Over the last few weeks there have been a lot of people commenting on Ball State women's volleyball coach Dave Boos.
The comments were spurred by the announcement that four players were quitting the program, or in all actuality kicked off. I've been appalled but yet not surprised by the people who have used this opportunity to bash Boos.
The women's volleyball team had its worse season in history. That's a fact. What isn't a fact is it's the new coach's fault.
Let's start with a look at the roster he had. He had just two seniors and the only junior was a transfer who had yet to play for the Cardinals. What that meant was the first person to be at the helm of Ball State women's volleyball since the late 1980's not named Randy Litchfield inherited a team dominated with underclassmen.
That didn't bode well for this past season especially when you consider the players Boos had were recruited by Litchfield. For the most part they weren't the type of players needed for his system. That's not to say these players are bad at volleyball; they are just bad for the system Boos uses.
The biggest reason why Boos' first year wasn't pretty was philosophy. Boos is a defensive-minded statistician, and uses a very complex system offensively. It is practically impossible for players to perfectly implement a complicated system as sophomore attacker Julie Breivogel made apparent very early on in the season.
"My head hurt more after practice than it did after school," Breivogel said during the first week of September. "There is just a lot of information and techniques that we had to learn that most other team's wouldn't even think of."
A system like this takes time to learn and use properly. Players typically need a year of playing with a new system and then an offseason to look back and make adjustments to fully understand how to use the benefits of a new system. This is true in all sports and is multiplied if the previous coach used a totally opposite system.
Litchfield did in fact use a polar opposite system. As Breivogel told me back in September, Litchfield was very much a just go out there and hit the ball as hard as you can coach. He didn't go into a lot of detail.
Going from a just hit the ball strategy to a strategy that you have to ask yourself how, why and where to hit the ball before you actually do isn't going to be instantaneous.
As harsh as it might be what this team needed this offseason was a trimming of the fat off its roster. This is why Boos sprayed the weed eater, weeding out the players who don't fit his system to make room for the recruits he's bringing in who do.
Any coach, unless they break rules (see Thompson), deserve three years before their administration and the fans call for his/her job. Next year Boos will have a good portion of his starters back with recruits coming in who fit his system.
The Cardinals should be much better next season. I would predict a .500 season give or take and from there it will only get better. The 2008 team has zero seniors meaning every single one of the players will be back in 2009.
Write to Levin at levintblack@gmail.com
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