Jeff Moffett/Icon SMIPenn State coach Russ Rose really loosens up when he talks about his players.'If you want to go somewhere and do something, you can do it here.'
Russ Rose hates press conferences. The head coach of the defending national champion Penn State volleyball team doesn't like to talk to a room full of people about stats or streaks or the other team's strengths and weaknesses. But he really loosens up when he talks about his players, usually joking around, for example with, "If you listen to these guys, they're nuts you know. There are a lot of challenges here for me." His face stays straight, but the camaraderie between Rose and his athletes is unmistakable.
"I pick on everybody. I'm an equal opportunity harasser. And I get it back as well, so it's OK." Rose smiles.
One-on-one, he's friendly and disarming. This is a man who personally replied to all 800 congratulatory emails he received last year after his team won the NCAA Championships.
"I'm not a real verbal guy or a very good typer. But if it's nice enough for someone to write, it's nice enough for me to respond."
When he talks about his athletes, he's more interested in talking about them as people first, athletes second.
"I want them to all be happy. I want them to work hard. I want them to know that I'm trying to make them better for their future, for life, so that they'll understand the importance of being a leader as well as a member of a team."
Geez, what a softie! How does this approach result in a head coaching career that spans more than thirty years and includes four NCAA titles and thirteen Big Ten Championships?
"One of the things I think is really important about coaching is developing character…and characters," Rose says, with a pause and then a strong emphasis on "characters."
"My approach is to recruit people who are different and a little zany and have their own issues. I love that. And then to get them to understand the need to get together and sacrifice and that everyone has their strengths and weaknesses, but we can put them together to achieve some great things."
How zany?
"I'm different than a lot of other people. I'm not judgmental in any way on anything. People might avoid kids that don't look like they play well with others or have eating issues or sexuality issues. I don't care about those things. The world is made up of a lot of different groups. If you want to go somewhere and do something, you can do it here."
The best volleyball coach in the country applies his social conscience to his job. And it is clearly working. Think about it: What better way to enable female athletes to reach their full potential than to free them from the boundaries society has placed on them for so many generations? Why not give them a place where they don't have to answer to anyone about anything but their sport and their team? A place where being unique is encouraged and praised?
"I think you can only be your best when you're the most comfortable. If you have to live in a closet, life's really hard. You're alone. Life's tough enough when you have to interact with people. It's really tough if you have to do it alone."
Coach Rose has seen a great deal of progress in terms of female athletes being more accepted and more comfortable with who they are since he began coaching in the 1970s.
"The women today are elite athletes with incredible engines," Rose says. "They're strong and confident and therefore beautiful. A long time ago, women athletes tried to avoid all of those things. Now these kids get in the weight room and they want to see those results because they know it makes them better.
"I think the female athlete of today is every bit as special as the male athlete.
"Earlier this year we played at Florida, where Doc Rivers is. His daughter plays volleyball for Florida. Doc came up to me and said, 'Coach! Last year after you guys won, that was so special! We had practice the next day and Kevin Garnett walked in and said, Did you see that volleyball match last night? That was unbelievable!' When the best male athletes in the world know about the best female athletes in the world, you know you've made it.
"And now with the Big 10 Network and other networks following suit, women's sports are being showcased more and more. I think it is a matter of time, a matter of the generations getting better each time."
Thank you, Coach Rose, for being a part of that progress.
