Wednesday, April 29, 1998

Dunphy: Volleyball
on way up

The Pepperdine men's coach
applauds Hawaii for
leading the way

By Cindy Luis
Star-Bulletin

The vital signs are stable.

Men's collegiate volleyball appears very healthy.

But according to Marv Dunphy, the sport could use a face lift as it eases into its second century of life.

The coach of No. 1-ranked Pepperdine is an advocate of using rally scoring for an entire match, not just the current use for a Game 5. The international volleyball organization is considering the format change for future Olympics. The change might be made even sooner at the U.S. women's collegiate level.

"I think it's an exciting time to be in our sport," said Dunphy, whose Waves play Princeton tomorrow in the second semifinal of the NCAA Championship at the Stan Sheriff Center. "The game is about ready to boom and rally scoring is the step that will take it there. It makes every serve exciting.

"The change is not for TV. The change is for the people who come for a 7 o'clock match, and at 9 o'clock, it's not even the end of Game 1. Maybe it changes the coaching strategy a little, but I don't think it changes the game that much. The power, the speed of the game, the jumping, flying and defense is going to stay. It's just the end to some of those endless sideouts."

It's hard to argue with Dunphy. Or his success.

Four years after finishing his playing career at Pepperdine, he coached the Waves to their first NCAA title in 1978. In the 20 years since then, Dunphy led Pepperdine to two more championships (1985 and 1992) and coached the U.S. men's national team to a gold medal in the 1988 Olympics.

"I miss the international level a ton," said the 50-year-old Dunphy. "It's great to be able to take the best team all over the world. But when I was coaching that team, I was missing being at Pepperdine. It's all about challenges."

Returning the U.S. men to the top spot internationally is one of those challenges. Last year, Dunphy chaired the committee that selected Doug Beal, who coached the U.S. team to its first Olympic volleyball gold medal in 1984.

"Doug is the best volleyball coach in the world," Dunphy said. "Right now, the U.S. is a step below the top echelon: Holland, Italy, Russia, maybe Cuba. I'd put us in the group right behind them.

"Volleyball is an American game, but the rest of the world is developing their best talent to play it. For the last 10 years, Holland's best athletes have been playing volleyball and that's why they won the gold medal in Atlanta. We need to get our best athletes, kids like (Pepperdine's) George Roumain and (UCLA's) Adam Naeve, on the team. I think we're on the right track."

Dunphy points to the explosion at the youth and junior college levels as evidence of the sport's growing popularity. Because of gender equity and budget cuts, men's volleyball at the NCAA Division I level has been in a holding pattern.

There are just 45 schools at the combined Division I-II level. But there are more than 150 collegiate club teams and an equally large number of junior college teams.

The University of California is looking to go from the club level to varsity in the next few years. That might be the beginning of a second West Coast conference. There are 14 teams in the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation and two independents.

"The West Coast needs another conference and I think it will be coming soon," Dunphy said. "There's so many schools on the fringe of going varsity.

"And schools are seeing what's happened in Hawaii with the attendance (more than 125,000 each of the past three seasons) and the atmosphere. The Joneses want to keep up. I think men's collegiate volleyball coaches have been guilty of not promoting their event.

"I think that's changing and Hawaii has led the way."

Hawaii is the only program in men's collegiate volleyball history to draw more than 100,000 fans in a season. Next season, Brigham Young, which has been selling out its 5,000-seat Smith Fieldhouse, will have three matches in the 23,000-seat Marriott Center.

"Hawaii has had a great effect on men's volleyball," Dunphy said. "It's the hottest thing going. That's all anyone talks about when they play in the arena.

"I'll be forever grateful for what Hawaii has done for our sport. They've led the way and now everyone is trying to catch up."