New volleyball coach tells all

By Joe Atkinson
THE POST

Two weeks ago, the Ohio athletics department hired Mike Lessinger, a former Ohio assistant volleyball coach, to replace the departed Ellen Dempsey as the Bobcats' volleyball head coach. The Post sat down with Lessinger last Friday to find out why he got the job and why we should trust him with our volleyball team.

THE POST: How long have you been involved with volleyball?

MIKE LESSINGER: Playing or coaching?

POST: Let's start with playing.

LESSINGER: My sister took me outside our house when I was in probably 5th or 6th grade. She played in high school and she needed someone to do some ball control drills with. So she kind of got me involved in the sport. I didn't really start playing competitively until my freshman year in high school; I was raised in southern California, so that was a pretty major sport ... it was pretty much football, volleyball and basketball.

POST: So your high school actually had a men's volleyball program?

LESSINGER: Yes.

POST: Because you don't see that a lot around here, which is a shame, because I would have loved to have played. It would have been interesting at 5 feet 8 inches, but ...

LESSINGER: Yeah, it's kind of stagnant right now. I think maybe Title IX has something to do with that. I think that a lot of athletic departments are trying to equal the playing field, and, with men's volleyball, I think I just read that there are 23 Division I programs. So I think a lot of people are looking at it and saying, "If we add it to our high school, what does that really accomplish? I mean, is it a feeder system for our colleges, or is there not really any place for them to go?"

POST: Did you play in college?

LESSINGER: Yes, I played at Arizona State University. I was a team captain my last two years; a second-team All-American my senior year. I did play for one year at Texas Tech. I was the head coach/player and I realized I was probably a little better as coach than I was a player at that point in my career; I could add more to the team. So I did both for a year, then I stepped away from the playing aspect of it.

POST: And then you coached down there?

LESSINGER: I was at Texas Tech for three years as an assistant coach for their women's program, and the head coach there advised me that it would be a great opportunity for me to work with the men's program and get some experience running a team. I also have done a lot of Junior Olympic volleyball club programs, which I think really helps with the recruiting process because I made a lot of connections.

POST: So how did you end up at Ohio University?

LESSINGER: I had no idea I could actually make a living doing this; at that point (at Texas Tech) I was planning on going into teaching. When I got there, I kind of learned the ropes, and I had indicated to the head coach that I was kind of interested in being a head coach. He helped me get an interview here and I met Ellen Dempsey, the former head coach. It was an outstanding opportunity; I had never heard of Ohio University. I did a phone interview and we hit it off great.

POST: When I was writing the story about you getting hired as the new head volleyball coach, a lot of the players gave you, and your positive attitude, credit for the success of the 1998 season, when the team won more Mid-American Conference games than any team in school history. Do you think that was the case?

LESSINGER: I think that was part of it. I also think that they were a young team; they returned five starters from the team before who took some lumps, just as this year we'll return five starters. But yeah, I think I probably brought a little different perspective on things from being in a conference where you're competing at a national level every night. It's definitely a higher expectation, and when you raise the bar for them - I'd like to think I had something to do with that. And again, this year was another down year; we had a lot of injuries and again a number of freshmen on the court, playing and taking their lumps the hard way.

Not to make excuses; we should have performed better. I think Western Michigan was a match that was probably indicative of how we could have played all season. We're talking about the No. 1 team in the conference, probably headed to the NCAA Tournament, coming here and we beat them 3-0. So I think it was a bittersweet moment because I think it showed how we could have played the whole season. But I think it was good that we had that opportunity to see how good we could be. (It helped show the players) they could win the conference.