Two Prominent Lady Gator Volleyball Coaches example essay topic

Through the evolution of associations and legislation, the restrictions of women's athletics lifted and created equality in athletics between the sexes. In addition, Dr Ruth H. Alexander, Weiss, and Lawler are responsible for the establishment and success of Lady Gator athletics, specifically volleyball. Marilyn McReavy, with a career of 156-100 at UF, and Mary Wise whose reign includes 58 straight home wins lead Lady Gator's volleyball to a prominent standing not only in the SEC, but also in the nation. In 1967, the Commission on Intercollegiate Athletics for Women functioned under the American Alliance for Health, Physical Education, Recreation, and Dance. Here, three championship divisions were established; 750 at the state level, 150 at the regional level, and 39 and the national level. In 1971, the Association of Intercollegiate Athletics for Women (AIAW) was a product of the Commission.

The primary concern (conflict) of the AIAW was the financial restriction placed on women's athletics. No scholarship or financial aid was available to the athletes as well as a lack of money (support) for recruiting or coaching. In 1972, the U.S. Congress passed the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, which vehemently targeted sex discrimination. In 1975, Title IX gave universities 3 years to change the inequity and grant women's athletics comparable funds. Dr. Ruth H. Alexander furthered funding equality, increasing from $16,000 to $1,300,000 between 1972 and 1980. As women were receiving more equal athletic privilege a problem developed in the administration of the Division I teams compared to Divisions II and.

Coaches lead both men's and women's teams having two different sets of rules as well as two separate conferences often having conflicting dates. The University of Florida officially approved eight Lady Gator sports, including volleyball, in the 1974-1975 school year. Two years later, six out of the eight sports teams finished in the top ten of the nation for quality of athletes and schedules. The first volleyball SEC tournament occurred in the 1979-1980 school year, three years prior to the NCAA's request for a women's tournament from each conference.

In 1980, followed the Florida Women's Intercollegiate Athletics Equity Act. As Alexander's successor, Weiss came from the University of Utah in 1981 to "revive Lady Gator volleyball" and brought the University of Florida's women's athletic program up to 4th in the nation. She hired Marilyn McReavy, one of two prominent Lady Gator volleyball coaches, who lead the gators until 1991 when Mary Wise was appointed head coach. Universities participated in both the AIAW and NCAA until 1984, when the antiquated AIAW dissolved. Lawler followed in 1985 and under athletic director Bill Arn sparger, secured top coaches, athletes and created a prevailing women's program in both athletics and academics. The University of Florida's women's volleyball team has had numerous coaches over the years beginning with their first year as a club team in 1974.

As a graduate student, Valerie Abram started the first UF club team. The first match that they ever played in was against Lake City Community College in Norman gym in Lake City. Abram coached them throughout their first season ending with a 7-7 record. Soon after that season, Dr. Ruth Alexander hired Kay Johnson to coach in 1975. Johnson earned her bachelor's degree in Physical Education at Eastern Kentucky University where she also coached for many years.

As the first official coach of the women's club team, Kay led the Lady Gators to a 10-6 season. However, she did not last long as head coach as Dr. Alexander decided to hire Bob Westbrook as the head coach in 1976. With Westbrook as the head coach, Jill Stumpe was hired as the team administrator. Stumpe had played volleyball previously at Murray State University. That year they placed second in an eight-team tournament in Tampa, which showed improvement from the previous seasons. However, throughout the course of the season, the team began playing tougher opponents and only finished the season with a 17-18 record.

Westbrook continued to be the head coach until 1979, when the UAA discontinued women's volleyball because it used too much of the athletic budget the school needed for other sports. In 1984, Marilyn McReavy became coach of the UF volleyball team when Title IX forced the re institution of some women's sports back into universities. Previously, McReavy had taken a sputtering Kentucky team to become fifth in the nation, showing she had some promising characteristics. In 1985, she coached them to a 33-13 season where they showed obvious improvements over the course of the season, while hosting the SEC tournament. They also showed improvement in 1987 as they finished runner up in the SEC and hosted a game in the first round of the NCAA tournament finishing the season at 33-4. However, after this year, her team began to become more average having seasons of 17-12 and 15-16 records in 1989 and 1990.

Therefore, the athletic department thought it was time for a little change so they brought in Mary Wise. Mary Wise has been and seems like she will continue to be the best coach the women's volleyball coach has ever seen at UF. Starting in 1991, UF has become one of the elite volleyball teams in the nation. In her first season, she coached the Lady Gators to a 35-5 record and they were once again the SEC runner up. However, this time they actually made it to the South Region finals in the NCAA tournament. It became obvious that she wanted to set a precedent for the team.

In 1992, the team went 34-2 and were the SEC tournament champions along with being the champions of the South region in the NCAA tournament and making it to the Final Four for the first time in school history. Over her coaching career at UF, she has earned ten SEC coach of the year awards, along with three NCAA region coach of the year awards. Mary's overall record here is 431-43, which makes for an impeccable mark in the history of coaching. Hopefully, Mary will remain the coach of our team for as long as possible and we will remain an elite team.

While the Lady Gators have had many outstanding coaches, there have also been many dynamic athletes who have contributed to the University of Florida's success in volleyball. The UF women's volleyball team has had several noteworthy seasons. Marilyn McReavy started coaching the team in 1984; this was the first year the team was established within the Southeastern Conference. For starting off, they did well having a. 500 season with sixteen wins and losses. In the SEC, they came up one and five, beating Mississippi State on September 27.

