Big brother Still Rules (DI)

Big Kahuna. King of the Hill. Top Banana.  All of these terms describe the status of NCAA Division I Men’s Volleyball.  Anyone who has watched DI can’t help but be awestruck at the thunderous quicks, the walls of blocking, the precision sets, and the incredible digs found here.  The athleticism and the skill are undeniable, and when combined with the incredible knowledge and leadership of the near-celebrity coaches found in DI (Marv Dunphy, Carl McGown and Al Scates, unfortunately retired now, come to mind) the true magnificence of volleyball becomes apparent.  Big Brother, though, has stopped growing and even shrunk a little in this off season.

The elimination of men’s volleyball at Pacific after the 2014 season was a huge blow to the prestige of DI, the MPSF and men’s college volleyball in general. This loss marked the third DI program that has folded since 2000, the other two being Loyola Marymount and San Diego State (SDSU). San Diego State produced numerous volleyball luminaries, including beach superstar Mike Dodd and indoor/beach great John Hyden.   Furthermore, SDSU, led by Chris Marlowe (yes, the TV guy) and Duncan McFarland, even won the 1973 Men’s National Volleyball Championship.  With the current elimination of the program at Pacific, however, DI has now shrunk to 22 programs and is the smallest element of the NCAA men’s volleyball trilogy.

What it lacks in size, however, DI more than makes up in style and talent. DI teams have won all of the Combined National Championships, since the Lewis title in 2003 was vacated by the NCAA for rules violations. Every active member of the current 22 member US National Team, which will be tweaked to become the US Olympic Team in 2016, is a former or current DI player.  California universities provided 16 of these players, while Brigham Young added three, Penn State two, and Hawai’i one.

Since there are no established sports conferences sponsoring DI men’s volleyball, three combined conferences have formed to fill the void: the EIVA (Eastern Intercollegiate Volleyball Association), the MIVA (Midwestern Intercollegiate Volleyball Association), and the MPSF (Mountain Pacific Sports Federation). All 22 of the DI programs participate in one of these three conferences, the EIVA with 7 DI programs, the MIVA with 5 DI programs, and the MPSF with 10 DI programs.  Only three teams outside of the MPSF – Penn State, Ohio State, and current champion Loyola of Chicago – have won the Combined National championship.

DI and its size decrease have caused me to ponder one of my college classes. In this course I read a book entitled Social Work: The Unloved Profession, written by a pair of social workers named Richan and Mendelsohn.  The main point of this book was that people, even social workers, hated the profession of social work but loved the actual duties, tasks, and helping responsibilities of being a social worker. Right now this theory seems directly transferrable to men’s college volleyball.  As the showcase element of college volleyball shrinks, it is really difficult not to wonder “Why?”  Could it be that volleyball people dislike the sport of volleyball but actually love playing the game of volleyball?  Your thoughts, please.  Twitter @VBdepot.