Just curious.

The soccer board is for all things soccer....and there is a hell of a lot out there beyond Aggie soccer.

Right now, A&M volleyball gets little chat (remember our soccer program is one of the best in the country), and what volleyball is out there that would have enough discussion to warrant it's own board?


That is why.

volleyball is the second most popular sport (to soccer at #1 obviously) in the world but inside the USA it isn't even in the top 10. and forgive the stereotype but from most of the Aggies I've talked to, the general opinion is it's a girly european sport. there's MLS but no MLV. only college, and almost only for girls. when we're winning people care because their Aggies are winning. when we're losing, people are all "what's volleyball?". and since our last halfway decent year was 2005, i don't think a volleyball board here would get enough traffic.

[This message has been edited by wannaggie (edited 6/24/2009 11:30p).]

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volleyball is the second most popular sport (to soccer at #1 obviously) in the world but inside the USA it isn't even in the top 10. and forgive the stereotype but from most of the Aggies I've talked to, the general opinion is it's a girly european sport.

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First, in the hierarchy of sports that are followed by fan bases and discussed on places like message boards, volleyball is not even close to the second most popular sport in the world.

Second, I have never heard volleyball called a european sport before this post. I imagine most Aggies, when asked about volleyball, think of three things: Aggie volleyball, high school/club volleyball, and playing beach volleyball. All probably thought of as pure American sports and far from European.


Now, soccer being called a "girly european sport" is a common occurance.


Soccer has it's own board because of the huge global following of soccer clubs and national teams combined with the success of the A&M soccer team. Nothing more, nothing less.

[This message has been edited by TXAggie2011 (edited 6/25/2009 12:01a).]

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First, in the hierarchy of sports that are followed by fan bases and discussed on places like message boards, volleyball is not even close to the second most popular sport in the world.

Second, I have never heard volleyball called a european sport before this post. I imagine most Aggies, when asked about volleyball, think of three things: Aggie volleyball, high school/club volleyball, and playing beach volleyball. All probably thought of as pure American sports and far from European.

Now, soccer being called a "girly european sport" is a common occurance.

Soccer has it's own board because of the huge global following of soccer clubs and national teams combined with the success of the A&M soccer team. Nothing more, nothing less.

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its actually a lot more and a lot less. golf and racing and tennis and even poker get more tv coverage media support and fan chatter than soccer and volleyball in this country yet they don't have their own boards here. you don't think there's a huge global following of tennis players and the american tennis players?

judging by "sports that are followed by fan bases and discussed on places like message boards" is obviously going to slant your results towards the richest most media saturated country in the world, the USA, where people have time to sit around at their jobs posting about sports on high speed internet connections. mention big twelve football in Turkey or Italy or Poland or Germany or China or Brazil or even Puerto Rico and the response will be their language's version of "WTFLOL".

you are the one who asked "what volleyball is out there that would have enough discussion to warrant it's own board?" if you don't like when people give you the answer then why ask...

i don't mean to be rude, but it sounds like you don't know much about volleyball beyond the university and your local high school and pick up games at the local city sand pit. that is like 1 half of 1 percent of world wide volleyball. you know where laura jones, the best hitter to ever play volleyball at A&M, went after she left college? She went to Puerto Rico where she could get paid for her athletic skills, because people in all the towns there follow volleyball the way Texans follow football. but in her own country those skills have zero market value except as an entry level assistant in a college PE department or getting a fee for having your name on the list of coaches at a club for 14 year olds.

i know i'm just some stranger online, so you don't want to believe that i could be telling you the facts. the fact is that nearly every other country in the world has a professional volleyball league with divisions and relegation just like soccer. in many of those countries (like italy and brazil) the sport's popularity is second only to soccer. in fact many countries the soccer clubs and the volleyball clubs are owned by the same sponsor organizations and get the same media attention.

example - were you paying attention to the 2008 olympics? volleyball is THE team sport in China. the television audience for the olympic finals was over 200 million chinese, not to mention the rest of the world. do you have any idea what it meant for the usa women's coach to win a silver medal there? this is a woman whose wedding was nationally televised. she came to coach in the usa so she and her family could have a normal life because she is the chinese michael jordan and can't go out in public without getting surrounded by fans.





[This message has been edited by wannaggie (edited 6/25/2009 2:45a).]

