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TrashMaster G

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JesusSweatDuck
JesusSweatDuck

Another one - Previously a Sophomore at ASU

BadgerHorn
BadgerHorn

Alright, I have thoughts.  Just got back from the Long Beach tournament.  CSB - After the win vs Nebraska, I ran into Coach Metzger.  I'm one of those people who assumes famous/public figure type

shadow_operative2.0
shadow_operative2.0

Boom, officially official.   

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JesusSweatDuck

JesusSweatDuck 17781

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11 hours ago, gsoda3 said:

they won't do it but it would be awesome if they turned clark field into a beach vball area.

I was hoping to see something get lumped in with the Football practice facility/req updates but I haven't seen anything.  I haven't looked closely but maybe there's room by the tennis facility?  I'd hate to hear they're going to put it where the bubble was.  That close to I-35 would be awful (and really loud)

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YGIFS

YGIFS 19450

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There's a few extra tracks over there, but as stated above...the highway noise plus upcoming construction would be annoying as fuck for an outdoor sport.  An engineer whose firm does quite a bit of work with UT said, but this was like 6+ months ago, that they were looking at the structural engineering of a few courts on top of Moncrief where that 50yd practice field is right now.  And then also a possibility of a carve out area on the Caven fields complex between Jester and Swim Center.  Otherwise, there's nothing else except along IH-35 access roads or Whittaker.  Or way down the road incorporating something on the western side of the Thompson Conf. Center footprint after it gets leveled in the coming 2-3 years.

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perfectchaos007

perfectchaos007 6643

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NCAA champ bracket is up. UCLA is the #1 seed, TCU got the #2 seed. Entire tournament will be played next weekend. 

side note I'm pretty disappointed such a new NCAA sport already has a "play-in" game. Winner of play-in between UT-M and TAMU-CC will get to face #1 UCLA

 

https://www.ncaa.com/brackets/beach-volleyball/nc/2023?utm_source=sfmc&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=BVB_20230501_Bracket is Set

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SL Xpress

SL Xpress 7516

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Rumor on volleytalk from someone who has a track record of posting some inside information that Stein Metzger, the only coach at UCLA for their 11 year history, will be the beach volleyball coach at Texas. 

In terms of beach volleyball hires, that wouldn't just be a home run. That's hitting the ball to Dripping Springs. 

Of course, women's athletics will be quite the sausage fest among the head coaches, but I want to win. 

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Whiskyteer

Whiskyteer 51

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5 hours ago, SL Xpress said:

Rumor on volleytalk from someone who has a track record of posting some inside information that Stein Metzger, the only coach at UCLA for their 11 year history, will be the beach volleyball coach at Texas. 

In terms of beach volleyball hires, that wouldn't just be a home run. That's hitting the ball to Dripping Springs. 

Of course, women's athletics will be quite the sausage fest among the head coaches, but I want to win. 

🤫 

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Js1

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6 hours ago, SL Xpress said:

Rumor on volleytalk from someone who has a track record of posting some inside information that Stein Metzger, the only coach at UCLA for their 11 year history, will be the beach volleyball coach at Texas. 

In terms of beach volleyball hires, that wouldn't just be a home run. That's hitting the ball to Dripping Springs. 

Of course, women's athletics will be quite the sausage fest among the head coaches, but I want to win. 

CDC just wants to hire winners. Man or woman, doesn’t matter. But I also believe Elliot had more of the final decision for the beach coach, anyhow

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SL Xpress

SL Xpress 7516

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9 minutes ago, Js1 said:

CDC just wants to hire winners. Man or woman, doesn’t matter. But I also believe Elliot had more of the final decision for the beach coach, anyhow

I’d put it differently. Elliott has been point man for getting the program up and running, but he’s not going to be Stein Metzger’s boss. CDC will be. 

CDC had final say. But I’m sure Elliott was instrumental in ways that weren’t always the case for CDC’s other hires. I’m also sure CDC wanted someone Elliott could work with, which is why he was the point man from the the get go. 

But in terms of salary, program resources, and whether Texas ever heads in another direction, that’s all going to be part of CDC’s responsibilities. Not Elliott’s. That’s what determines final say. 

