Women’s Volleyball: Get To Know Head Coach Geoff Carlston – Ohio State Buckeyes
8/14/2008 12:00:00 AM | Women's Volleyball
First-year Buckeye sat down to share his views on volleyball, coaching and the 2008-09 season
COLUMBUS, Ohio Geoff Carlston, first-year head coach of the Ohio State women’s volleyball team, is looking to shake things up with the Buckeyes in 2008. As only the fifth head coach of the 36 year-old program, Carlston brings experience from various levels, including high school, NCAA Division I and II and international play to Ohio State.
A native of Plymouth, Minn., Carlston comes to Ohio State after spending five years as head coach of Ohio University where he built an outstanding program. His squads played in five NCAA tournaments, reaching regional play in 2005. At Ohio, Carlston guided the Bobcats to five-consecutive Mid American Conference championships with an overall record of 144-22.
Read what Carlston had to share in a Q&A session with OhioStateBuckeyes.com and get to know the new Buckeye coach.
You’ve coached volleyball at many different levels, how has that helped shape your coaching style?
“My career path has been a little bit unique and I would not change it for the world. Working with high school and Junior Olympic-aged athletes, I saw firsthand the recruiting process from that end and helped a lot of my high school student-athletes get recruited. My background has allowed me to see things from a lot of different angles.”
Did your time as a high school coach influence you as a recruiter?
“There is a lot more empathy in my recruiting process. When I bring a recruit to campus I can relate to them because I have been on that end. I have counseled parents through the drama and I think it is helpful. I really enjoy helping parents and players through the process even if they don’t end up coming here because the recruiting process can be extremely daunting.”
What was it like coaching at an NCAA Division II university?
“When I was at Concordia-St. Paul, it was barebones. They were just starting up an NCAA Division II program and had never won a match. I had to be involved with everything. I was everything from the marketing department to the athletic trainer. My assistants were basically volunteers who would show up after their real jobs to help run practice. Other than that, I had to be self-sufficient. I had the chance to see every detail that went into building a program and looking back that was an invaluable time period for me in terms of my development as a coach.”
Even when you were in the Peace Corps you spent time coaching and playing volleyball. Can you talk about that?
“It seemed like everywhere I went, volleyball kept finding me. I did not plan on going into the Peace Corps and coaching. I actually ended up coaching and playing more than I would have if I had stayed in the States. Looking back at my path, volleyball just kept finding me no matter where I went. I was in the middle of Central America and had no intention of being involved in volleyball but six months after I arrived in Belize I was both coaching and playing.
“It was neat to be involved with volleyball at the international level because it allowed me to meet a lot of coaches. It was my passport to meeting a ton of great Belizeans who have remained good friends. When I arrived in Belize, volleyball was my way in. It allowed me to learn the language and see things other Peace Corps volunteers didn’t.”
As a program, you stress the need for a “team” effort. Talk about your philosophy when it comes to volleyball.
“You can’t win in volleyball with one person. You need a pass and a set before the outside hitter can do his or her work. It’s an amazing team sport. If you don’t have a great team concept you are not going to have a great team dynamic. We have been talking a lot about culture from how we get water, how we move around the court and how we interact with each other on a daily basis. There will always be issues that come up from time to time so we have talked about how as a team we will handle them.”
What are some of the concepts you are trying to instill in this Buckeye squad?
“If you make a mistake, don’t respond wimpy be strong. Be resilient. Lose your drama and get back to focusing on the team because momentum changes so fast in volleyball. If you’re not doing that, you are going to lose.
“And this group has been great. They buy into it and enjoy it. We do a lot of journaling and team events outside of volleyball. We went on a team retreat where we did a little bit of training but mainly focused on what we want to be about as a team and how we are going to achieve that.”
What have you seen from the 2008-09 Buckeye squad so far?
“This group really gets along. It is an interesting dynamic because we are young. Our captains are juniors. Looking at the personalities and their motivation, I think we have a neat group. Everyone on this team has shown they can add leadership to this team.
“Now, it is a matter of finding this team’s identity. We have a funny group. There is a lot of personality on this team. With this group, there is an intensity and a little bit of a chip on their shoulder’ mentality.”
What type of play can fans expect from Ohio State this season?
“We are going to be pretty fast. We like to run a fast offense to keep our opponents on their toes it is something we did at Ohio University. We want to stay aggressive with everything we do. With a young team that is something we talk about, staying aggressive, making yourself available to hit a ball and doing all the little things right.”
How would you describe your coaching staff?
“Our staff is pretty competitive and intense. We like to play with passion and I think we have a good group here at Ohio State for that because they love the sport and want to win.”
What do you expect to run into as you face Big Ten opponents?
“The Big Ten is a great conference. It is the best conference in our country. The big difference is the physicality because the Big Ten is so big. With the Big Ten Conference, you know you are going to have great coaches and the highest level student-athletes from around the country on the court every single day. It is a battle. Penn State is clearly the team to beat right now and has been.”
Finally, what are you looking forward to this fall with the start of your first season at Ohio State?
“One of the things I am excited about doing at Ohio State is building up the fan base. We want to make our matches events. We want to intrigue and hook Columbus as volleyball fans. There is a lot of volleyball going on in this state so I think it is possible to make Ohio State women’s volleyball one of the best in attendance across the nation. To do that we are working to connect with Columbus’ youth and the surrounding community to get them excited about Ohio State volleyball.”
Compiled by Emily Meyer, Ohio State Athletics Communications
