Jan. 24, 2012
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By Eric DeSalvo
UCFAthletics.com
ORLANDO, Fla. (UCFAthletics.com) - The 2011 season for the UCF volleyball team was just a glimpse at the bright future ahead for head coach Todd Dagenais' program. The Knights broke the 20-win barrier for the first time since 2003 and picked up a school-record 12 Conference USA wins.
Recently, Dagenais sat down and reflected on the past year and how his program is shaping up for the future. Here is part one of his interviews:
What adjective would you use to describe the 2011 season?
"The first word that comes to mind is breakthrough. We knew that it was somewhere one the horizon. History has shown that it happens somewhere in the third or fourth year, and I think it happened right on par for us. I think we broke through a lot of glass ceilings and milestones that we weren't 100% sure we could achieve, but were able to."
What was it like to reach many of the goals set out before the beginning of the season?
"To be able to hit some of the milestones, win at some of the places we hadn't won at before, knock off our first top-five team and string some consecutive wins and sets in a row like we did was all great. I think one of the most interesting feats was how many first sets we won on the year which goes a lot into the preparation. From the video breakdown, to the coaches scouting report, to the team learning and executing it on the floor, I thought that was really nice progress for our program because we found ourselves playing from ahead. Now we go and work on building upon that. It is one thing to be prepared for the match, but it is another to make adjustments during it. That is the next step for us. Certainly throughout the year it seemed like we had a check list of things we wanted to do, and we still left some things on the table and that is what feeds the hunger even more."
How motivating is it going into next year knowing that you made it so close to getting into the NCAA Tournament?
"There were two ways that we could've been able to become one of the top 48 RPI teams. Last year we lost seven matches with four in the fifth game by only two points and three additional were also by two points (26-24 and 23-25) and all were matches were one swing meant the difference. Of those seven, if we had one just four more, we would've been in. We also caught some bad luck with our schedule. We needed our opponents to have won 50 more games which comes out to less than two more for each of them. A lot of times that RPI formula has different ways to achieve the .5980 which is the formula to get right under the cutoff. We learned from it and are going to schedule differently. We have to be smarter about how we do our non-conference and then hope that our conference helps us out."
Looking back on the year as a whole, do you see this program continuing to be on the rise?
"There is no doubt we are on the road. We have got an appreciable amount of mileage left before we are with the USC's, UCLA's and Texas's. We've seen it and we've tasted what it's like, so now it is a matter of putting our nose to the grind. We aren't always going to be as athletic as those teams, so we have to be more skilled. We've changed the target and are sighting in on a different target. It is much bigger and it is those elite 10 and 15 teams that we want to become. It's not as far off as people think. It is only a few steps, but they are the hardest and most arduous ones of all the steps. If you want to be one of those teams, you have to do it night in and night out. That occasional loss has got to be the exception. We know exactly what we need to do and we are going to get there."
How important was it to receive the postseason awards that you did?
"The All-Americans and other postseason awards aren't far enough removed to really appreciate them right now. But what I do know is that we don't have many of those awards hanging on the wall and we are putting them up. That is just a signal that as a program, we are heading in the right direction. These are the things that happen to teams who win and have success. Is it because we have had players step up and have breakthrough years? Yes that is part of it, but also because as program we are getting better, winning some matches and getting national recognition."
How would you assess your coaching staff's job as a whole in 2011?
"One of the biggest hidden keys to success is the cohesion of the staff. You really can't have frequent turnover. My job as a head coach is to prepare the assistants to become head coaches. We've been very fortunate that Erik (Peterson) and Michelle (Chatman) have stuck around long enough, and that the administration recognizes the contributions that they have made. It has a lot to do with our cohesion. The job that we are doing in matches and the way we are able to segregate practices so that coaches can look at different things so that I don't have to look at everything is really helping the athletes. I think that we are getting very good at playing off of each other. Part of my duties as being a head coach is learning when you have to delegate and let someone take something completely over. Michelle has her responsibilities and so does Erik. They are so good it is like having three head coaches in a program. I think that has a good deal to do with our success."