I am not sure what you mean by UMD being committed to mediocrity. UMD is a pretty good school, so I assume you are complaining about the quality of their volleyball program. What do you think UMD could do to improve their volleyball program? Hire a new coach? Lower the admission standards to attract better players who would not be admitted based on their academic record?

They don't need to lower their academic standards. They just need to fire the staff and recruit better.

only won 12 total sets in Big 10 play

That's brutal.

It's such a waste of potential. With the transfer portal, international recruiting, and its proximity to the Midwest and South, there's no reason the program should be as underperforming as it is at such a great school.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The DMV has the potential to be a talent pipeline, but the sport is just catching on. Additionally, although we have numerous university teams in the area, none are powerhouses. That matters more than people realize.

UMD could fill that void if it weren't so committed to mediocrity.

I am not sure what you mean by UMD being committed to mediocrity. UMD is a pretty good school, so I assume you are complaining about the quality of their volleyball program. What do you think UMD could do to improve their volleyball program? Hire a new coach? Lower the admission standards to attract better players who would not be admitted based on their academic record?

By keeping the same coach for as long as they have, despite the fact that said coach has not once even come close to making the NCAA tournament, UMD is sending the message that they don't care about their volleyball program.

UMD is not able to compete with the other schools in the Big 10 for some of the top kids across the country. Those out of state kids are not going to choose Maryland instead of Penn State, Purdue, Minnesota, etc. That is not the fault of the current coach. Those programs simply have a better pedigree and have better name recognition. In order to have a chance of coming close to making an NCAA tournament, UMD would either have to somehow start getting those caliber of kids from out of state, OR they would have to routinely get the very best kids in each class from the DMV/East Coast. This, in my opinion, is where the current coach has failed. Maryland has never been able to pull in the best kids from the East Coast. Those kids are routinely going elsewhere. If you can't get the best kids from your backyard to play for you, and you're competing in arguably the best volleyball conference in the country, you have very little chance of being competitive.

The coach is quality, but the school doesn't commit nearly as much to volleyball in terms of money or resources as its competitor schools...which happen to be in the best volleyball conference in the nation. The sport is treated as something of an afterthought as the school pours money into what has basically always been a 6-7 win football program outside of the Fridge years.

Same poster. I agree that Maryland doesn't have quite the same resources or brand-name pedigree as the vast majority of the other Big 10 programs. However, I go back to my point that the coach has not been able to capture the best talent that is in his own backyard (despite being affiliated with Metro). I guess he thought hit affiliation with Metro would somehow bring him talent but Metro has never given him any of their top talent. He hasn't seemed to make any effort with any of the other talent in our area that has played for other clubs, either. That is on him.

Aside from that, how can you objectively say the coach is quality? Not only are they at the bottom of the Big 10 every year, but every year they routinely lose to non P4 schools that have even less resources than UMD has for volleyball. Moreover, his results have gotten worse every year. If the coach were as quality as you say, you would expect some sort of upward trajectory from season to season, as great coaches develop players and make bad situations better. Look at these results (which seemingly get worse every year)...

2025 season: 8-22 overall (1-19 in conference play); lost to Coastal Carolina; only won 12 total sets in Big 10 play

2024 season: 14-17 overall (5-15 in conference play); lost to New Hampshire

2023 season: 17-15 overall (7-13 in conference play); lost to Navy

2022 season: 16-16 overall (7-13 in conference play); losses to FGCU and South Florida

2021 season: 19-13 overall (7-13 in conference play)

2020 season: 5-15 overall (COVID season)

2019: 13-19 overall (5-15 in conference play); losses to UTRGV and George Mason

2018: 18-14 overall (9-11 in conference play); losses to Air Force and Princeton

I don't really care. Schools should focus on academics and leave the sports to professional leagues. I would be happy to see the millions of dollars currently wasted on celebrity coaches and top athletes spent on research opportunities. College teams should be made up of amateur players who play for fun rather than scholarships. You can call that mediocrity, but universities should not be in the business of sports. Unfortunately, a lot of universities treat sports like business and I don't see that going away any time soon.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The DMV has the potential to be a talent pipeline, but the sport is just catching on. Additionally, although we have numerous university teams in the area, none are powerhouses. That matters more than people realize.

