Jamie Morrison provides update on A&M volleyball heading into year two

Texas A&M volleyball has a busy couple of months on the horizon. Entering year two at the helm, head coach Jamie Morrison joined TexAgs Radio on Monday to detail his approach to weeks ahead, an update on his squad and much more. 

Key notes from Jamie Morrison interview

• I am staying organized because of my staff. I hired good people who can handle the load without me being around. I have to give a big shoutout to Ashlie Reasor, our director of operations. She keeps me on track. Having people you trust is the No. 1 thing. The next three months are pretty crazy. 
   
• The biggest thing is understanding they are student-athletes. They have to balance those two things, and it’s not easy. You can put your head down and dive into volleyball. There are a lot of different elements. You are running a small business. 
   
• One of the toughest things in collegiate athletics right now is you feel like the ground is moving beneath you. I am just starting to wrap my head around where you think it's going. We will be able to compensate our athletes. We don't know how much and what sports, etc. I have conflicting thoughts about that. I think our athletes deserve to be compensated.
   
• We are trying to professionalize this. The college landscape gives our athletes a chance to make mistakes and learn from them in a college atmosphere, not a pro atmosphere where you would get fired. We need to save that in some shape or form so that we keep our kids, kids, and we keep our students, students. 
   
• There is a nucleus that has been here and will be here. There are pieces that have been put around it. We have added some athletes through the portal. Amare Hernandez is coming in as a 2024. She is the one youngin’ we have coming in. 
   
• My biggest motto is to recruit good people, whether that be through the portal or traditional recruiting. One of our transfers, we had to get her a new passport. It took five hours, and I enjoyed every minute of it. Those are the people you want around.
   
• My U-19 team winning it all last year meant the world. Like the college experience, you are free to make mistakes. We had veterans. That group got really, really good at volleyball. They released that schedule, and it overlapped with the college schedule by three days. 
   
• I couldn’t believe we won it. I went and hugged our team and staff. It was a really amazing job of getting a group of young women ready to go do something that has only been done once in the history of USA Volleyball, winning gold at the junior level. That’s why I signed up to do it again. 
   
• I wanted the release video to be entertaining. I wanted to have some fun. It turned out amazing. Hopefully, people were entertained. 
   
• What a way to start the SEC with Texas. One of my goals for this program is to Pack Reed. I will start the propaganda for this now. September 27. 
   
• The sport of volleyball is growing. Student sections are getting rowdy and funny. Each gym has its own character. Now that I have been to these SEC schools, each city has its own personality. There is no night you get off in our conference. 
   
• Has a school ever won two national championships in 48 hours? I was watching women’s tennis. That was awesome. I turned it on the next day, and I saw Adela Cernousek win. We have a head coach’s text group. We were texting in there. I am not surprised.
   
• This school is going to be a national powerhouse in all sports. We are really excited about that and for each other.