How popular volleyball is around the world has little to no bearing on whethre it gets its own board. Before the soccer board, soccer talk dominated the other sports board, to the point the mods decided it merited its own board. Volleyball does not generate that much board traffic, due to the recent lack of success for the Ags and the fact that there aren't as many Aggies who follow pro volleyball. There are a good number of Ags following MLS, European leagues, and US national team soccer.

I'm all for some more volleyball chat, whether it's on this board, or it's own.

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How popular volleyball is around the world has little to no bearing on whethre it gets its own board. Before the soccer board, soccer talk dominated the other sports board, to the point the mods decided it merited its own board. Volleyball does not generate that much board traffic, due to the recent lack of success for the Ags and the fact that there aren't as many Aggies who follow pro volleyball. There are a good number of Ags following MLS, European leagues, and US national team soccer.

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exactly. it's not the huge global following of clubs and national teams, because soccer and volleyball both have that, worldwide. but volleyball doesn't and never will have it here, on texags, which is why i said the only way we'd have even a medium amount of volleyball traffic is if we're consistently in the top 10. and that hasn't been the case for several years. which is why i said i don't think a volleyball board would get enough traffic.

[This message has been edited by wannaggie (edited 6/25/2009 10:44a).]

wannaggie,

As for the important parts in regards to the actual topic of the thread, you're wasting a lot of time telling me off for things I don't disagree about.

Maybe the wording was bad or I mixed a couple of ideas, but I thought it was common sense it was all about how Aggies and only Aggies view/follow the two games regarding why there is a soccer board on texags.com and not a volleyball board.




If you think volleyball is the second most popular sport in the world...that can be your opinion. (I'm in the camp that says cricket is the sport behind soccer, by the way)

We can agree to disagree and leave it here, can't we?

All I ask is that you give me a little more credit on my knowledge of world sport. It's a little more informed than you give me credit for, and you never know when I can just pop out little tidbits such as how the Chinese volleyball leagues almost shutdown a few years back because well, the sport just doesn't have that same glory it had back when in 1980s. Although, you have to give the Chinese some credit...they've worked hard to get a resurgence of popularity for volleyball and it's look like it's on it's way back up.

Also, study up on basketball's fanbase in China.


Nevertheless, we're comparing soccer and volleyball and one of those sports ain't got jack on the other.

[This message has been edited by TXAggie2011 (edited 6/25/2009 3:31p).]

http://english.peopledaily.com.cn/english/200005/03/eng20000503_40161.html

Here is a pretty good article about the Chinese volleyball league back when it was in really bad trouble.


Edit- big fail on the hyperlink.

[This message has been edited by TXAggie2011 (edited 6/25/2009 1:54p).]

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judging by "sports that are followed by fan bases and discussed on places like message boards" is obviously going to slant your results

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But, that was kind of the point, wannaggie. We were talking about internet message boards.

[This message has been edited by TXAggie2011 (edited 6/25/2009 3:31p).]

TXAg2011, thanks for the thoughtful replies.
i have a better understanding of your point of view. and yeah, something like "most popular sport" is going to depend on how we each define it, so there's no reason to have a big debate about it.

soccer is consistently a top 10 program, that's all

http://www.goapvl.com/
http://volleyball.org/avp/

etc.

There have been several pro indoor volleyball leagues started in the U.S. that shut down. We don't have to like a sport just because other countries do. Kinda how NFL Europe shut down.

Furthermore, I think you'll find that this is the wrong board to throw around your "Americans don't know s*** about s*** outside of football and basketball," because most of the posters here are avid followers of the sports that are considered more global.

Why would volleyballs international popularity grant it it's own board? Same for golf, racing, or any other sport? Sports deserve their own boards when they begin to overwhelm or be overwhelmed by the other sports that they share boards with (such as women's basketball splitting off from men's, or when soccer split off from other sports). Threads on the other sports board usually take several months to bump off of the first page of threads. Show me how many volleyball related threads there have been in the last year where they would need their own board?

Even T&F and golf, aside from the surges they received for NC's, have basically dulled back down to quietness. And what people with highspeed internet connections that are A&M fans care about DOES matter, because this is www.texags.com, not www.wannaggiesviewofathletichierarchy.com.

I'm guess you and 2011 made up, but I still don't get why you think it's necessary post on this board how much you think America sucks, when everything you say is completely off-base.