UMD could fill that void if it weren't so committed to mediocrity.

I am not sure what you mean by UMD being committed to mediocrity. UMD is a pretty good school, so I assume you are complaining about the quality of their volleyball program. What do you think UMD could do to improve their volleyball program? Hire a new coach? Lower the admission standards to attract better players who would not be admitted based on their academic record?

By keeping the same coach for as long as they have, despite the fact that said coach has not once even come close to making the NCAA tournament, UMD is sending the message that they don't care about their volleyball program.

UMD is not able to compete with the other schools in the Big 10 for some of the top kids across the country. Those out of state kids are not going to choose Maryland instead of Penn State, Purdue, Minnesota, etc. That is not the fault of the current coach. Those programs simply have a better pedigree and have better name recognition. In order to have a chance of coming close to making an NCAA tournament, UMD would either have to somehow start getting those caliber of kids from out of state, OR they would have to routinely get the very best kids in each class from the DMV/East Coast. This, in my opinion, is where the current coach has failed. Maryland has never been able to pull in the best kids from the East Coast. Those kids are routinely going elsewhere. If you can't get the best kids from your backyard to play for you, and you're competing in arguably the best volleyball conference in the country, you have very little chance of being competitive.

The coach is quality, but the school doesn't commit nearly as much to volleyball in terms of money or resources as its competitor schools...which happen to be in the best volleyball conference in the nation. The sport is treated as something of an afterthought as the school pours money into what has basically always been a 6-7 win football program outside of the Fridge years.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The DMV has the potential to be a talent pipeline, but the sport is just catching on. Additionally, although we have numerous university teams in the area, none are powerhouses. That matters more than people realize.

UMD could fill that void if it weren't so committed to mediocrity.

I am not sure what you mean by UMD being committed to mediocrity. UMD is a pretty good school, so I assume you are complaining about the quality of their volleyball program. What do you think UMD could do to improve their volleyball program? Hire a new coach? Lower the admission standards to attract better players who would not be admitted based on their academic record?

By keeping the same coach for as long as they have, despite the fact that said coach has not once even come close to making the NCAA tournament, UMD is sending the message that they don't care about their volleyball program.

UMD is not able to compete with the other schools in the Big 10 for some of the top kids across the country. Those out of state kids are not going to choose Maryland instead of Penn State, Purdue, Minnesota, etc. That is not the fault of the current coach. Those programs simply have a better pedigree and have better name recognition. In order to have a chance of coming close to making an NCAA tournament, UMD would either have to somehow start getting those caliber of kids from out of state, OR they would have to routinely get the very best kids in each class from the DMV/East Coast. This, in my opinion, is where the current coach has failed. Maryland has never been able to pull in the best kids from the East Coast. Those kids are routinely going elsewhere. If you can't get the best kids from your backyard to play for you, and you're competing in arguably the best volleyball conference in the country, you have very little chance of being competitive.

Anonymous wrote:The DMV has the potential to be a talent pipeline, but the sport is just catching on. Additionally, although we have numerous university teams in the area, none are powerhouses. That matters more than people realize.

UMD could fill that void if it weren't so committed to mediocrity.

I am not sure what you mean by UMD being committed to mediocrity. UMD is a pretty good school, so I assume you are complaining about the quality of their volleyball program. What do you think UMD could do to improve their volleyball program? Hire a new coach? Lower the admission standards to attract better players who would not be admitted based on their academic record?

The DMV has the potential to be a talent pipeline, but the sport is just catching on. Additionally, although we have numerous university teams in the area, none are powerhouses. That matters more than people realize.

UMD could fill that void if it weren't so committed to mediocrity.

I would like to see the DCUM parents' reaction to the idea that their kids wipe the floors at the beginning of practice.

There's always a lot of talk on this board come tournament season about why CHRVA clubs are behind the best clubs in the country. This showed up on my FYP about standards and schedulesatSports Performance in Chicago. There's not a single club in CHRVA with this kind of exacting culture or rigorous schedule. Food for thought!

https://www.tiktok.com/t/ZTrHH3hGV/