Here is what I know; you'll recall some of it...

Here is what I know; you'll recall some of it...
by MPG (2022-04-18 11:10:05)
Edited on 2022-04-18 11:13:13

In reply to: MPG & NDdoggie78: Any Insight Is Appreciated... posted by dillon77

Post Reply Return to Olympic

1. ND did well during the '20-21 covid-extended "ACC Only" season finishing near the top of the ACC and winning a first round NCAA match for the first time in years.

2. With all the best players returning, there were high expectations for the 2021 "back to normal" season. Instead, the team stumbled through some inxplicable early losses to mid-majors(including being swept at home by three of them in one weekend) and finished a disappointing 13-15 overall, 10-8 in the ACC. I am not a good analyst of volleyball play, but they looked sluggish to me when I watched them.

3. On December 3, ND announced that Coach Johnson's contract was not renewed. This was a surprise to me, but then I learned that all of the starters were in the transfer portal, so I knew that there must have been internal problems.

4. ND Hired Salima Rockwell as head coach on January 3. This was the basketball equivalent of a team hiring Rebecca Lobo in basketball, if Lobo had many years as a successful assistant for several championship winning teams to go with her prime TV analyst role and name recognition.

5. By the time Coach Rockwell was named, three starters with multiple years of eligibility had already committed to teams back home in Milwaukee, Texas, and Southern California. The two graduating senior starters then decided to take their covid seasons at UNC and MSU. Perhaps they did not want to use their bonus season in a rebuild. The sixth starter, libero Hattie Monson opted to stay with ND. One of the five recruits who signed in November opted out and will play for Pitt who made it to the Final Four last season along with Louisville.

6. Coach Rockwell began winter/spring workouts with seven players, four of whom were setters or liberos. There were two middle blockers: Lauren Tarnoff, who was part of the regular rotation for most of last season, and the rarely used Charity McDowell. The only outside hitter, Paris Thompson, missed last season because of an injury, but was the Florida player of the Year in high school. Check the und.com volleyball twitter site to see what these player development practices in the Pit look like; the team doesn't have enough players to scrimmage!

7. A setter, a libero, and two outside hitters constitute the four remaining signees from November 2021. They were viewed as an excellent recruiting class. To them Coach Rockwell has added two more freshmen: the Canadian middle blocker and the Hoosier outside hitter. The SMU grad transfer middle blocker should be an immediate help.

8. Coach Rockwell will have a full roster for the fall, but most of them have never played a significant minute for ND. She has assembled what seems to be an outstanding staff, so I expect her first season to be a teaching and learning experience for the entire roster. My guess is that she'll teach and recruit well and have a winning record during her second season.

Youre analysis is encouraging. I've always thought ND seemed

to underachieve in VB, save for the former coach who retired for health reasons. I was excited about the prospects of his coaching.

Life had another plan.

Both of my girls played high school VB so I have always been interested in ND's team. Here's hoping that much better days are ahead.

I believe that ND VB has never recruited Indiana well enough

and was encouraged by this quote from Coach Rockwell when announcing the signing of Avery Ross, "It is incredibly important to us to keep the best talent in the state..."

Totally agree. There always has been terrific talent in the

parochial schools. For the past 10+ years the public high schools have grown in their development too.

I'd be pleased if the staff was able to recruit 2-3 players to occupy the roster at any one time.

Purdue player from Goshen transferring to aTm.

Molly Brown didn't play much during her time at Purdue.

Click here for link at https://twitter.com/AggieVolleyball/status/15291432678073303

Louisville and Cincinnati areas, too *

To elaborate slightly on (5)...

...I know the family of one of the transfers is telling people the player's destination school offers a degree ND either doesn't offer or whose quality / eminence is greater than that of ND's.

That makes sense for either of the grad transfers.

Large public universities such as MSU and UNC offer a great variety of good graduate programs.

Not much to add to MPG’s great synopsis

I have no inside info other than following the team and attending some games on football weekends. I knew one graduating player who didn’t play much (she had played at same HS with a niece).

All this caught me completely by surprise other than something didn’t seem right with the underperformance of a team with high expectations.

My worry with the coach firing and mass exodus, that something more damaging would come out, especially in this day and age when there is a new abuse story seemingly every day. So while not happy with what has happened with the program at least no indictments like that have arisen.

So, still not sure what happened, I thought Johnson was doing a good job coaching/ recruiting and this last season was just a hiccup - but obviously there were more issues.
Moving forward I guess

Thanks To All For Feedback....

I was aware that the team got off to a very sluggish start (with the mid-major losses MPG described), but they seemed to be coming back. Wasn't aware that players were hitting the portal prior to Coach J's non-contract renewal. Obviously, players were aware the program was wafting, as well, which was a shame because there was some talent there.

Let's hope Coach Rockwell and her staff can get the current players to play well and get the team pointed in the right direction, then use her contacts from throughout the volleyball world to recruit at the level necessary.