Sept. 4, 2001
Go to the Chat
WACO, Texas - On Thursday, August 30 at 1 p.m. CT, Baylor head volleyball coach Brian Hosfeld will make a special visit to talk about the upcoming season.
Hosfeld, the winningest coach by percentage in school history, is in his sixth season at the helm of the Baylor program in 2001. Since his June 1996 hiring, Hosfeld has changed the face of Baylor volleyball, bringing it from a perrenial lower-division program to one that threatens yearly to compete for postseason play.
In 2000, Hosfeld led Baylor to a winning season for the third time in his five-year tenure at 16-15. Following 1999's 26-9 tally, last season marked just the third time in school history that the volleyball Bears had posted back-to-back winning seasons. Baylor enjoyed several highlights during the 2000 campaign, including the program's first-ever victory at Colorado. Stevie Nicholas, a part of Hosfeld's 1999 recruiting class that was ranked fourth nationally by Volleyball Magazine, dazzled audiences throughout the year. She gathered first-team all-Big 12 honors along with being named Big 12 and AVCA Central Region Freshman of the Year.
A 1991 graduate of Long Beach State, Hosfeld came to Baylor at the beginning of the 1996 season as the program was about to embark on its first year in the rugged Big 12. In that first season, he guided the Bears to an 18-16 mark for Baylor's first winning season in three years. The Bears also produced seven conference wins that year, posting a .350 winning percentage in the Big 12 (at the time, second-best in school history). Two years later, Hosfeld led the Green and Gold to a seventh-place finish in the Big 12, again winning seven matches in conference play.
However, 1999 was certainly the breakout year for the Hosfeld-led program. The Bears finished fifth in the Big 12 and were the only team to sweep nationally ranked Kansas State. Baylor finished the season ranked 20th in the USA Today/AVCA Coaches Poll and 19th in the Volleyball Magazine Top 20. Five weeks earlier, Baylor cracked the AVCA poll at No. 23, the first national ranking in the program's history. The Bears earned a bid to the NCAA Tournament in 1999 and ousted Temple in the first round in one of the most thrilling four-game matches in school history. Perhaps the biggest highlight of the season cameNov. 3, when the Bears ended a 22-year drought against rival and national power Texas. The Longhorns had won all 42 meetings with Baylor, but the Bears knocked off then-12th-ranked UT in five games.
In five seasons with Hosfeld as head coach, 13 Baylor players have earned a total of 27 academic all-Big 12 honors, second in the conference. Last season, Dana Atkinson, Sunny Nicholas and Margo Singley earned first-team honors, while Kirsten Berg, Dana Chuha and Kimmy Scott were second-team selections. In 1999, Elisha Polk and Kia Young were both named first-team GTE all-district, and Young was named third-team GTE Academic all-America.
Hosfeld has long been considered one of the nation's finest young coaches. Prior to joining the Baylor staff, he was an assistant coach at Long Beach State. Hosfeld was a member of the 49er coaching staff in 1993 when LBSU captured the NCAA National Title. Hosfeld was hand picked by USA National Team head coach Mick Haley to lead the nation's team at the 1997 World University Games in Sicily, Italy. This team of collegiate-level women served as the development squad for Team USA and brought home the silver medal from the World University Games. Earlier, Hosfeld served as the director for the USA, World University and National Team tryouts at the Olympic Training Center.
A native of Long Beach, Calif., Hosfeld has been involved in volleyball for over 15 years. He founded the highly-respected Magnum Volleyball Club in 1986 and served as the club's head coach until 1995. The Magnum Volleyball Club still stands as one of the most successful junior development programs in the United States.
Hosfeld won't be stopping by until 1 p.m. CT on Thursday, but feel free to fire off your questions here. We'll save them until he arrives.
