STARBULLETIN / 1996 Deitre Collins, UNLV head volleyball coach and former UH player.

Collins pleased
with women’s progress

---

By Cindy Luis
cluis@starbulletin.com

Raised in a "sports family" in Southern California, athletics was a way of life for Deitre Collins.

"There never was a point where I was told I couldn't do something because I was a girl," said the 40-year-old Collins. "I played whatever I wanted. Track from the fourth grade, bowling, softball and basketball in junior high. I started volleyball in high school. I never noticed that I was treated any differently from the boys."

Volleyball was the last sport that Collins tried, and the one in which she has had the most success. She helped the Hawaii women's volleyball team to back-to-back national titles in 1982 and '83, was a two-time Broderick Award winner as the top female volleyball player in the county, and the 1984 Broderick Cup winner given to the top female collegiate athlete.

The three-time All-American middle blocker also spent six years on the U.S. national team and was a starter on the 1988 Olympic team in Seoul. Collins played professionally before embarking on her coaching career; she'll begin her seventh season as the head coach at UNLV.

When Collins first came to play for the Wahine in 1980, Hawaii was a member of the Association of Intercollegiate Athletics for Women (AIAW). A year later, rather than fighting the AIAW and Title IX lawsuits, the NCAA took over women's intercollegiate sports; the AIAW dissolved after the 1981-82 school year.

"I think the biggest thing I saw with Title IX was the move from the AIAW to the NCAA," she said. "We finally got the same scholarship money that the men were getting. My first year, we had tuition waivers but no money for books or housing. That was hard. Then suddenly we had the same scholarship money and it was great.

"The biggest difference since the time that I played is that (female) athletes today aren't grateful for what they have. When you expect it, it's all about what someone else is giving you, not what you have earned."

The attention given to women's college athletics has changed drastically in the past 30 years. If Collins has one regret, it's that she wasn't born 10 years later.

"People have to pay attention now," said Collins, who also played basketball for the Wahine in 1984. "The change in the recognition is huge. I remember winning the Broderick Cup, the biggest award for female athletes, and I was a 'Face in the Crowd' in Sports Illustrated. Now they devote a feature to it and it's a big deal."

Until 2000, Collins was the only volleyball player to win the Cup. Two years ago, Long Beach State setter Misty May was the winner.

Collins said that the struggle now is at the coaching level.

"It's still a good ol' boys network," she said. "And we're still trying to change the attitudes of players. Some believe that only men can win. The battle is convincing them that I can coach.

"Everyone I played for was a man. When I went into coaching, I told myself I needed to go work for a woman. Basketball coaches have their respect but you realize that no woman coach has ever won the NCAA volleyball title."

The growth in volleyball in 30 years has been "excellent," she said. "This past year, the scores came up on ESPN. That was a first and it was great to see.

"As far as salaries, I can't complain. But it's awesome for women's basketball coaches. Gender equity has really kicked in for that sport, but we're in a sport where our men's counterpart gets less than we do."

Collins is not completely in favor of the push to add more women's sports just to equal out the scholarship numbers with the men's programs.

"I think schools should take care of the sports they have before they add just to have more," she said. "They don't fund the programs they have well enough as it is.

"And I hate to see men losing opportunities just so women can gain. The opportunities should be there for everyone."