Home for Volleyball’s Survivors : Schools Mix It Up in South Coast

At Orange Coast College, about 80 would-be volleyball players go through the normal rigors and routines of college life.

They stay up late to cram for exams and throw parties when finals are over. They work hard during the week, and hardly work over the weekend.

Yet for them there is a major void in campus life: they are attending a school that no longer sanctions volleyball.

Because of budget cuts and a lack of funding, Orange Coast and more than 20 other California community colleges have been forced to drop men’s volleyball programs in the past three years. As a result, many talented prep volleyball players have had to shorten their careers.

“It’s not fair to those talented individuals who need to showcase their abilities for scholarship potential not to be able to play volleyball,” said Bob Wetzel, the former OCC coach who had one built one of the state’s best programs at the Costa Mesa school.

And with so many community colleges no longer participating in volleyball, it has becoming increasingly difficult to find a variety of competition.

What’s a coach to do? For five community college coaches still with programs the answer came when they merged with fledgling four-year colleges to form a revamped South Coast Conference.

The schools--Golden West, Long Beach City, Santa Barbara, Pierce and Mt. San Antonio--have united with Chapman, Westmont and La Verne colleges. The SCC once was one of the state’s powerful community college conferences before most of the schools dropped the sport.

The two-year schools have little trouble competing against the private, four-year institutions because the community colleges have developed strong programs over the years. And with the decrease of community college teams, the surviving schools have an even bigger talent pool from which to draw.

The conference was the conception of Gary Jacobsen, Long Beach city college coach.

“I could see we needed to do something to maintain the sport,” Jacobsen said. “Some of the four-year schools needed the competition that the JCs could provide them with. I got the idea we could put a league together and solve two problems at once.”

Thus far, the SCC has been dominated by the community colleges, with Long Beach leading the conference at 11-1, followed by Pierce (9-3), Santa Barbara (8-4) and Golden West (8-4). Fifth-place Westmont (7-5) has the best four-year school record.

The season will culminate May 3 with the Southern California Regionals at Golden West.

“It’s a tough league,” said Bill Brown of Golden West. “With the financial problems the JCs have been having, the SCC is nice, because it makes the season longer. The league is really competitive, and the four-year schools are doing well, considering how new their programs are.”

Said Chapman Coach Tom Reed, a former professional player: “The league gives us great exposure. High schools know we play a schedule comparable to anybody’s.”

Though the community colleges are enjoying successful seasons in the SCC, the possibility of losing their programs remains a reality.

“College volleyball programs are in trouble because the state doesn’t want to fund them,” Reed said. “And colleges certainly won’t pick up the tab. They don’t see volleyball as revenue producing, and it has been labeled a minor sport.”

Said Albert Gasparian, Golden West’s coach: “Football, basketball and baseball are the main sports to them, so when a sport has to be dropped, it’s usually volleyball.”

Because of the financial instability of the sport, many schools are finding it difficult to get good coaches. One remedy would be to hire walk-on coaches, but Wetzel says school officials prefer full-time staff members.

“The reason for this is because walk-ons aren’t always on campus, so they don’t spend much time with the athletes during the day,” Wetzel said.

Charlie Brande, who has coached at UCLA, University of Hawaii and OCC, thinks walk-ons do a good job.

“JC volleyball walk-ons are just as good as regular coaches,” he said. “But there is a problem, especially at high schools. Volleyball has grown so quickly that there are many players, and not so many coaches. This has caused a lot of guys who might have been good players to try and coach, when they really aren’t qualified.”

Added Reed, a walk-on: “If you don’t get a quality person, it can cause a lot of headaches for the athletic director. Some walk-ons don’t understand the logistical part of coaching, such as setting up tournaments and running a match.”