But yes. I’m sure Elliott was a critical factor in getting Metzger on board if that’s what has actually happened. 

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Js1

Js1 85346

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Well yeah Elliot want doing contract negotiations. Duh…. 
Season 3 Whatever GIF by The Office

I forgot how annoying it is to engage with you. I’m sure CDC got a list from Elliott and this was number 1 for what he wanted in a coach for Texas Beach. 

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SL Xpress

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On 5/13/2023 at 8:50 AM, Js1 said:

Well yeah Elliot want doing contract negotiations. Duh…. 
Season 3 Whatever GIF by The Office

I forgot how annoying it is to engage with you. I’m sure CDC got a list from Elliott and this was number 1 for what he wanted in a coach for Texas Beach. 

I couldn't care less what you think about me. I like you plenty. I'm glad you contribute to this site. You're a much better and more valuable contributor than I am, especially when it comes to women's sports. And if you're alluding to the fact I'm often pedantic, guilty as charged. Tough shit. It's not like you've never irritated anyone on this site. You do it regularly. I've noticed you feel similarly to me when it happens. 

Oh, and it's official. Stein Metzger is the new coach for the women's beach volleyball program. 

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SL Xpress

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Just now, Js1 said:

Truly amazing how Texas under CDC doesn’t really miss. What a huge hire for a new program with unlimited potential 

Well, unless he isn't really given the reins. I know there are some detractors, but I love the guy. I'm very grateful he came on board. I remember talking to people when Dodds was still in place that told me he wouldn't leave TCU in part because of the big buyout. After the Peterson disaster and the interim reign of Mike Perrin, it sure is nice to have complete confidence in our athletic director. There's no one in the country I'd rather have. I didn't have the fondness for Dodds that I have for Del Conte. 

It will be so much fun winning national championships in beach volleyball. I can hardly wait!

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3 minutes ago, Js1 said:

Football definitely isn’t included in that, he doesn’t get to pick that one, sadly. 

Well, maybe not completely sad. Having air cover by not being directly responsible for that hire is what helped keep Dodds in the job for so long. It's a good strategy, frankly. Everyone knows that was Eltife's guy, and he's owned up to it. And CDC's hands were tied with the Terry hiring. 

Anyway, the point is I agree with you completely. The dude goes after his person and gets them. It reminds me of Darrel Royal and the stories I heard Gustafson and Reese tell me about their hiring process. I love it. I'm very grateful that he's our AD. 

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SL Xpress 7516

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6 minutes ago, shadow_operative2.0 said:

xOJz8OD.jpg

 

And here’s a cool list of his old pro partners. 

https://beach.volleybox.net/stein-metzger-p11722/partners

He's in the friggin' UCLA Hall of Fame. He's their only coach for beach volleyball. This is just rubbing our athletic department nutsack all over UCLA's face. 

I bet UCLA cannot wait to get into the Big 10 to get a huge infusion of cash. 

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JesusSweatDuck

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28 minutes ago, SL Xpress said:

He's in the friggin' UCLA Hall of Fame. He's their only coach for beach volleyball. This is just rubbing our athletic department nutsack all over UCLA's face. 

I bet UCLA cannot wait to get into the Big 10 to get a huge infusion of cash. 

I'm curious what they offered him, but super excited to see what this does for the beach volleyball scene in Austin. It was already really strong but this just helps that

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SL Xpress

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On 5/13/2023 at 8:29 AM, Js1 said:

But I also believe Elliot had more of the final decision for the beach coach, anyhow

This article from volleyballmag.com makes it clear you're way more right on this than I am.

https://volleyballmag.com/texas-beach-volleyball-hires-uclas-stein-metzger-051623/

Spoiler

Everything is bigger in Texas.

Including the beach volleyball coaching hires.

Stein Metzger, the 2004 Olympian who built the UCLA program from scratch into a bona fide power, winning two NCAA championships, has taken the job as the head coach at Texas.

It may be one of the worst-kept secrets in beach volleyball, because Metzger told his UCLA team last week and word carried quickly. Texas, however, had to wait until all its due diligence was completed before announcing it Tuesday.

