You had to know the Americans were gonna get their man sooner rather than later, with World League coming up. And today they have him, with UCLA’s John Speraw named the head coach of USA men’s volleyball for the Rio quadrennial. He will coach both UCLA and the US national team.
There had been some scuttlebutt that Speraw was in line for the hire. The reason that such an on-the-nose picture exists is likely because Speraw has twice previously served as an assistant for the American men, including at the most recent Olympics where he worked with current Long Beach State head coach Alan Knipe. It really is kind of a small world in men’s volleyball.
UCLA athletic director Dan Guerrero said all the right things in the school’s presser announcing the hire, but I’m still more than a little surprised they’d go for this. The hire also drew plaudits from Speraw’s UCLA predecessor, the incomparable Al Scates, as well as current (pending?) USA team members Clayton Stanley and Rich Lambourne, and the outgoing Reid Priddy.
One wonders how many of them will be at the forthcoming World League, as Speraw stated that forming the roster that’s to be taken is one of the first priorities of the job. If that’s as simple as picking some names from a list, he might do it after UCLA’s season ends, but I really doubt it is. There’s only about three weeks’ difference between the end of the NCAA season and the start of World League, so there’ll be duties he needs to get to pretty soon. And there, of course, is also the matter of hiring a staff. That’s another thing that really can’t wait too long.
But I will say I am glad the Americans finally made their hire. It was getting a little awkward how near a major international tournament was looming, with no real structure in place for the team. No need to worry about that now. It’ll all get sorted out, better or worse, by the time World League smacks its first serve.
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