Tough Love

As she takes on her first season at the helm, Wilson is pushing her squad to grow in the hopes of meeting the team goal: winning the Mid-American Conference.

Moving somewhere new

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After accepting the position as head coach, Wilson not only had to move herself from Missouri to Michigan, but also her young daughter. Wilson’s daughter, Ariana, is an integral part of her life for many different reasons.

“She gives me a lot of patience, to be honest,” Wilson said. “She's three going on 30, and dealing with her, I can deal with anything. ... She brings a lot of energy to my life and something that I don't know that I could live without. She's just a breath of fresh air.”

While the distance of the move was over 600 miles, moving to a new town wasn’t very hard for either of them.

“(Ariana has) been traveling since she's been in the womb, and so I don't know that she really knows the difference,” Wilson said. “For me, I've been in college towns before, and I think that it's no different than living overseas in a small town or a small city. I'm pretty much a chameleon when it comes to that.”

One of the things that made the change easy was the people in the Mount Pleasant community.

“I love the people,” Wilson said. “I think people make any place that you go, and with them being so nice and welcoming, it made it a smoother transition than I thought it would be.”

Playing and coaching success

Wilson brings with her to CMU a host of accolades and successes that speak to just how good she was as a player and how good she is as a coach.

As for her playing career, Wilson had a successful tenure at Penn State playing under legendary coach Russ Rose. During her time as a Nittany Lion, Wilson and her team won four NCAA championships and amassed an overall record of 142-7, which included a 109-match win streak.

Wilson earned many accolades throughout her time in Happy Valley. She was named an AVCA All-American three times, was the Big Ten Freshman of the Year and was named the First Team All-Big Ten honoree three times.

In addition to her college career, Wilson played professional volleyball overseas and was a member of the USA Women’s National Team in 2013.

Wilson also brings extensive coaching experience, having served on the coaching staffs at DePaul, Michigan State, Georgia Tech and, most recently, the University of Missouri.

A winning and competitive culture

From her players’ perspective, Wilson brings a winning culture and a competitive drive to the program.

“She knows what she's doing and she has this drive and competition to win,” sophomore middle blocker Grace Thomas said. “That winning atmosphere constantly puts you in this great position to want to do the best that you can to win the MAC.” 

Wilson echoed a similar sentiment when discussing what she thinks she provides to the program.

“ I think one of the things that I thought that I could really bring to the table is just the demeanor of greatness and one that will help them succeed in what they wanna do,” Wilson said. “Their goal is to win the MAC, and that's the plan.”

Finally, Wilson said she hopes to bring a lesson she learned from her past experiences participating in the sport. The lesson, however, does not only apply to volleyball.

“It's about the mindset and how you push through the hard things in life,” she said. “I think sport really prepares you for life in general because if you can face adversity every single day or you can adapt and be adaptable or be coachable, I think that you can move through life a little bit easier knowing that you've been through hard things.”

Wilson hopes her players learn this lesson so they can apply it to their lives after college and volleyball.

“I think if I can just give them a piece of advice, it's like you have to look out for each other,” Wilson said. “You have to come ready to work every single day with no excuses. You have to get 1% better every single day and stay consistent in what you're doing because those things pay off.”

Tough love

When Wilson came to CMU, it was clear to her that there was already a family-like culture formed between the players. Wilson credited this culture as one of the reasons many of the players stayed with the program after former head coach Mike Gawlik left after nine seasons with the team.

“ I think that they do a really good job of making sure that they like each other on and off the court, that they respect each other on and off the court,” Wilson said. “That ... is hard to find.” 

The team culture was one of the things that drew Wilson to the job. However, she doesn’t think it is perfect and is working to grow the culture one step forward.

“ I'd say she's trying to build a competitive, winning, family-like culture where we all love each other, but it can also be hard love,” Thomas said.

The culture Wilson is trying to develop with her team is mirrored by the philosophy she lives her life by.

“I think you need people in your life that tell you the truth versus what you wanna hear or the fluffiness, even if it's uncomfortable, even if you got an attitude about it,” Wilson said.

While it took some getting used to, the players have come to understand that Wilson is coaching this way to make the team better.

“ I think she's doing a good job of creating a competitive culture,” senior defensive specialist/libero Alina Anderson said. “It was definitely an adjustment for us to be able to understand where she was coming at and the tough love because we weren't used to that.”

“She is gonna tell you how it is because she wants the best that she can get from you, and she knows that there's more that you can give,” Thomas said.

Wilson stressed that she also wants her players to have that kind of relationship with each other, a relationship in which criticism can be given and received.

“ I think when you're friends, you should be able to hold people accountable,” Wilson said. “And so those are some of the things I think we're working through now. You don't always need to be super nice in order to win together, and I think holding people accountable is how you get to the next level.”

Freshman outside hitter Taylor Cripe echoed the same sentiment when asked what kind of culture Wilson is trying to build with the team.

“ I think it is a lot about tough love, being able to take the criticism but then also give it when it's needed for other people,” Cripe said.

Moving forward

The Chippewas have two games left on the schedule and sit with a record of 9-19. The Chippewas had a slow start to the season but faced a couple of tough teams, including Brigham Young University (BYU) and Wilson’s alma mater, Penn State.

Scheduling hard opponents was something Wilson did on purpose to get her team to push through difficult competition.

“I know that I wanted to schedule hard so that we get some experience under our belt with fighting,” Wilson said. “I think that was one of the things that, finishing second last season, they needed to work through playing up to people that were better, playing down the people that weren't as good.”

The players agreed that playing good teams early helped to prepare them as they headed into MAC play, especially when it came to the younger players on the squad.

“We have a lot of young girls that are playing on our team from freshmen and sophomore, and I think that allows them to feel prepared going into the MAC,” Anderson said. 

Right now, Central Michigan finds itself on a five-game losing streak and ranked ninth in the MAC with a conference record of 6-10. 

Overall, despite the new situation she finds herself in, Wilson isn’t feeling any pressure.

“ Honestly, I'm really grateful just for the opportunity in general,” she said. “I want to make sure I leave this place better than I found it, and I just wanna see growth. I just want for the girls to believe in themselves and to have the confidence that I have.

"(I) really just wanna empower people around me. I want people to be great, and I want them to level up to the expectations of what we have going on here.”