And cricket, field hockey, and tennis are all more popular sports globally than volleyball. And I think if David Stern continues the unbelievable job he's done as commissioner of the NBA, that basketball will probably pass volleyball, if it hasn't already. Shoot, maybe even baseball, given it's popularity in the US, Latin America, AND SE Asia. Although it's popularity might be down some from it's glory days, it's picking up steam in many "emerging nations" given it's image as an everyman's sport (even though it's players are some of the highest paid).

Well I know I posted two topics on volleyball in the past month so I am doing my part . Unfortunately nobody replied to them much .

As far as popularity in other countries goes I know racing (not necessarily stock car but sport car and other stuff) is huge in Europe (if I remember correctly my SPMT 217 prof said it was the 2nd most popular sport in Europe). It's even becoming pretty popular in Japan, I mean they did make a Fast & Furious: Tokyo Drift .

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There have been several pro indoor volleyball leagues started in the U.S. that shut down. We don't have to like a sport just because other countries do. Kinda how NFL Europe shut down.

Furthermore, I think you'll find that this is the wrong board to throw around your "Americans don't know s*** about s*** outside of football and basketball," because most of the posters here are avid followers of the sports that are considered more global.

Why would volleyballs international popularity grant it it's own board? Same for golf, racing, or any other sport? Sports deserve their own boards when they begin to overwhelm or be overwhelmed by the other sports that they share boards with (such as women's basketball splitting off from men's, or when soccer split off from other sports). Threads on the other sports board usually take several months to bump off of the first page of threads. Show me how many volleyball related threads there have been in the last year where they would need their own board?

Even T&F and golf, aside from the surges they received for NC's, have basically dulled back down to quietness. And what people with highspeed internet connections that are A&M fans care about DOES matter, because this is www.texags.com, not www.wannaggiesviewofathletichierarchy.com.

I'm guess you and 2011 made up, but I still don't get why you think it's necessary post on this board how much you think America sucks, when everything you say is completely off-base.

And cricket, field hockey, and tennis are all more popular sports globally than volleyball. And I think if David Stern continues the unbelievable job he's done as commissioner of the NBA, that basketball will probably pass volleyball, if it hasn't already. Shoot, maybe even baseball, given it's popularity in the US, Latin America, AND SE Asia. Although it's popularity might be down some from it's glory days, it's picking up steam in many "emerging nations" given it's image as an everyman's sport (even though it's players are some of the highest paid).

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the plain text part of your reply is good commentary. thank you for participating.
the bold text are the parts where you are either completely misunderstanding or mischaracterizing what i said, and/or you are arguing against something that no one so far has tried to argue for.

[This message has been edited by wannaggie (edited 6/26/2009 2:32a).]

we have volleyball?

To be blunt, volleyball sucks and a lot of people don't care for it.

You want a V-Ball board like soccer has?

Compare the two sports/teams; which one has had the greatest success in the last 12 years?

Case closed.



"Get your licks in while you can..."

[This message has been edited by monarch (edited 6/29/2009 10:24p).]

Our program has fallen into shameful disrepute in recent history, and BB's budget crisis has kept him from replacing LC with someone who is capable of putting a competitive team on the court. "Building Champions" does not apply to vb.

Hence, there is no need to create a board to compose the program's annual obituary.

If there were enough posts about Aggie volleyball, it would get its own forum...so the answer to your question is, "because a lot more people care about Aggie soccer".

Based on the number of posts on this board, I would say that volleyball is even behind tennis and track in terms of forum interest.

Well, the way I see it:

- Our Volleyball team has been more successful than our football team this decade. Our volleyball team has a 63.4 winning percentage, while football has won 51.5%.

- The Corbellis have about as good of a pedigree in the sport as you can possibly find; coaching in the Olympics, playing in the Olympics, and coaching future Olympians.

- Look at our NCAA Tournament appearances: 93-94-95-96-97-98-99-00-01-02-03-04-05 (and we've flat out been jobbed by the selection committee two of the last three years).

- In the last seventeen years, only six different teams have won the NCAA title, so it's not like there are hot coaches bouncing around and up the circuit all the time. And, in the 28 years since it's been an NCAA sport, only three teams NOT located on the Pacific coast have won the title. So you might wonder why our football team, with so much youth development infrastructure here in Texas, hasn't had more success than our volleyball team, a sport thoroughly dominated by the West Coast.

