiate Volleyball Association (MIVA) in 1961, a league that now features some of the top NCAA Division I varsity men’s programs in the country, including Ohio State University. Wittenberg competed in the MIVA in 1961 and 1962.
Written By: Ryan Maurer