Willey brings Olympic experience to Aggie staff
Coaching the game of volleyball instead of teaching it.
For Cindy Willey, a first-year assistant coach for the Utah State University women’s volleyball team, the chance to focus on the coaching aspect of the game was something she couldn’t pass up.
“I like this level a lot better than the high school level,” Willey said. “In high school, there’s a lot more teaching going on. At this level, the girls, athletic-wise, are at a much higher level, so there’s more coaching going on.”
Hired by USU Head Coach Burt Fuller in May, Willey spent the last three years as the women’s head volleyball coach at Hamilton High School in Hamilton, Mont.
Willey also has coaching experience at the Division I level as she was an assistant coach at the University of Montana, her alma mater, in 1998. It is through her experiences both as an assistant coach and a player for the Grizzlies that influenced her to return to collegiate volleyball.
“It is great to get back to the Division I level, and it is the level I want to coach at,” she said. “There is nothing like collegiate volleyball.”
An all-Big Sky Conference middle blocker three straight seasons as a player at Montana (1985-87), Willey said her primary responsibility as an Aggie is to coach the Aggie middle blockers. However, she was quick to say life as an assistant coach extends far beyond shoring up one area of the team.
“When we’re on the court, my main job is to oversee the middles,” she said. “[However], there’s a huge list. There’s not just one main responsibility. I guess [Head Coach] Burt [Fuller] doesn’t really say, ‘OK, you only do this and you only do this, and don’t cross.'”
In addition to coaching, Willey said both she and assistant coach Amy Crosbie are in charge of recording statistics, securing car rentals for road trips and updating and maintaining mailing lists – just to name a few.
Another area in which Willey said she feels she can help the Aggies continue their recent success is through recruiting. A native of Puyallup, Wash., and a coach in Washington and Montana since 1988, she said her knowledge of the Northwestern part of the United States will hopefully lend itself to success in recruiting prospective players.
“I think it will … just because I kind of know that area fairly well,” she said. “Because I was born and raised in the Northwest, a lot of those coaches know who I am, and so when I call and introduce myself or reintroduce myself, they remember who I am.”
Having these connections is a must in the world of recruiting athletes, she said.
“I think in this profession you can never have too many connections,” she said. “If you can get your name out there and find out who’s where, you might find that diamond in the rough.”
It is this excitement for both coaching and recruiting that makes Willey a valuable asset to the Utah State program, Fuller said.
“She’s bringing in a lot of enthusiasm and real good experience,” he said. “She is kind of rediscovering the game at the Division I level.”
In addition to being a successful player at Montana, Willey also encountered success at the international level as she was selected as an alternate for the 1988 US National Team.
As an alternate, she said she and the other 15 alternates were considered to be U.S. hopefuls for the 1992 Olympic Games, held in Barcelona, Spain. However, fulfilling an Olympic dream would have involved absolute dedication to the sport over the course of four years.
“I worked so hard to become a volleyball player and play at a higher level, and I really, really wanted that,” Willey said. “However, I was engaged to my husband [Walt] at that time, and if I would have stayed there, chances are we would have dissolved.”
Not only did Willey’s experience with the U.S. National team help give her perspective in life, she said, her decision was one she’ll never regret.
“I have two beautiful children [McCoy and McKenzie], and I’m happy for that,” she said. “I never would have changed that for a million years.”
– Jasonwturner@cc.usu.edu