Back Where They Belong

Amidst a happy late-evening flight from Phoenix and in between watching episodes of Cocomelon with his daughter Andi, volleyball coach Jamie Morrison kept catching himself sitting back and smiling.

The Aggies—fresh off an upset of No. 3 seed Arizona State on its home floor—were not done yet.

They’re heading to the Sweet 16.

“Pride,” Morrison said when asked to describe his emotions that night. “(Pride) for the work put in by our athletes, the work put in by our staff, the development of the people across the board—and the fact that we've earned the right to be here. 

“This wasn't a luck thing.”

Anyone who watched Saturday night’s second-round match can attest to that. Despite the fact the team on the other side of the net--the 30-2 and Big 12 Champion Sun Devils--had just one home loss over the last two seasons, Texas A&M was flat out the better team that evening. And for only the second time in the tradition-proud history of the program, an Aggie team punched its ticket to the Sweet 16 on someone else’s court.

Placing Texas A&M volleyball ‘back where it belonged’, and then going even further than that, was one of Morrison’s big goals when he was hired in the winter of 2022. He inherited a program with a proud history of trips into the NCAA Round of 16 and even several to the quarterfinals, but this was tournament air the Aggies had breathed in just once in the last 15 seasons.

“One of the (visions) I had when I came here was restoring this program back to the place that it had been,” Morrison said, “and that’s (being) a consistent Sweet 16 team. And then take it further. To do that in year two is an amazing feat.”

Morrison and his staff have a vision for the program that is steeped in a confident approach. So many things in the Aggies’ daily routine rely on development and trust. It’s a recipe for success that’s paid quicker dividends than many maybe thought possible.

“I believe in our coaching staff and our ability to teach this game,” Morrison explained. “I don't think there's a better place in the country that you can go that's going to develop you as a player, develop you as a human being and make sure that you come out at the end of this ready to do whatever it is you want to do in life. And I think if you stay true to that…people are going to develop and people are going to improve. They're going to get better.”

Taking Morrison’s extensive international experience and technical expertise and applying it to the college game has paid huge dividends for the players. You need look no further for proof than the Aggies’ two first-team All-SEC juniors, opposite hitter Logan Lednicky and middle blocker Ifenna Cos-Okpalla. 

Prized recruits even before stepping on campus for their first season in the fall of 2022, they battled through a frustrating freshman year and then endured the emotion of a coaching change. 

They now sit poised to not only earn All-America honors this fall but have the chance to take the program further than it’s ever been.

“(Jamie) just knows his volleyball,” Lednicky said. “Like, he knows his stuff. And so I think that's been cool, to see the development of us and a lot of the other players, the cool training techniques he brings in and how he implements them with the other staff, how they've changed the training a little bit over the past two years, and how we've been able to develop. USA Volleyball international experience is comparable to none. I think bringing that here to the college scene has been really cool and obviously really successful for this team.”

“I think another word that I've just continuously used is trust,” Cos-Okpalla added. “Like (Logan) said, he knows his stuff. He has so many accolades from around the world showing he knows what he's talking about. So when he tells you to do something in practice or wants to show you a new way of doing something--it might be uncomfortable or different at first, but it's definitely something where if you continue to do it, it'll make sense. It’s really elevated our play of game—extending rallies for longer, improving our serve receive game, our block defense—in all aspects, having him as a coach has been really great.”

Morrison, who has built his program around a strong staff with diverse backgrounds, is very quick to deflect the credit of success away from himself. To him—it’s a true team effort, from the players to the coaches to everyone involved with the program.

“I have confidence in the people that are here,” Morrison said. “I have confidence in our ability to build. I had confidence in the athletes that are still a piece of this program developing into the best version of themselves. The thing you never know is…are they going to 100 percent buy in? And I think they've done that. They believe in what we're talking about, what we're about, the way we want to work. A lot of hard work has been put into developing the human beings and volleyball players that are here. 

“It's (also) understanding that this is a long-term build. We want to build this thing into something beyond what it even was back then, and that's a program that’s consistently in the Final Four. And this points to the fact that we're headed in that direction. I'm proud of the work put in by everybody.”

When he says ‘everybody’, Morrison is also talking about the 12th Man. 

Fan support for volleyball is surging across the country and it’s no different here. A&M will finish the year ranked 17th nationally (and third in the SEC) in attendance. What’s even more impressive is the fact that, in 2022—the year before Morrison got here—an average Reed Arena crowd was just over 1,800 a match. In two short seasons, the Aggies have seen a 75 percent increase in support from the 12th Man—an incredible jump to over 3,200 per match.

“I talk a lot about the reasons why I took this job, and (the reason) was because of what I think can be possible,” Morrison points out. “It’s possible to build what’s going on at Wisconsin (ranked second nationally in attendance) and going on at Nebraska (nation’s leader in attendance). We can do it here.”

Texas A&M has played its final match in College Station this fall. But when the Aggies take the court Friday night—against a blue blood program in Wisconsin in front of a sold-out crowd inside the volleyball-crazed Bob Devaney Sports Center—they’ll do so with the 12th Man behind them and a national television audience tuned in.

A&M volleyball is already back where it should be. But a win over the Badgers will put the Aggies as far as they’ve ever gone before. And they relish the opportunity to take that next, huge step.

“We're going to go into Wisconsin and we're going to compete,” Morrison said. “They're a good volleyball team. It's a storied program. They're going to come out and grind. It's going to be a battle. But the thing I'm loving the most is we're enjoying that. We're enjoying getting into the arena and going and doing those things.

“I think this is the tip of the iceberg. I think we can go further this year, and then I'm scared to see how good this program and this team is going to be in the future.”