Aird Finds Inspiration In Penn State Origins
11/6/2014 12:00:00 AM | Volleyball
By Michael Errigo
On Saturday, Maryland volleyball head coach Steve Aird will be transported back to Penn State. Physically, this will happen by plane. Mentally, it will happen by the faces of friends and family in the crowd, the banners on the walls that he took part in writing and the uniforms of royal blue and white that once meant everything to him.
It was a less than a year ago that Aird was a Nittany Lion, serving in his second year as an assistant coach for the reigning national champions. Now, he returns back to the place where his college volleyball life began – as a member of the men's team from 1997-2001 – and flourished.
“It'll feel weird the first time going back with another team,” said Aird. “Outside of the event, I'll have a lot of friends and family there and I think it will be really meaningful to a lot to of people, but I'm going to try to minimize it as much as I can and prepare the team.”
Did he ever imagine this day would come? Heading back to State College as the head coach of another Big Ten program? “No. Never crossed my mind.”
The thought never occurred to Terps assistant coach Adam Hughes, either. When Aird made the move to College Park, he asked Hughes to come on board, and they made the journey out of Happy Valley together. Hughes had been the Director of Volleyball Operations at Penn State for four seasons, in addition to working as a volunteer assistant and manager there from 2003-08.
“I think we had always considered ourselves staying there for a long time but neither of us considered that an opportunity like this would open up,” said Hughes of openings at Maryland. “It's one of those things about this profession that you never know what's going to shake out.”
You can't talk about Penn State volleyball without talking about Russ Rose, the legendary coach of the women's team who had a big impact on both Aird and Hughes. Rose is currently in his 36th season at the helm and has never finished a season with less than 22 wins. He has won six national titles, including five in the last seven years. He led the Nittany Lions to back-to-back 38-0 seasons in 2008 and 2009. The pride for women's volleyball that runs throughout State College starts with Rose, and that is something that Aird says he always admired.
“What I respected most about the program was how much Russ worked and then how much the people cared about it,” he said. “I loved the fact that it mattered, it was relevant. Everyone looked at it as something that was really, really important and that is something Russ built over 36 years – it's not easy to do. That's something I'd like to be able to do here.”
While Aird looks to the future, Rose is still enjoying the present. Penn State's dominance has continued this year, as the squad the Terps will face on Saturday is currently ranked sixth in the nation (22-3, 10-2 Big Ten). The matchup will pit a young, growing team in red against a perennial powerhouse in blue. But on the sidelines, it will be teacher vs. student. When he took the job at Maryland, Aird knew this day would come and he knew he would be ready – thanks in large part to the man who will stand on the other side of the net Saturday night.
“I think he knew that I was prepared and the reason I was prepared is because I had a great role model for so many years,” Aird said. “I got to watch who I see as the best in the business and work beside him. I learned a lot from just being around him every day.”
Michael Errigo, a sophomore journalism major at the University of Maryland, is a contributing writer to umterps.com.
