McGuyre Eager to Jumpstart New VB Regime
1/14/2015 12:00:00 AM | Volleyball
Ryan McGuyre was hired Dec. 24 to take over the Baylor volleyball program, and Wednesday he took time after his first week in the office to address the Waco media for the first time.
McGuyre has been a small-college head coach at faith-based institutions such as Biola University and California Baptist, but he has spent the last three seasons in the ACC with the last two as associate head coach at Florida State.
With FSU advancing to the 2014 Elite 8, McGuyre's hire came quickly.
"The transition has been very, very fast. It happened over the holidays and I was in California at the time so I needed to hustle back and wrap things up back home and then get here," McGuyre said. "I am just so blessed and excited to be here at Baylor University because it fits so closely to who I am personally, and who I am in what I want to accomplish with this team athletically."
During Wednesday's press conference McGuyre addressed several topics from his personal strengths, his background, and his early assessment of the Baylor program and where he said he would like it to go.
Below is a transcript of some of his comments in Wednesday's press conference.
On how he approaches leading a program ...
"I want this to be the greatest volleyball experience ever for these ladies. And, for each of them it is going to be something different. For a lot of them, it is going to be about winning championships and really overcoming and finding that source of strength within themselves and from above that is going to help them be successful in life but also definitely on the court."
On his early assessment of the 2015 Bears ...
"I'll tell you this, this team already loves one another. They are very close, they are supportive of one another, and they are excited about doing something bigger. We'll be pretty athletic in the middle that's something I know going in that I feel confident in. How we surround them and how we work from there we've got some work to do and some training to do."
On his recruiting pipelines from California and Florida ...
"It's definitely an advantage having been on both coasts and being from different areas, but Texas is phenomenal in volleyball. I've had players from all over the world from every continent and different teams, but some of the best volleyball is here in our home state and within several hours of here. That excites me; making that recruiting easier so I am not always traveling all over the country, because some of the best talent is right here, and we can get them on campus. Baylor, with the reputation it has as a university, is already very attractive for some of the great local talent."
On making the jump to a Division I head coach ...
"Coach [Chris] Poole is a phenomenal coach at Florida State, and FSU is a great institution. My time there was exciting; I loved it. He really helped me because I had been a head coach for a long time, but some of those little details that I probably wouldn't have thought of had I made the jump straight from CBU made the difference. Little things make big things happen."
On how he views Baylor Volleyball moving forward ...
"Baylor volleyball will be much, much bigger than Ryan McGuyre, and I've always understood that you have to have a great staff surrounding you. That's part of the attraction that brought me here, is that there are so many of those people already in place; so I look forward to complementing that staff as well."
On the attractiveness of Baylor as a faith-based institution ...
"I think the recruiting niche is unique, but we will look worldwide, we will look here in Texas and we are very open to all backgrounds. Really I think diversity enhances excellence. But, with the standards that Baylor has, which are phenomenal standard, you've got to know how to communicate that with the athletes and the recruits in a way that is attractive. Again, in being at a faith-based school and Baylor specifically, that's what makes us unique. I think that there are a lot of strong Christian universities out there. I attended and graduated from one. There are also a lot of great volleyball programs out there that we are going to compete against, but I think what makes Baylor unique is to be one of the elite, strongest Christian universities in addition to having a program that is training at an elite level. It kind of gives us a monopoly for athletes that want to experience both."
On his thoughts on the Big 12 ...
"The support is there as a conference; collectively, the Big 12 wants to move forward. They want to be the top conference in volleyball. You have some elite-level coaches. I think top to bottom all programs are supported at the highest level, and we are in that area of the country where they're all attracting strong, physical athletes. The location and the commitment to excellence in the Big 12 is really strong."
On what he believes his strengths were in his previous head-coaching stints ...
"If there is one thing that I take great pride in, it is knowing that majority of the teams that I have coached have finished strong. They've played their best volleyball at the end of the year. To be a part of those national championships for me are special memories. I think wherever you are at, as things are innovative, there's still timeless principles that have been around for ages that great coaches of the past have used that impact our lives. So I think being guided by timeless principles in addition to the understanding that I want a team that is going to have fun, and to understand that pleasure should always supersede the pressure of a match. When we are able to, even in the difficult times and the trials, to find joy then we are using the best part of ourselves to find those things. There is nothing more fun than to see the girls enjoying it in the heat of the battle and competition. So to have that pleasure instead of pressure and really to instill a confidence that really these ladies already have and just teaching them how to act just teaching them how to access that specifically."
