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PrepVolleyball.com Announces National Coach of Year
Can’t Beat
Connecticut Legend LaRusso for National Coach of the Year
Darien has long been considered the class of Connecticut volleyball
even though, for years, the Blue Wave played in Class “M,” the
state’s second-smallest division. From 1993 until 2006, Darien
dominated the division, winning 12 state titles over 14 years. In
2007, Darien moved up one division, to Class “L,” and made history,
not by winning state again, not even by extending its unbeaten
streak to 139 in a row. The Blue Wave did it by completing a perfect
season: 25 winning matches in the minimum 75 games, the first time a
Darien team had achieved that feat. For that and so much more,
Laurie LaRusso, the architect of the D arien program, is
PrepVolleyball.com’s 2007 National Coach of the Year.
Twenty-five years ago, LaRusso was a fresh-faced young college grad
just breaking into coaching at the high school level. A field hockey
player at Indiana University, LaRusso fell in love with volleyball
watching her college housemates play on a club-level team. She
coached the sport as a student teacher in Connecticut, where she was
born and raised, and was set to be the assistant coach at Darien
back in 1982 when she was appointed head coach the day before the
season started. She was just 23 years old.
The Blue Wave finished 9-6 that year and 11-6 one year later.
Indeed, over the first 11 seasons of LaRusso’s tenure, Darien
amassed a 127-66 record, nothing to be ashamed of but hardly Coach
of the Year material.
Then came 1993, when Darien completed a 24-0 season by winning an
initial state title in its first trip to the final. There has been
very little losing since, whether state finals or matches. Since
1993, Darien has won a state championship every year but two and has
compiled a record of 360-10 over that span, which includes a 17-6
mark in 2000!
“Laurie LaRusso has built an absolute power in a tiny town in this
small state,” said Dave Ruden, a prep writer for the
Stamford
Advocate who has covered Darien volleyball
for the past quarter-century. “They
are viewed here as the Cowboys, Yankees or Notre Dame football.”
How has LaRusso done it? Not by craving the spotlight, that’s for
sure. When the
Advocate
wanted her to pose with her team recently in conjunction with
Darien’s winning the paper’s “Team of the Year” award, she wouldn’t
do it.
“She doesn’t want attention for herself,” said senior middle Ally
Taylor. “She wants to give it to the team. She’s very humble.”
“She’s very shy,” said Ruden. “Nothing would make her happier than
to never have to grant an interview again.”
A legendary workaholic, LaRusso has been known to put in 22-hour
days during the volleyball season. No coach is more prepared.
“Our practices are very competitive,”
she said. “Everything’s scored; everything’s measured. We film
everything, usually with two cameras. I pay a lot of attention to
details.”
“She puts so much effort into it,” said Taylor. “That makes you want
to work that much harder.”
And work Darien does. Intense, triple sessions four days a week
greet Blue Wave players during the pre-season. Once the season
starts, the commitment is even greater, with three days of play a
week plus three 3 1/2-hour practices. Saturday practice is optional
but the gym is open and LaRusso is there.
“There are high school football programs where the kids don’t work
as hard,” said Ruden. “I’ve never seen a coach at any level more
dedicated to the sport than she is. She’s volleyball 24/7, a great
role model for the kids.”
“She likes you as a person before she likes you as a player,” said
Taylor. “She loves kids who love to play.”
After Darien graduated just one player off of the 2006 team that
completed a fourth consecutive 25-0 season, expectations were high
for the 2007 version of Blue Wave volleyball, which had five
returning senior starters. While satisfaction and complacency from
so many good years might have infected other groups, “the team
dynamic was a group of girls who wanted to be pushed as far as we
could,” said Taylor.
The credit for this, of course, goes to LaRusso, though she is
reticent to accept it.
“It’s
the seniors’ team,” she said. “They tell me their goals. My job is
to help them attain those goals.”
LaRusso had an inkling that her senior-laden group could be a
special team in the pre-season, when a huge crowd saw Darien defeat
Massachusetts power Barnstable in a pre-season scrimmage for the
first time ever.
“I saw
the intensity and competitiveness,” she explained. “It was just a
scrimmage but they were approaching it like I approach everything.
It was kind of nice.”
As the regular-season wins came, Darien kept adding to its
impressive unbeaten streak and didn’t drop a single game in the
process. Neither mattered much to LaRusso, who hadn’t even realized
what Darien was accomplishing in 2007 until an assistant coach told
her before the state final.
“Our
job isn’t to look at the past,” she said. “My focus is the group
I’ll be working with and trying to make ourselves one percent better
every day. We have to measure our progress against ourselves. We
don’t focus on outcome; we focus on performance.”
Darien completed an 18-0 regular season (the maximum allowable 18
matches, one versus each of 18 league opponents) with a 3-0 win over
then-undefeated Greenwich, then romped through Class L with five
sweeps, including defending state champion and previously unbeaten
Bristol Eastern in the final. Afterwards, LaRusso gathered her team
and told them this was the first team in school history to achieve
perfection.
