By Cory Edwards
After leading the BYU men”s volleyball team to its second NCAA title in three years, head coach Carl McGown was named the American Volleyball Coaches” Association National Coach of the Year.
“McGown is finally starting to be recognized by his peers as one of the best coaches in the world,” said assistant coach Troy Tanner. “He”s as good as it gets in volleyball.”
McGown led his team to a 23-4 (.852) record this past season.
The season”s icing on the cake was the championship game versus the UCLA Bruins. McGown coached his team to a 3-0 shutout victory.
“It”s the same thing that every coach says every time, a rising tide raises all the boats,” McGown said.
He said that any time a coach has a packed team of good players and great assistant coaches, it is like the tide lifting a boat up above the others.
This is the second time the AVCA has honored McGown with the award. The last time he received the recognition was in 1999 after leading the Cougars to a 30-1 record and the teams” first national championship.
McGown has coached at BYU for 12 seasons. Prior to this, he coached the U.S. men”s team from 1973-1976 and coached in four different Olympic Games.
The experience coaching on a national level has contributed to his style of coaching now, said McGown.
“Everyday you coach, you learn a little bit more about your profession,” McGown said. “You get older and get more learned and therefore you get better.”
Although McGown said he feels his coaching is better from experience, was this year”s team better than the”99 team?
Assistant coach, Troy Tanner, said that during the 2001 season, he thought that the ”99 team was the better of the two teams.
“Now as I reflect, I”m not so sure that the 1999 team could beat this year”s team,” Tanner said. “We hammered UCLA, and I”m not so sure the ”99 team could have done that.”
Of the two championship teams McGown coached, he would only say that this year”s team scored points more efficiently than 1999”s team but that the 1999 team sided out more than this year”s team.
BYU”s volleyball team is made up of players from all over the world. Many of the players grew up in California, but there players from as far away Slovenia, Brazil and Puerto Rico.
Slovenia native, Luka Slabe, just completed his sophomore year at BYU. His father, Voiko, said that Luka has learned a tremendous amount from McGown.
“Luka knew how to play volleyball,” Voiko said from Slovenia, “but Coach McGown has taught him to play much better.”
McGown will formally receive the award in December 2001 at the AVCA National Convention.
