WNCC's Mr. Volleyball on verge of another milestone

Submitted by JEREMY WOZNICK, Star-Herald Sports Reporter

In his first eight years as the Western Nebraska Community College volleyball coach, Chris Green has guided the program to about every achievement possible.

His Cougars have won the Region IX championship and advanced to the national tournament every year since 1999, they’ve been ranked No. 1 in the nation, they finished as national runner-up with a 56-2 record last year and he’s coached eight different National Junior College All-Americans, just to name a few.

As Green readies this year’s team for the season-opening South Sub-Region Tournament that begins on Friday in Scottsbluff, he’s on the verge of yet another achievement — 400 wins. With a record of 399-53, Green is by far the winningest coach in WNCC volleyball history. But as he looks back on his coaching career, it’s hard to imagine that none of it would probably have been possible if it wasn’t for a couple of hours of physical education credit he needed while attending WNCC after graduating from Gering High School.

“It’s actually kind of a funny story how I became interested in coaching volleyball,” Green said. “In order to graduate, I needed two hours of P.E. credit. At the time I thought it was silly that the college was requiring me to do that. So one of the activities I ended up taking was volleyball.”

Green ended up in a class instructed by former WNCC volleyball coach Cathy Schiller and a love for the sport was quickly developed.

“At the same time I was taking the class, Kathy was coaching and recruiting my younger sister Monica,” Green said. “She taught us how to hit the ball correctly, taught us all the fundamentals and then just let us play. She was impressed with my abilities and asked me to come hit at the girls that spring. So I kind of helped with practice in the spring and then Monica and I started playing doubles that summer in Colorado. That’s when I really fell in love with the sport.”

That love for playing the sport turned into a passion for teaching and coaching that’s led to a career that some coaches can only dream of. After graduating from the University of Nebraska at Lincoln, Green began his coaching career at the high school level with stops in Gering, Battle Creek and Kauai, Hawaii. In his first year at WNCC in 1999, he led the Cougars to their first regional title and national-tournament berth since 1988. Since then he’s averaged 52 wins per season over the course of the last seven years with five top-five national finishes.

Although the success he’s enjoyed has been quite remarkable, Green’s focus has never been on his accomplishments.

“I really don’t keep track of wins or records,” said Green, who also teaches math at WNCC. “If I can get a team to play at a high level and play to their abilities, that’s a lot more important than wins.

“Three years ago we had a team that wasn’t as talented as some of the teams we had in the past. But they overachieved and finished fourth in the country. Talent-wise we probably shouldn’t have been in the top 10. But that team played at a high level and I was really proud of them for overachieving. That’s what I enjoy about coaching.”

Many might wonder what the secret to Green’s coaching success is at WNCC. Sure he’s recruited in some of the best players from around the country, and even from out of the country, as six of the eight all-Americans he’s coached have been players from outside of the United States.

But in addition to recruiting in some of the best talent around, Green’s simple philosophy has proven instrumental.

“I feel like I know where to play people and I know my personnel really well,” he said. “I also think I have a pretty good handle on the game. I’m still a student of the game. I try and learn as much as I can by going to different clinics and also by watching DVDs of other coaches talking about their philosophies.”

Eight of Green’s players have gone on to play at Division I schools, including two from last year’s squad — Bianca Rivera, who is now playing at Creighton University in Omaha, and Barbara Freitas, who is at the University of Houston in Houston, Texas. Two players off this year’s squad already have plans to continue their playing careers at the Division I level. Sophomore setter Soriana Pacheco will play at Kansas State University, while sophomore hitter Jennifer Eichler will play at the University of Tulsa in Tulsa, Okla.

With Green’s resume of success on the national stage, and his ability to get players ready for the next level, the program at WNCC has become an attractive option for many of the top high school athletes.

“With our success, I think we’re becoming more and more recognizable,” Green said. “Being able to recruit at WNCC is great because we are almost fully funded. Being able to offer full scholarships to girls is a huge plus when some schools in our region can’t do that. WNCC also has a great thing going here with their ESL program. Being able to recruit internationally is a must if you’re going to be in the top 10 of junior college volleyball anymore. That program is another positive.”

In this weekend’s opening tournament, the Cougars will get an early look at what the rest of the region has to offer. WNCC returns six players off last year’s national runner-up team and looks to be loaded for another run at a regional title. After saying goodbye to two of its top players in Rivera and Leticia Kuhn, many coaches around the region might think of WNCC as vulnerable. But with Green’s track record, they will surely think again.

“We lost our best defensive player in Bianca and our best offensive player in Leticia, so statistically we lost our best offensive and defensive players,” Green said. “But I think we should be very good again this year, especially with our setter returning. We’re going to work our hardest and take it one step at a time.”