“I just think I’m the perfect person for this role,” Metzger said. “I’ve built something before and Texas has the resources to take this sport to another level. And I feel like I’m the guy to do it. It felt like it was calling me to do it.”

There is no doubt that Texas has the resources to build a top-notch facility and support the program fully. In a fast-growing sport, Texas — which traditionally plays before sold-out crowds for home indoor matches — is a sleeping giant.

“Like I told Stein, we’re going to change the landscape of beach volleyball, with the staff that we hire, the fans, the facilities, the locker rooms, the media attention, social content, TV,” said 23-year Texas indoors coach Jerritt Elliott, who will serve as director of volleyball operations, overseeing both programs.

“All the support and resources that we have for the athletes. It will be something that doesn’t exist at the collegiate side on a real high, high level. And I think we can build a fan base, because we already have it built in with ours.” 

Stein-and-Abby-Van-Winkle-Mark-Rigney.jp UCLA’s Stein Metzger talks things over with Abby Van Winkle/Mark Rigney photo

Metzger, a self-proclaimed “volleyball nerd,” said he will start right away at Texas, where he’s heard directly from president Jay Hartzell and football coach Steve Sarkisian.

“I knew that people in Texas took their sports seriously, but this is just a whole ‘nother level,” Metzger said. “I’m blown away. 

“If I had know there was going to be this much support, welcoming and energy behind this, it would have made the decision even easier.”

The hardest part, once the decision was made, he said, was telling the Bruins.

“I like new experiences, but, man, it sure was tough to say goodbye to the team,” Metzger said. 

That team just lost in the title match of the NCAA’s National Collegiate Beach Championship to USC. UCLA won national beach titles in 2018 and 2019 and also finished second in 2021.

“It was hell for two days trying to get to this point,” Metzger said. “That’s my baby. Jenny (Johnson Jordan) and I built that from ground zero and leaving her was extremely difficult, because we were just the perfect fit. We learned a ton from each other.”

Texas athletic director Chris Del Conte “gave us the charge to find the best beach volleyball coach,” Elliott said. “Stein stood out. He’s obviously built a program before from the ground up, he’s won a couple of national championships. I’ve known Stein from my volleyball (playing) days and we’ve hung out and he’s just a good guy. He meshes with the values that I have and what I perceive the Texas volleyball coaching culture being about. Everybody I talked to said the culture at UCLA was amazing and what he’s done there was great. He was also the lead recruiter, so he had every trait I was looking for an what we were looking for at the university.

“The biggest question was could we get him away from there? He had the thing rolling. They’re in a position to win it next year. It was great that we could get him here and show him what we have and he was excited.”

Metzger, 50, is a native Hawai’ian and product of the Punahou School. He was a setter for UCLA when the Bruins won three NCAA titles. He was the MVP of the 1996 NCAA Tournament.

He wanted to play overseas, but as a 6-foot-3 setter, “It was tough to get a gig.” So he ended up on the beach. 

“It took a while to get going because I didn’t know the sport as well as the California folks because we don’t have as much exposure and opportunity in Hawai’i,” Metzger said. “You know, all the Hawai’ians that came through it took them a little bit to learn the sport and get good at it. Which is good because I had to really study it to catch up to everybody else. I watched Karch to see how he did it, I watched (Brent) Frohoff to see how he passed. Did that for 14 years.”

Which doesn’t included finishing fifth in the 2004 Athens Olympics with Dax Holdren. Along the way, Metzger won 16 AVP titles and two on the FIVB tour. His partners in his career included Kevin Wong, Jake Gibb (with whom he played an AVP events in Austin back in the day on one of his few times there) and Mike Lambert.

He and his wife, Emily, did some traveling and then moved to Hawai’i, where Metzger got into selling real estate. During that time, their daughter, Quinn, now 12, was born.

“I came to a crossroads because business was starting to pick up and do well,” Metzger said. “And I knew that if kept going with this in another two or three years I’m going to be locked into this career and that’s it. I just realized that this was not what I wanted to do. ”

They moved back to California and then-UCLA women’s coach Mike Sealy got him to join his 2013 staff as a volunteer. 

