2008 Woodie Awards
Building a foundation
Erik Olson has the volleyball team pushing for a Mid-American Conference Championship
By: Aaron Vigneault
Issue date: 11/2/07 Section: Sports
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Although the team came off a Mid-American Conference West Division title, it returned just half its starters.
To make things harder, he missed the recruiting season and had trouble filling the vacancies.
"We only returned three starters from that team," Olson said. "The cupboards were a little bare."
In just three and a half years, Olson has built CMU into a legit program.
Fast forward to today, where the roster is replenished with the chance to recapture prominence in the West Division.
CMU carried its momentum from a record-setting 2006-07 season into this year. The Chippewas got off to the best start in school history by winning 12 of their first 15 matches.
With wins last weekend at Ball State and Toledo, Olson and his team guaranteed themselves a first-round MAC tournament match at Rose Arena for the first time in school history.
And with only four regular season matches left, CMU is just two games behind MAC West Division-leading Western Michigan.
Central faces the Broncos today at Rose Arena in one of the biggest matches of the Olson era.
"The next four matches will be huge," Olson said. "I think they will all be equally as tough, we just need to show up and play hard."
Olson said CMU only will continue to grow now that a culture of success has been cultivated. He's been the recipient of an expanding budget, and has been granted more out-of-state scholarships.
The extra assets have Olson excited about the possibility of being able to do more national recruiting and even looking abroad for talent.
"I think that Central is a beautiful campus that sells itself," Olson said. "In terms of the program, if you build it they will come."
Paving the way
Prior to arriving at CMU, Olson helped start the University of Miami's volleyball program in 2001. He was the first assistant for three years and helped the Hurricanes make the NCAA Tournament's Sweet 16 in 2002.
He knew he wanted a head coaching job, and found the ideal one in Mount Pleasant.
"I didn't know a whole lot about the program," Olson said. "But I knew it was in the Midwest and I knew it was in a tough conference. I knew it would fulfill my competitive needs."
CMU wasn't so sure about Olson. He made several inquiries and had to wait weeks before CMU returned his calls.
"I think they were looking for real qualified candidates who were possibly female versus male," Olson said. "Schools are always looking for a female head coach to coach women."
In the end, Olson overcame the gender barrier and became head coach on June 2, 2004.
A lack of talent was not the only battle Olson had to fight. Some player's loyalties were still with the past coaching staff.
"Some of the players that were under the other coach didn't understand Olson's concepts," said senior setter Courtney Kersten. "We needed everyone to buy in and be on the same page."
Olson fought to get the team on the same page, but found the talent was not the caliber he was used to.
"I look for attackers that touch at least 9-foot-7," Olson said. "We had one player on the roster that could touch 9' 4". We had an entire team that I would not have recruited."
A lack of commitment and multiple injury problems throughout his first season paved the way for failure.
"We had off-season training issues," Olson said. "You've got to be a team player, you have to want to give your best effort and believe in the team's vision. If you don't want to do that, then we don't want you here."
Insert Kersten, who Olson gives much of the credit for the program's turnaround to as the lone holdover from the old regime. She was one of Olson's biggest advocates when he arrived and has been a steady force in a time of change.
"I don't know if I could have done it without Courtney," Olson said. "There are times when we had dark days in this program and she kept after it."
Olson knew a winning program required stability, sparking his decision to make Kersten a captain as a freshman.
Kersten's competitiveness gave CMU a winning attitude - one Olson hopes will stick when she ends her career this season.
"I'm going to miss Courtney a great deal," Olson said. "I would go to battle with her any day."
Budget Issues
The quest to turn around the Chippewas was hampered by CMU's $800 budget. Today he has $10,000 to $14,000 to work with each year.
"I was hired as a national recruiter, so my hands were somewhat tied," Olson said.
But despite the obstacles, Olson drew in plenty of talent when he received commitments from juniors Kate Fissel, Erika Neumann and Sarah Warner. Olson also secured junior college transfer Whitney Evers.
Now it was time for Olson to affix the puzzle pieces.
"(Olson) liked what he saw, but he brought me here to make sure the team liked me, too," Evers said. "I had to have good chemistry with them before he would take me."
With Olson's impact, Central pulled off the biggest turnarounds in MAC history last season. The Chippewas finished with a 17-13 record, a 12 1/2 game improvement from 2005.
Olson said his team had the talent to win in 2005, but lacked experience.
"We had a bunch of rookies out there," Olson said. "Ten out of 14 kids were first-year Division I players."
sports@cm-life.com
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