“That
was just icing on the cake,” said Taylor, who was 100-0 in her four
years on varsity. “We set goals into season. It’s never a goal to be
perfect because you’re setting up for failure. But it’s something
she always wanted. I’m sure she loved it just as much as we did. To
win state championships is great, but to add something to that is a
true testament to how much she knows about the game and the kind of
coach she is.”
Though LaRusso has won many state coaching awards and, in 2007, was
inducted into the Connecticut High School Coaches Association Hall
of Fame, this is her first National honor. She reacted to the news
in a typically understated manner, one her players would say was
“typically LaRusso.”
“When
a coach gets an award, it’s because of the quality of the players
and the people she’s around,” explained the National Coach of the
Year. “My parents told me to surround myself with great people and I
have. I accept this award on behalf of my staff and players.”
Congratulations to Laurie LaRusso, PrepVolleyball.com’s 2007
National Coach of the Year!
Finalists for 2007 National Coach of the Year consideration:
Bret Almazan-Cezar, Archbishop Mitty (San
Jose CA) – There is no tougher path to state in Northern California
than in Division II, which makes Mitty’s run of five straight trips
to the final, with Almazan-Cezar at the helm, so remarkable. Mitty
won state in 2003 and 2004, but has fallen victim to Mira Costa the
past three years.
Jan
Barker, Amarillo (TX) – The
Sandies repeated as state 5A champs despite bull’s eye, overcoming
injuries to their stars. Barker, who was our Coach of the Year in
2001, was named 2007 Texas Coach of the Year by
LoneStarVolleyball.com
Doug Blundy, Crystal Lake Central
(Crystal Lake IL) – Blundy is 678-173 in his 24 years at CLC, but
2007 ranks as the best, when he overcame personal distractions to
guide a senior-laden team to a perfect season and the state 3A
title.
Franz Boelter, Bethlehem Academy
(Faribault MN) – Boelter led BA to the title in 2007, capping a run
of six straight years in the state finals. Boelter, who has a career
mark of 363-85-11, also led Bethlehem Academy to titles in 2003 and
2005.
Rose Cheek, Siloam Springs (AR) – Cheek
has led Siloam Springs to the state tournament in 20 of her 26 years
at the school, winning state five times: in 2001 and for the past
four years.
Lori Hanaway, Archbishop O’Hara –
After winning state at St. Teresa’s in 2006, Hanaway returned to
O’Hara, where she’s won state in 2005, and led a young team to
another unexpected state crown.
Carl Harnish, Parkersburg (WV) – The West
Virginia coaching legend surprised by leading the Big Reds to the
large-class state title in 2007, his 10th in 26 years. During that
time, Harnish has compiled a 1,123-184-32 record.
Judy Kight, Mead (Spokane WA) – The
Panthers won an unprecedented fifth large-class state crown in a row
in the state of Washington.
Maria Nolan, Immaculate Heart Academy
(Washington Township NJ) – After winning 16 titles in 27 years at
Secaucus, Nolan took over as coach at IHA and, in 2007, led the
Eagles to the non-public state crown and the Tournament of Champions
title as the state’s best regardless of classification. Nolan, with
more than 600 career wins, was honored as Disney 2007 Coach of the
Year.
Patti Perone, Horseheads (NY) –
The dean of New York coaches led her team back to the state
tournament while exhibiting grace and integrity in the midst of the
controversy swirling around her squad due to the inclusion of a male
player.
Andy Ramsey, Asheville Christian Academy
(Asheville NC) – Ramsey took his team to an Independent Schools
state title for the eighth successive year
Steve Shondell, Burris (Muncie IN) – The
Hall of Fame coach won the 2A title for the 11th year in a row.
Burris has taken 16 of the past 19 titles and eight all-class titles
in Shondell’s tenure, which spans more than 1,000 wins.
Tom Turco, Barnstable (Hyannis MA) –
Barnstable had a fascinating year, winning state for the fifth
straight season and 11th time in the past 15 years. In 2007, the Red
Raiders had to overcome the distraction of a state record winning
streak, which reached 107 (over five years) before being snapped by
a California team and an in-state loss to tough Medfield. In the
end, Turco was able to guide Barnstable, which is 325-10 since 1995,
to another crown.
Coaches of the
Year since John Tawa’s been naming them:
2007: Laurie LaRusso, Darien (Connecticut)
2006: DaeLea Aldrich, Mira Costa (Manhattan Beach CA) and Peg Kopec,
St. Francis (Wheaton IL)
2005: Ron Kordes, Assumption (Louisville, Kentucky)
2004: Nancy Pedersen, Mother McAuley (Chicago, Illinois) and Gwenn
Pike, Bishop Miege (Shawnee Mission, Kansas)
2003: Tom Keating, Wahlert (Dubuque, Iowa)
2002: Dave Shondell, Central (Muncie, Indiana)
2001: Jan Barker, Amarillo (Texas)
2000: Virginia Kelly, Olympic Heights (Boca Raton, Florida)
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