Ex-UC Irvine Assistant to Coach Titan Volleyball Team

The task of rebuilding the Cal State Fullerton women’s volleyball program will fall into the hands of Mary Ellen Murchison, a former UC Irvine assistant who was named the Titans’ head coach Thursday by Athletic Director Bill Shumard.

Not only will Murchison have to pick up the pieces of a program that has gone 25-80 the past three seasons and lost several of its best players from 1991, but she’ll also have to do it in the wake of a sometimes-heated, four-month legal battle between the school and the volleyball program.

Murchison, who spent 11 years (1978-88) as head coach at Santa Clara and one (1991) as an Irvine assistant, replaces Jim Huffman, who was fired in March after spearheading a successful lawsuit to have the program reinstated.

The school had dropped volleyball in January, but Huffman and several players filed suit in Superior Court, claiming the move violated state sex-discrimination laws.

The team received a preliminary injunction, which temporarily blocked the move, and the parties were finally settled out of court in late May, with the school reinstating the program as part of a large-scale plan to improve gender equity in athletics.

“Through my exposure to President (Milton) Gordon, Bill Shumard and (senior associate athletic director) Maryalyce Jeremiah, I’m very impressed with their commitment to women’s volleyball,” said Murchison, 42. “That’s one of the reasons I took the job. I think they’ll be a model program.”

Murchison said funding for the volleyball program will remain at a level similar to last season’s, with her salary (in the $40,000 range) and the number of scholarships (the equivalent of about 10 full scholarships) in the same range as 1991.

She will be able to hire a full-time assistant and has already chosen Saddleback College Coach Julie Sandoval.

But unlike Huffman, who worked under three separate one-year contracts, Murchison was given a three-year deal.

“The fact that they’re willing to extend a long-term contract speaks to their commitment to the program and its future,” Murchison said.

Now she has to convince recruits. Four underclassmen, including All-Big West Conference outside hitter Becky Howlett, have announced that they will transfer to other schools, and only five players--Rachel Wittliff, Casey Baldwin, Alyssa Donaldson, Kristin Sharples and Lisa Parbst--are on the current roster.

Murchison, a 1972 Cal State Long Beach graduate whose Santa Clara teams went 162-181 in 11 seasons, said she will talk to Howlett and the others who intend to leave, but she holds out little hope of changing their minds.

“I don’t know Becky, but my sense is she’s committed to Washington State,” Murchison said. “My real priority is dealing with the kids who decided to stay and hang tough in the situation, and recruiting. We have to put our best foot forward and stress what’s good about the situation.”

Murchison will have a simple sales pitch:

“We need immediate help, so there will be an opportunity to play, and you’ll play in the Big West, the best conference in the nation,” Murchison said. “I don’t think many other schools can offer that.”