Alabama Women's Volleyball Coach Ed Allen Meets the Press
Coach Allen Talks Alabama Women’s Volleyball with Local Media on Friday
TUSCALOOSA, Ala. – University of Alabama head women’s volleyball coach Ed Allen met with members of the local media at Coleman Coliseum this afternoon. Among other topics, coach Allen answered questions regarding; the challenges ahead of him at Alabama, meeting with the players, and the opportunity to compete in the Southeastern Conference.
Allen opened the media session by saying, “I am really, really excited to join an institution that has such a rich tradition athletically. I’m looking forward to building the volleyball program as so many other coaches have, and the opportunity to compete at a national level. I think the resources here are tremendous. The opportunity to associate myself with such a prestigious institution greatly excites me and I think we have a lot of tools here that will allow us to build this program into something pretty special.”
Allen was announced as the fourth head women’s volleyball coach at Alabama on Monday, Jan. 10, after spending five seasons as the head coach at the University of Tulsa. He posted a 133-37 record at Tulsa, including a 31-3 campaign in 2010. He was named the 2010 Conference USA and AVCA Midwest Region Coach of the Year, leading Tulsa to a perfect 20-0 conference record and the school’s first ever NCAA Tournament win, a 3-0 victory over LSU.
In 18 years as a collegiate head coach, Allen has compiled a 498-183 (.731) career coaching mark, while coaching 61 all-conference performers and eight conference player of the year selections. Allen has earned conference coach of the year honors six times in his career, including the 2006 and 2010 Conference USA Coach of the Year awards.
Alabama Head Volleyball Coach Ed Allen – Introductory Press Conference TranscriptOpening Statement:“I am really, really excited to join an institution that has such a rich tradition athletically. I’m looking forward to building the volleyball program as so many other coaches have, and the opportunity to compete at a national level. I think the resources here are tremendous. The opportunity to associate myself with such a prestigious institution greatly excites me and I think we have a lot of tools here that will allow us to build this program into something pretty special.”
On the potential of getting his 500th career win as a head coach early next season:
“I am hoping (I do). I certainly never plan on a loss that is for sure. It will bring a great deal of pleasure to me to get number 500 at the University of Alabama, I can promise you that.”
On having the newly renovated Foster Auditorium as volleyball’s new home court:
“I think it is going to be one of the finest facilities in the country. That was certainly one of the huge selling points for me, the opportunity to play in an environment that will create some intimacy like that. I think it is going to be a huge home court advantage for us. It has all the bells and whistles that will attract recruits and then you piggyback on the reputation of this institution with not only football, but a variety of sports; I think it makes it a great sell. I think we just have to figure out how to get those recruits on campus.”
On what his number one challenge is coming into this job:
“I think establishing this program back into a winning program is probably the number one challenge; creating a winning culture again. I think evaluating the athletes I already have and trying to figure out how to make them as best as we possibly can as we begin to recruit other quality athletes.”
On how he was received after meeting with his new team:
“I met with them this morning and I think they were well received. There were a lot of things that I shared with them about my philosophy and my expectations that excited them. We hope they are equally excited about two weeks from now.”
On what he shared with the team during the first meeting:
“I think number one is just having our priorities in line. Why we are here: To be students number one, and athletes number two, and to prioritize those things so that we are able to perform in the classroom and on the court. I think that our ability to give the maximum effort everyday, in every practice, and showing up with our mind and body in the same location and really discussing a lot about the difference between interest and commitment.”
On leaving Anderson University after 11 seasons as head coach to begin ‘moving up the ladder’:
“I really had no intentions of leaving Anderson until Presbyterian came calling and made me an offer that was really difficult to turn down. It was an opportunity to move south and get in some warmer weather and they had a tremendous tradition in the past and were in the need of some rebuilding. Fortunately some pieces were there that allowed us to be successful immediately, but I did envision myself potentially retiring there. I had built a program that was competing at a very high level and I enjoyed what I was doing and where I was doing it.”
On how hard it was to walk away from the University of Tulsa to come to Alabama:
“It was maybe the toughest decision that I had ever made. I had a special group of kids there. We return everyone except for one player and we had a recruiting class with only two kids in it, but one of them was probably one of the top five recruits in the country. We felt like we were going to be better next year than we have ever been and I think that says a lot coming off the season that we have come off of. It was difficult to walk away from a very competitive team that we felt was going to be very competitive over the next three years, because there was only one junior on that team as well. I think the other really difficult thing about that was they were just great kids. Not only were they a talented group of volleyball players, they were as good of people as they were players. I visited with the players about four days ago and notified them that we were leaving and that was maybe the toughest thing I have ever done.”
On how his family is dealing with the move from Tulsa to Tuscaloosa:
“They’re excited. They have certainly seen the (ESPN) Roll Tide commercial a few times, so they are excited about all of that. We’re excited about getting back in the south. We really fell in love with the south in the three years we were at South Carolina and we really think that Alabama’s climate is going to be similar with that and certainly the opportunity to be part of a big time athletic program excites them as well.”
On looking forward to the Southeastern Conference schedule:
“You bet I am. It will be a challenge for a couple of years until we get this thing built the right way, but I am always interested in a challenge. I think we are going to compete favorably as we recruit quality athletes in here. I think Alabama has a great deal to sell as it relates to that and we certainly are looking to get in there and compete against what is the best of the best.”
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