Loyola Pulls Plug on Men’s Volleyball

One day after Loyola Marymount’s stunning move to drop its men’s volleyball program, former Lion coach Rick McLaughlin called the decision “not so shocking.”

The decision was made even though the Lions finished the season with their highest national ranking ever. Despite a 12-12 overall record, Loyola was sixth in the American Volleyball Coaches Assn.’s final poll. The Lions defeated UCLA for the first time while also advancing past the first round in the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation tournament.

McLaughlin, who resigned two weeks ago after eight seasons, said the current athletic administration never supplied him with enough resources and that disbanding the program was always a possibility.

“It’s shocking in the respect that we did so well, especially in the last three years,” McLaughlin said. “But it really isn’t that shocking because they just never really supported us as well as they could.

“[Shutting the program down] was always over our heads. We had some players that were real committed to what we were trying to build. . . . They never really noticed what we were doing.”

Loyola Athletic Director Bill Husak was out of town and unavailable for comment. However, in Saturday’s editions of the Daily Breeze, Husak said the decision was made so other sports could become more competitive with the money used to fund the program.

McLaughlin couldn’t see dropping the program even though he stepped aside because school officials would not give him a raise.

“It’s a very recruitable situation,” he said. “We’re in the hotbed of volleyball. How you get that interest is when you start winning, and we did that.”

Though most of their top players graduated, the Lions had 13 players returning.

Brian Wagner, who started at outside hitter as a freshman, said Husak told him Thursday after Wagner asked about the coaching situation.

“It was a complete surprise to everyone,” Wagner said. “We were ready to get a young fiery coach and make the best of it. We were all looking forward to next season.”