Coach of the Year: Russ Rose
By Mary Jo Haverbeck
Blue White Contributor
It’s been a year since Blue White Illustrated named Penn State women’s volleyball coach Russ Rose as our publication’s Penn State Coach of the Year.
History repeats itself as Rose has reprised his selection with another season that broke national records.
Winning back-to-back-to-back NCAA championships from 2007 through 2009 is unprecedented.
Ten schools have claimed back-toback NCAA women’s volleyball championships but no one else has won three in a row. His 2009 team’s most recent national accomplishment was one of his finest. His top seeded squad lost the opening set in the NCAA semis to 12thseeded Hawaii before recovering to advance to the finals against Texas.
In the championship win over the Longhorns, Rose again had to find an a n s w e r t o o v e r c o m e a d e f i c i t . Whatever he said after his team’s 0-2 s t a r t , i t w o r k e d a s t h e L i o n s regrouped and won the final three sets. There were 10 ties in the fifth and final set, the last at 12-12, before Penn State won the match.
The NCAA reported that the fifth set score (the Lions won the deciding set 15-13) matched the closest in championship history since 1984. Rose also claimed his 1,001st career victory and won his fourth NCAA championship overall. His 2009 team completed the year undefeated. Blue White deciders had to reward Rose with the distinction of Penn State’s Coach of the Year based on the dogfight his team went through at the NCAA Final Four in Tampa.
Rose deflected credit for the victory, explaining that the determination of his seniors was pivotal to his team’s success. But it was Rose who put together a senior class that posted a .996 winning percentage over four years that the NCAA determined was the best ever for a Division I class.
The previous best percentage of .950 was set by Rose’s 1999 class. His graduates are now advancing through the selection process leading to the next Olympic Games. In June, the USA National Team earned a silver medal at the Montreux Volleyball Masters competition in Switzerland. Penn State players had a lot to do with what happened there.
“I do know that at one point in the first set yesterday against Japan, the front row was entirely made up of Penn State alumna that included Christa Harmotto at middle blocker, Megan Hodge at outside hitter and Nicole Fawcett subbing into the opposite position,” U.S. Volleyball Media Relations manager Bill Kauffman said. The U.S. women defeated Japan 3-0 on June 8 then defeated Germany.
Penn State senior Megan Hodge had a team-high 27 points in the match with Germany. The U.S. lost to Russia in the last pool game but rebounded to reach the gold-medal contest on June 13 where it lost to China. The U.S. qualified for the gold medal game for the first time since 2005. Rose’s coaching success has helped Penn State’s media image skyrocket this past year.
The Penn State Sports Information Office fielded requests from major outlets including The New York Times and Glamour magazine. Sportswriters like to tease the public with their idea of who they think is the greatest coach in sports. With the passing of UCLA men’s basketball coach John Wooden, Pittsburgh Post- Gazette columnist Ron Cook made an interesting argument on the next greatest coach.
He chose Penn State football coach Joe Paterno. Among Cook’s criteria were wins, national titles, unbeaten seasons and the impact a coach has on the sport and the young people he or she coaches. Rose meets all of the above.
After coaching for 31 seasons, Rose is still going strong. Three of his incoming recruits are considered the top volleyball players in their respective states, according to Gatorade’s 2010 Player of the Year list.
Maddie Martin, an outside hitter, won the Gatorade honor in Florida. Deja McClendon, also an outside hitter, earned top scholastic volleyball honors in Kentucky. Ariel Scott, a middle blocker, is Gatorade’s choice as the best player in New Jersey. But the road ahead doesn’t get any easier, especially with the addition of Nebraska to the Big Ten Conference.
Rose’s Lions last met and defeated Nebraska in the NCAA semis in Omaha in 2008. But that’s just the sixth win in 17 tries for Penn State in a series that began in 1981. “The Huskers would benefit from joining the Big Ten because their conference schedule would be easier,” read an entry in the Omaha.com web blog.
“What is your opinion on this? Seems to me like it would be a push, except the Big Ten has Penn State and there is nobody like that in the Big 12,” one responder said.