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If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.
It was all smiles on Sunday afternoon when the new head coach of Texas State Volleyball Sean Huiet walked into the press room with his family to address the media for the first time as the leader of the program.
Athletic Director Larry Teis introduced Huiet at the podium, explaining that he is the right man to fill the coaching void former head coach Karen Chisum left by retiring after her 40th season. The choice of hiring was an easy one considering the success that Huiet has been apart of since 2006. One of three of the longest tenured coaches in all of college volleyball, Teis looked no further than within the program for the next head coach at Texas State.
He believes if the team was struggling, they might have looked elsewhere for the hire. But when you are a part of eight conference championships, split between the Southland and the Sun Belt, it’s hard to say no to the man across the table when you’re hiring.
“Honestly, thank you to (University President) Dr. (Denise) Trauth and (Executive Senior Associate Athletics Director) Ms. (Tracy) Shoemake and Dr. Teis here,” Huiet said in his opening statement. “It’s been a whirlwind of a couple of weeks but a very exciting time for my family. I cannot say thank you enough to Coach Chisum for mentoring me for 14 years and getting me ready for this. So it's exciting times and we’re really excited to be here.”
Huiet is very aware of the legacy Coach Chisum left behind at Texas State but he wants to build off of that legacy in order to create a new one of his own in San Marcos. It will be tough considering Chisum’s resume with the team but Huiet feels like he is ready for the job and has plenty of ideas he’s put into action in order to keep the program thriving over the next couple of years.
Foreign tours, tougher competition and a mix of incoming recruits, in addition to the players who have been with the team for multiple years also are in the equation to keep everything on the track they’re on now.
“I think what we’ve been doing has been successful and then taking it to the next step and one of those things is we’re looking for a foreign tour,” said Huiet. “We want to do a lot more stuff in the spring to prepare us for the level of competition that we’re going to see. We’ve done a great job with our scheduling. We’re going to keep that the same, building RPI and doing that. Our sophomore class now with Emily (Dewalt), Jill (Slaughter) and Janelle (Fitzgerald), that class, when we were recruiting them, their goal was to be in the (NCAA) Sweet 16. And really working with that class and everything we put around them — we’ve had some really strong recruiting classes — they’re ready to make that jump and we’re going to go full force.”
The successor expressed his love for the X’s and O’s, saying one of the reasons he coaches is for the competitive atmosphere. On the court, the Bobcats will take a similar approach to the game. It’s smart sticking with what makes them successful but he wants them to know it will be tough considering they are back-to-back champions.
“Part of my decision was scary as well, not only following the legend but winning three in a row is hard,” said Huiet. “I told the team that but we have the kids to do it … so talking to the staff, that’s what we’ll have to do this spring to get them ready for how hard it’s gonna be next fall. Everyone’s gonna have their guns out for us.”
It’s a new era for the back-to-back Sun Belt Champions and they will look to continue building something special for years to come with their new head coach. Sean Huiet knows he’ll reside in Chisum’s shadow for a while. But he’s ready to cast his own.
