The kids & I made the drive down to B/CS for the Ags' v-ball game against KSU tonight. It was VERY ugly. The girls got swept in 3 straight and really didn't put up much of a fight until the last set. Big disappointment.

I guess up-and-downs is what you expect from a young team. Gotta beat 1-4 Baylor at home on Wednesday to stay in the thick of it. Still in a 5-way tie for second, thanks to Texas' loss to Nebraska. The conference is gonna start shaking itself out over the next 3 matches, need to beat Baylor and Missouri, assuming a loss to Nebraska.

We suck. Laurie is not a good volleyball coach.

But damn, all of our mediocrity in volleyball is worth it b/c of this one moment about a month ago:

Gif fail.

I assume this is the t.u. player getting spiked in the face with the ball?

I think Byrne would make a move after this season, but he simply doesn't have the money to go out and hire a top notch coach. We're stuck with Corbelli and mediocrity for a long time to come.

I wish the football program would get it's act together. A 4-0 record headed into Arkansas (and probably a top 25 ranking) would have gone a long way towards making that money...Maybe this new assistant from Dallas is being groomed to take over the spot? I mean, at this point, doesn't even have to be a "huge name" coach. Many non-revenue coaches have come to A&M and made a name for themselves, at this point a change simply for the purposes of shaking things up would do.

According to his club team's website, the new assistant will be going back as soon as the season is over at A&M to coach club. That means he won't even be around for spring ball here, so I doubt he is in any position to take over as head coach, especially at a major school like A&M (though that's not to say I don't like him or I don't think he's a good coach, he just needs some experience before we go giving him the keys to the program)

As far as not having money to go get a good coach, this isn't football or basketball where top tier coaches have huge salaries. The absolute highest paid collegiate volleyball coach in the country is probably still making ~150k from the school (Although coaches make lots of revenue separately from summer camps, but this is based on a lot of other factors and I'm sure the Corbelli's do just fine from summer camps at A&M as well). Texas' Volleyball coach Jerritt Elliott makes ~7k/year more than coach Corbelli, and both are in the 110-120 range, so money really shouldn't be a factor. If anything I would think you could save some money by bringing in a top tier but younger up and coming coach for less than 100k.

For the hell of it, I looked up Texas Tech's volleyball coaches salary and she is right between Elliott and Corbelli in terms of compensation. Yet compared to Tech's level of success we look like a top notch program. To be fair, she just came in January of 2009 so she hasn't had much time to build the program and she was a very successful coach at the Junior College level for many years before going to Tech.

It is also easier to win at A&M than Tech. Geographically, academically, and fan support they are at a disadvantage.

I would take some of Sherman's salary and go out and hire the best volleyball coach money could buy.