This guy knows his stuff. Our local club is modeling our play after his approach. My daughter attended a 2 day camp with him and many other coaches last summer and he really stood out to her as the best at the camp. She said he explained things in terms that were easy to understand, had a keen eye, and was funny to boot.
pedigree. If Purdue can hire a high school volleyball coach and field a highly competitive program, that ascended from club sport to varsity status in a short period of time, there's no reason why ND can't top that.
While not a benchmark per se, I have always felt ND tolerated mediocrity in VB far too long
I'm hopeful that this hire catapults the program into elite status where it belongs.
Both of my daughters competed in high school so I am familiar with the talent in just the Indpls. area. For the most part, Indy was ignored as a recruiting source save for maybe 2 players that I can recall. Catholic school girls in this area would loved to have been recruited by ND. Other hotbeds of talent like the greater Chicago area and other hotbeds of high school talent will be well served.
This is terrific.
I know some on campus were very sorry to see Brown go; it's a mindset comparable to that which holds ND should've let Willingham stay longer (leaving aside the wide disparity between their lengths of service). A hire like this should jolt some sense into them.
Or a scheduled press conference? I can't find one. He and his family are members of my parish, so this will no doubt be big news in our circle.
Definite homerun hire.
He went after a big one in women's soccer and ended up with Romagnolo, who was pretty solid and helped advance the Irish to the 3rd round of the NCAAs (one round shy of the final four).
Halfpenny has produced good results in the regular season but has been below average in the NCAA tournament. Jury is still out.
I'd say his hiring choices haven't generally been homeruns but solid. This certainly qualifies. It might even temporarily subdue some of Melanzana's angst against Swarbrick.
Yes, credit where credit is due. Jim is the absolute best person for the job, and I commend Swarbrick and Missy Conboy on getting it done. Very excited for the future of the program and for Jim and his family.
As I said, I thought it would be a great hire, it's just the sort of move that so often doesn't come to pass for whatever reason.
if ND hired Urban Meyer -- happy that the well-deserved skepticism was wrong.
There are plenty of folks in the volleyball community that are fairly shocked/puzzled over McLaughlin's move given his success at UW, the lack of volleyball success at ND recently, and his own West Coast ties (grew up in Southern California). Admittedly, it seems that most of those folks were also unaware of the ND/midwest connection through his wife.
I know it can be discounted as "former assistant, married to athletics alumna, children coming up on college age making ND more attractive", but to hire away a coach from a top job in a premier conference where he has won a national title and reached the final four only two years ago is an impressive coup.