They had to play four games in order to win the match that day at home. When they had their first coach, Marilyn McReavy, their best season was in 1987. During this season they had a record of thirty-seven wins and six losses total. The volleyball team had a record of five wins and two losses in the Southeastern Conference making them the SEC runner up in the tournament. The following year also gave them five wins and two losses within the SEC, but they did not place in the SEC tournament this year.

When Mary Wise became the head volleyball coach in 1991 she started off her reign with a season record of thirty-five wins and five losses, with fifteen of those wins and two losses in the SEC. The following year, 1992, was a big year for UF volleyball. It was their first visit to the Final Four. That season they had a thirty-four and two record and were undefeated in the SEC, becoming the SEC tournament champions for the first time in school history. Besides making it into the Final Four and being SEC champs, they were the NCAA South Champs. They lost the NCAA tournament in the fourth round to UCLA on December 17.

Since their first Final Four debut the UF volleyball team has been back four times. However, they have been the NCAA champs in several other regions throughout the years including the South in 1992 and 1993; East in 1998; Central in 1997. Every year since 1992 the UF volleyball team has been an NCAA champion of a region, the runner-up or the finalist. This past year, in 2003, they were the NCAA National Finalist for the first time in school history. Only three years since Wise has been the head coach have the Gators not been undefeated in the SEC.

The most recent loss in the SEC for the Gators was to Tennessee on November 14, 2004. The volleyball team had a home winning streak of fifty-eight matches from October 14, 1990 to September 4, 1994, it was the second longest win streak in the NCAA history. To go along with that the Gators had an active eighty-six match SEC win streak until they lost to Tennessee. Since Wise has been the head coach the Gators have set many records including six NCAA National Semifinal Appearances in 1992, 1993, 1996, 1997, 1998, and 2002. They have also won twelve straight SEC championships, however in the 2004 season they closed that win streak down losing to Tennessee in the championship match.

From the 2004 Media Guide the Gators had a hundred and fourteen match winning streak dating back to September 20, 1995; however they lost to Tennessee in 2004. Over the many seasons that the Lady Gators have existed they have accumulated many records. Although the Lady Gators' Volleyball team has only been in existence since 1984, they are still quite a force to be reckoned with. The Lady Gators have proven themselves to be a consistently dominant team, especially in the SEC. Many individual players have set quite high marks that have lead the Lady Gators to their success. Under both Marilyn McReavy and Mary Wise, the Lady Gators have enjoyed a winning record, only posting two losing records since their inception.

While the University of Florida Volleyball team has never won a national championship, they have played their fair share of NCAA tournament games, including in the Final Four. Thanks to solid play and solid coaching, the Lady Gators have been a force in the volleyball nation. Much of their success can be attributed to Mary Wise, their most recent head coach. Wise has been the volleyball coach at UF since 1991. Since then, she has posted a record of 431 wins and 43 losses, a.

906 winning percentage. She has also been quite dominant in the SEC, posting a record of 184-2 in the regular season and 37-2 in the SEC postseason. She has also led the team to 13 straight NCAA Tournament appearances. This type of success is not common, especially for a team on the east coast. Mary Wise has led the Lady Gators to success and it is believed that there is still more to come.

Since Mary Wise has taken over as coach, the Lady Gators have held dominance over the Southeastern Conference like none other. While Marilyn McReavy did not have the same success early on, the Lady Gators were still quite respectable in SEC play. They have accumulated an overall record of 210-25 in the regular season and 41-9 in the postseason. The Lady Gators have been SEC regular season champs an unprecedented 13 times and won the postseason tournament an astonishing 11 times from 1991-2003. Their tournament success does not stop there. The Lady Gators have also posted a 39-14 overall record in the NCAA Tournament, while making it to at least the Sweet 16, each of the past 13 years.

While the championship has eluded them, they have made it to the Final Four, 7 times. Hopefully, they will be able to get over the hump sometime soon. A big part to the Lady Gators success is their home-court advantage. The O'Connell Center, or O'Dome, has been quite a "House of Horrors" for opposing teams. The Lady Gators have posted 7 undefeated seasons at home and have won nearly 90% of their matches thanks to the support of the Rowdy Reptiles. They also have the 2nd longest home winning streak in NCAA history.

The record began on October 14, 1990 and lasted 58 games through September 04, 1994. This home-court advantage has helped lead the Lady Gators to winning seasons each and every year. The Lady Gators have done many great things, but some have really stood out, and made it to the University of Florida Record Books. They recorded their most kills and assists in a game against Pacific on August 28, 1999.

These records were 106 and 97 respectively. 143 are the record for digs, set against hated rival Florida State on November 09, 1987. The records for blocks and aces were set in 198, with the numbers being 32 against Mississippi State on September 5th and 23 versus South Florida on November 2nd respectively. The Lady Gators have won 37 games; they " re most, in two seasons (96, 97) and had only two losses, their least in five seasons (92, 95, 96, 01, and 03).

Also in 1992, their best winning percentage was set at. 949. Their most 3-0 sweeps came recently, with 34 in 2003. As you can see, the Lady Gators have lit up the scoreboards and rewritten the record books. Now, besides all these great numbers, all players, coaches, and fans hope that one day a national championship will be written in history.