“I was like, ‘Sure, I’ll try that.’ And I just loved it from day one. I said this is it, this is what I want to do. I want to coach.”

He got hired by UCLA the next year and the opportunity arose to start the beach program. 

“I couldn’t help myself and was just so hungry to grow it and the next you know I was juggling indoor duties and beach duties that were just overwhelming for me. Did that for two years and right when I was about crack, UCLA created a separate position to just coach full time on the beach.”

In 2013, UCLA went 3-7 in its first beach season and 7-8 the next year. in 2015 the Bruins finished 10-5 and then, in 2016, which was the first year the NCAA conducted its championship, UCLA finished third. The Bruins were fifth in 2017.

But the next year, they broke through, winning in 2018 and 2019. There was no tournament in 2020, but in 2021 UCLA lost to USC in the final. The Bruins finished third in 2022 and earlier this month lost to USC in the title match.

UCLA’s recent teams included future Olympian Sarah Sponcil, current standout pros Zana Muno and Savvy Simo and Canadian pros Nicole and Megan McNamara.

Metzger won’t exactly be starting from scratch at Texas, which is among the nation’s premier indoor programs, coming off its fourth national title this past December.

The Longhorns played the school’s first season of beach this spring, winning one match in a 13-match limited schedule with a roster of players from its NCAA-champion indoors team. Indoor assistants Erik Sullivan and David Hunt served as coaches.

Texas played six of its matches to start the season in Hawai’i, played four more in Long Beach, California, and then finished the season with four matches in late March at TCU. It was in that tournament that they beat Missouri State 3-2. The match was tied 2-2 when two stars from the indoor team, outside Madisen Skinner and right side Molly Phillips, won their match on court 1. Phillips, who will complete her Texas indoor career next fall, said previously she would transfer as a graduate student to continue on the beach. She told us she is keeping her options open.

Regardless, the transfer portal will surely work both ways. 

Metzger said a state-of-the-art beach facility will be built, “but it’s pretty open. They were waiting on a head coach to join up and tell them what we need and what’s important to run a top-notch event. They have a couple of locations they’ve identified.”

One thing not identified is what conference Texas will join. The school is currently in the Big 12 but moves to the SEC with Oklahoma on July 1, 2024. The only SEC schools currently playing NCAA beach volleyball are LSU and South Carolina.

“Hopefully this is the start of more SEC teams joining the sport,” Metzger said.

In the meantime, there’s the move to Austin, which has his kids excited, Metzger said.

Metzger and his wife, Emily, also have a 10-year-old son, Otto, who may be surprised to find out how urban Austin, Texas, is: “Otto made me go on Amazon and buy him a lasso,” Metzger said. “He’s like lassoing everything and watching videos on rodeo.”

Metzger also hopes that his assistant, Johnson Jordan, is promoted at UCLA.

“I felt like it was time for her to take over the reins and I’m hopeful that’s going to happen,” Metzger said. 

“It’s not my call, but it seems like the easy and no-brainer fit for them to hire her.”

"'Like I told Stein, we’re going to change the landscape of beach volleyball, with the staff that we hire, the fans, the facilities, the locker rooms, the media attention, social content, TV,' said 23-year Texas indoors coach Jerritt Elliott, who will serve as director of volleyball operations, overseeing both programs."

That sounds very much like he'll have hiring/firing authority, and that Metzger will report to Elliott, and then Elliott reports to CDC. 

Obviously it doesn't work exactly like that in any organization, but org charts matter, and this one has Elliott as the boss. I imagine it's a good way to give Elliott a raise, too. 

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JesusSweatDuck

JesusSweatDuck 17781

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"Metzger said a state-of-the-art beach facility will be built, “but it’s pretty open. They were waiting on a head coach to join up and tell them what we need and what’s important to run a top-notch event. They have a couple of locations they’ve identified"

 

Please build something awesome 

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TrashMaster G

TrashMaster G 17557

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On 5/13/2023 at 2:19 AM, SL Xpress said:

Rumor on volleytalk from someone who has a track record of posting some inside information that Stein Metzger, the only coach at UCLA for their 11 year history, will be the beach volleyball coach at Texas. 