- Bill Byrne was the AD at Nebraska when they won two of their three NCAA titles. I think he knows a thing or two about building a volleyball program. And I don't think anyone can question his willingness to make a change if he feels it is necessary. Gosh, maybe he knows Laurie is a good coach.

- Texas has seen some recent success because they poured money into fixing up Gregory Gym and making it a volleyball only facility. They also spent some money on an assistant coach - getting Baylor's former head coach as an assistant. They also jumped on the extremely early commitment trend started by Mack, getting girls to commit in their soph year if they had the height. So, yes, they have a nice trend going, but:

- From the looks of our recent recruiting, we seem to be bringing in some real talent: http://www.aggieathletics.com/sports/w-volley/spec-rel/070109aab.html I'm REALLY looking forward to seeing this team over the next several years.

- I don't see an easy way to look it up, but I feel pretty sure that volleyball has higher attendance numbers than Tennis or Track and Field. And if not now, then definitely when we start playing Sand Volleyball.

[This message has been edited by SenorMandingo (edited 7/3/2009 8:59p).]

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And if not now, then definitely when we start playing Sand Volleyball.

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For sure.

But for whatever reason people don't post much about it.

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- The Corbellis have about as good of a pedigree in the sport as you can possibly find; coaching in the Olympics, playing in the Olympics, and coaching future Olympians.

- Look at our NCAA Tournament appearances: 93-94-95-96-97-98-99-00-01-02-03-04-05 (and we've flat out been jobbed by the selection committee two of the last three years).

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Gosh, maybe he knows Laurie is a good coach.

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After almost 20 years on the job, pedigree means absolutely NOTHING.

I know we "got screwed", but at the end of the day, you're either in or you're out.

We've been out.


Thanks for posting those results. You take them and go look at those seasons, and you helped illustate how the program has been stuck in some nasty mud the past 5 or 6 years and that needs to change. That is unacceptable and needs to start changing.

I'm not saying the Corbelli's can't create that change and that they don't deserve atleast one or two more chances, but don't you have to have a time where you tell someone they've had enough chances? Just because you're a "good coach" doesn't mean you get a lifetime pass.

Plenty of excellent coaches reach a point where both sides (the coach and the program) need to go in different directions.

[This message has been edited by TXAggie2011 (edited 7/5/2009 1:22a).]

I don't think you are looking at this objectively.

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the program has been stuck in some nasty mud the past 5 or 6 years

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- we've made the tournament three of the last six years.

I'm not saying anyone deserves a lifetime pass because they are a "good coach". I think Laurie is a great coach. Just imagine for a moment that we hired her today, and you saw that background mentioned above - you would be thrilled with that hire.

Consider for a moment how only THREE schools east of the San Andreas fault have won the NCAA title, and how lopsided that is. Now consider that those three teams are Texas, Nebraska, and Penn St. - teams with a big athletic budget and a history of sports success. Meanwhile, we haven't had a lot of top to bottom success and our VB team has been stuck in a neglected G Rollie. Maybe the championships our other teams just started to win this year, coupled with our move to nicer facilities at Reed Arena, will pull our team up to that level.

[This message has been edited by SenorMandingo (edited 7/5/2009 8:30a).]

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I don't think you are looking at this objectively.

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Yeah, that's bullcrap. If anyone's is failing to be objective, it'd be you before me.

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- we've made the tournament three of the last six years.

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Yep. You keep heling me make my point. We've been 50/50 with making the tournament. Now, as I said, you then go look at those seasons... What's the trend of the past 6 years? How many times have we gotten out of the first round?

How in the world does the phrase "stuck in the mud" not apply to this?

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I'm not saying anyone deserves a lifetime pass because they are a "good coach". I think Laurie is a great coach. Just imagine for a moment that we hired her today, and you saw that background mentioned above - you would be thrilled with that hire.

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IF you actually agree no one gets a lifetime pass, NEVER AGAIN tell me about her pedigree prior to taking the job at A&M.

As I said before, after almost 20 years, pedigree means absolutely nothing. It's time to look at results as a head coach to judge her as a head coach.

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Consider for a moment how only THREE schools east of the San Andreas fault have won the NCAA title, and how lopsided that is. Now consider that those three teams are Texas, Nebraska, and Penn St. - teams with a big athletic budget and a history of sports success. Meanwhile, we haven't had a lot of top to bottom success and our VB team has been stuck in a neglected G Rollie. Maybe the championships our other teams just started to win this year, coupled with our move to nicer facilities at Reed Arena, will pull our team up to that level.

