Pilots Hire New Volleyball Coach

Uhh . . . I might have missed this earlier, but apparently Doug Sparks resigned as head volleyball coach back in November:

http://www.portlandpilots.com/sports/wvball/release.asp?release_id=4691

And Joe Houck from Western Oregon is the replacement:

http://www.portlandpilots.com/sports/wvball/release.asp?release_id=4758

I'm no expert on volleyball, but it sounds like a pretty good hire to me.

This does seem like a good hire... good stuff.

I would like to see UP volleyball rise in status--the WCC is VERY strong in women's vball, with many of the CA schools ranked at one point or another.

More on Joe Houck, from the Salem Statesman Journal, calling UP his "dream job." Solid hire by Larry Williams, IMO.

http://www.statesmanjournal.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080119/SPORTS/801190330/1018/SPORTS

Agreed on this one. He has turned around every program that he's been involved with, and UP's program definitely needs turning around. And it's cool to have a guy with Oregon ties.

I'm not concerned that he's never been a head coach at the D1 level. He was an associate head coach at Eastern Washington and helped bring them to a Top 25 ranking, so he's had D1 experience. And it appears like he's a great teacher of the game, which is definitely a plus.

Good luck to coach Houck!

Yeah...from what the girls have said I guess Houck is a hard ass, which will be good for our girls. Kara Pein has played with him before or knows him, something along those lines. I hope he keeps Lindsay on to stay as an assistant coach, the girls really responded to having a female couch on the sidelines especially one who was an all american setter.

The girls are working hard right now in the off season and next year I expect to see a strong outing.

Former assistant Ryan Goodwin is now at Penn:

http://www.pennathletics.com/ViewArticle.dbml?SPSID=8600&SPID=538&DB_OEM_ID=1700&ATCLID=1372841

Nice to see that he landed on his feet. Really nice guy and a good coach too. Good luck, Ryan!