In terms of beach volleyball hires, that wouldn't just be a home run. That's hitting the ball to Dripping Springs. 

Of course, women's athletics will be quite the sausage fest among the head coaches, but I want to win. 

Somewhere in a corner, Plonsky is crying/cursing.

Looks like a helluva hire.

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BurntOrange&White

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On 5/13/2023 at 2:19 AM, SL Xpress said:

Rumor on volleytalk from someone who has a track record of posting some inside information that Stein Metzger, the only coach at UCLA for their 11 year history, will be the beach volleyball coach at Texas. 

In terms of beach volleyball hires, that wouldn't just be a home run. That's hitting the ball to Dripping Springs. 

Of course, women's athletics will be quite the sausage fest among the head coaches, but I want to win. 

 

 

 

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Js1

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“Like I told Stein, we’re going to change the landscape of beach volleyball, with the staff that we hire, the fans, the facilities, the locker rooms, the media attention, social content, TV,” said 23-year Texas indoors coach Jerritt Elliott, who will serve as director of volleyball operations, overseeing both programs.

“All the support and resources that we have for the athletes. It will be something that doesn’t exist at the collegiate side on a real high, high level. And I think we can build a fan base, because we already have it built in with ours.”

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BadgerHorn

BadgerHorn 147

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So much to get excited about here. You know how the football and basketball boards have coaching search threads and there's always the initial phase of "we know we'll never get Saban, Smart, Urban, Self, Few, Wright, etc" and then the conversation (and FlightAware queries) move to the next tier of possibilities?

Stein is in that first tier of aspirational gets - arguably #1 overall.  I know beach volleyball money and booster complications are nowhere near football and basketball.  Just trying to help underscore how big this could be for those who don't follow as closely. 

We keep talking about UT Beach's potential. You now have top tier: resources, recruiting footprint, and head coach. Next step is building the roster and facilities. After that, show me a loss. 

Only regrets:

1) it would have been nice to get this done earlier to make some hay in the portal. Can beach players transfer in the Dec transfer window or is that reserved for fall sports?

2) man, I wish I was still on campus for this

 

I'll be out at AVP Huntington Beach this weekend. We'll see if my Longhorn shirt starts any conversations. 

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SL Xpress

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10 hours ago, BadgerHorn said:

So much to get excited about here. You know how the football and basketball boards have coaching search threads and there's always the initial phase of "we know we'll never get Saban, Smart, Urban, Self, Few, Wright, etc" and then the conversation (and FlightAware queries) move to the next tier of possibilities?

Stein is in that first tier of aspirational gets - arguably #1 overall.  I know beach volleyball money and booster complications are nowhere near football and basketball.  Just trying to help underscore how big this could be for those who don't follow as closely. 

We keep talking about UT Beach's potential. You now have top tier: resources, recruiting footprint, and head coach. Next step is building the roster and facilities. After that, show me a loss. 

Only regrets:

1) it would have been nice to get this done earlier to make some hay in the portal. Can beach players transfer in the Dec transfer window or is that reserved for fall sports?

2) man, I wish I was still on campus for this

 

I'll be out at AVP Huntington Beach this weekend. We'll see if my Longhorn shirt starts any conversations. 

The portal period for beach goes until June 14. That doesn't make you wrong, but it's not too late to make some hay in the portal. And yes, there's also a December window as well. 

I'm not terribly concerned about it, though. The comparison I've been making is this hire is akin to hiring Augie Garrido from Cal State Fullerton. There's only two active beach volleyball coaches with national titles. Metzger and USC's Dain Blanton. That's it. Stein Metzger started the UCLA program, unlike Blanton. There simply isn't a better hire out there for the first coach in the program. It's not possible to make a better hire. 

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wood

wood 11226

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Great get with Stein. I watched him on the AVP in person for years, and chatted with him a couple of times back then. Great guy and a student of the game. Can't wait to see the program develop under him.

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