Trading places: Aggie couch to face alma mater
We’ll call this one “Trading Spaces.”
When the No. 16 BYU Cougars volleyball team visits the Spectrum Tuesday night to take on USU, each member of the Aggie coaching staff will be in the opposite space they were last season.
USU Head Coach Grayson DuBose and assistants Shawn Olmstead and Sahara Castillo each were part of BYU’s volleyball program last year and for several years before that.
DuBose graduated from BYU in 1993 and worked as assistant volleyball coach with the program from 2003 to 2006.
Olmstead was libero for the Cougar men’s team from 2001 to 2004, graduating from BYU as well.
Castillo was a member of the Cougar women’s team from 2003 to 2005. She is also a BYU grad.
No question the Aggies will be familiar with their arch nemesis from the south. What will it be like for the USU coaching staff?
Both DuBose and Olmstead denied there being any bitterness or awkwardness in their switching sides. Both could joke about when asked the differencebetween being an Aggie now after once being a Cougar.
“I think the shade of blue is a little different,” said Olmstead, who helped the Cougars win
win national championships in 2001 and 2004, as well as a national runner-up finish in 2003. “I think it’s darker.”
In more serious tones, both he and DuBose know well the challenge that awaits their team.
“We were successful (at BYU), obviously, but I’m a part of this program now,” Olmstead said. “My heart’s into this program. I want to beat them just as bad as any of the girls that don’t have any affiliation with BYU.
“It’s gonna be interesting to see them on the other side of the net. It’ll be funny to see the ‘BYU’ for
the first time on their jerseys. They’re always good.
We’re gonna do the best we can. The Utah game showed that these girls just aren’t going to give up. “
The Cougars, like the Ute team the Aggies lost to last Friday, carry with them a Top 25 ranking. That’s not to mention that BYU’s volleyball program is the third all-time winningest in the country (981 wins) behind UCLA and Missouri State.
It has certainly been a steep learning curve for an Aggie team that features a new coaching staff and seven new players. Playing NCAA tournament-savvy teams to start out the season presents a unique challenge.
“It is what it is,” DuBose said. “You just have to go play ’em and see what happens. Anything can happen. (BYU) is nationally ranked. We’ll prepare and see what we can do against them. They’re a lot bigger than us and more physical.”
Hodge likely to be out
The Aggies will more than likely be without the services of junior outside hitter Beth Hodge, who
suffered a stress fracture in her left leg at practice last Wednesday in the Spectrum.
It’s a big blow against a team that will already be a handful for the Aggies to handle.
A visit with the doctor is scheduled for Monday, and Hodge is holding out hope she can see some playing time.
“It’s gonna suck (not being able to play),” Hodge said. “It’s gonna suck hardcore. It’s gonna be really bad. I go to the doctor on Monday. Hopefully I can get off crutches on Monday and after that I think it’s gonna be an ease-back-into-it thing. Who knows, maybe it’ll be some crazy thing and I might play on Tuesday. I don’t know. Maybe.”