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I havn't said a word about the national championship or suggested anything about it being national championship or bust. So, don't worry about all those teams on the West Coast and just worry about the Big 12 teams.

It was revitalizing to finish above .500 this past year in the Big 12. We've made it a bad habit to finish below many more than just the Huskers and Longhorns.

[This message has been edited by TXAggie2011 (edited 7/5/2009 2:36p).]

You keep repeating yourself, and you still aren't saying anything.

Name a better coach that's gettable.

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You keep repeating yourself, and you still aren't saying anything.

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Yet you've been coming up with new stuff that means anything at all?

Yeah...right.

I repeated myself because you just used the same, exact irrelevant points you already used... "But, but, but her pedigree as a player, forget she's coached nearly 20 years, judge her coaching ability by her pedigree, not results!"; "Only two Big 12 teams have won a national championship, clearly this means there aren't many good coaches out there to hire!" "blah, blah, blah, blah, blah..."

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Name a better coach that's gettable.

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I've actually never said we need a new coach right now, but hey, whatever. All I've said was that I don't think they deserve too many more chances to turn things around.

Plenty of coaches could get Texas A&M to a ".500 in an overachieving season level"...which is what we've been the past 4 years or so.

[This message has been edited by TXAggie2011 (edited 7/6/2009 12:56a).]

BB had his coach after the 2007 season, but he couldn't/wouldn't close the deal on salary. Now, we understand he had to pass because the AD was falling deeper into a financial crisis.

VB is going to continue to suck, and it won't make any difference to anyone. The AD's financial weakness is LC's security blanket.

Sometimes you have to give a good coach the boot when they're not getting the job done. It happens in all sports at all levels. I'm not saying we'd find a coach that knows better, was a better, player, whatever than coach Corbelli. Maybe she's struggled lately because she's having trouble relating to the players. Hasn't kept up with the new generation. This might explain why we've had so many player's leave the team unexplicably the past few years.

I dunno what it could be, but she needs to be in the tournament this year to deserve (key word deserve) to keep her job, all financial issues aside. Maybe the issue isn't her, it's her assistants, although it'd be hard to get rid of at least 1 of those...

In the schedule release, she made a lot of excuses. This year's schedule means it's time to put up or shut up. I just hope that, if they fall flat on their faces, she doesn't start whining about how that's what she gets for making a difficult schedule. She needs to step up and win a big match. Maybe her practice coaching is spectacular, but the team seems to fall apart in matches that they seem to have a chance at winning! A head coach needs to be good in practices and in matches. An assistant can get away with just being a great practice coach, but a head coach can't.

Anyways, I hope they just have an amazing season and make the sweet 16 and it's not a question any more. I'm just saying, another season like they've had is just not going to cut it.

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A head coach needs to be good in practices and in matches. An assistant can get away with just being a great practice coach, but a head coach can't.

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I don't disagree with this statement...or agree for that matter - I don't know enough about volleyball to be able to say either way. My question is, what coaching/playing experience do you have that qualifies you to make this statement?

p.s. - don't read that wrong, I'm not attacking. It's an honest question from a volleyball fan w/o much vball knowledge.

Soccer is practiced in every city in every country pretty much and believe me when I say I've been there. There are so many different professional leagues which means there is a ton of matches, updates, transfers and other stuff that are discussed on the board. There are so many soccer fans and few VB fans.

Don't get me wrong b/c I enjoy going to the VB matches, but outside of just Aggie VB, there isn't a lot else besides the pro beach volleyball.

This is why soccer has its own board.


Moses Hall RAB
GO GUNNERS
CLASS OF 2012

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I don't disagree with this statement...or agree for that matter - I don't know enough about volleyball to be able to say either way. My question is, what coaching/playing experience do you have that qualifies you to make this statement?

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I don't agree with it, but not because anything volleyball specific.

I think every coaching staff in every sport is built a little differently and relationships are certainly different. Responsibilities are split differently. The way they go about things are different.

The bottom line is the team must perform on match day. However the coaches get that too happen is largely irrelevant to me, as you can go about that many, many ways.

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blah, blah, blah, blah, blah...

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