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Oklahoma City • In the BYU volleyball office, hanging above coach Shawn Olmstead's desk, is a photo of a high school kid with shaggy blonde hair and a huge smile. In that young man's arms is a baby boy, barely six weeks old.
At Thursday's annual American Volleyball Coaches' Association (AVCA) luncheon in Oklahoma City, Olmstead told a crowd of hundreds of fellow coaches that the photo was taken in 1978. That shaggy-haired young man was Karch Kiraly, who would become the most decorated player in volleyball history. The location was Santa Barbara High, where Olmstead's father, Rick, was head coach. His dad's team had just won the high school championship, and that baby in Kiraly's arms … was Shawn Olmstead.
"I think maybe then is when it started for me," Olmstead told the audience. With his voice choking with emotion, he continued, "Just being a little boy who wanted to be like his dad."
The AVCA Thursday named Olmstead its Division 1 National Women's Volleyball Coach of the Year. He was selected from a group of finalists which included some of volleyball's biggest luminaries, including Mary Wise of Florida, Chris Poole of Florida State and former Olympic coach Terry Liskevych of Oregon State. Unlike all the other finalists, Olmstead's team is in the 2014 Final Four.
In a gracious speech that drew plenty of laughs, Olmstead credited his many mentors, particularly legendary BYU men's volleyball coach Carl McGown. "I told Carl, I want to be a coach. My dad was a coach, I want to be a coach. And Carl said, 'You're crazy. You're nuts. Go into something else.' I just kept hounding him and hounding him. I used to go over to Carl's house every Saturday morning at about 7 in the morning and I'd just hang out with him."
Olmstead said he was surprised when, four years ago, he was offered the BYU head coaching job. He insisted on just one thing: that BYU let him hire his sister, Heather, as an assistant. "[Heather] is twice the coach I am," Olmstead said. "No doubt about it. When I was an assistant coach, she was a better assistant than I ever was. And she's a better coach than I am now."
Standing in the back of the spacious ballroom with the members of the BYU volleyball team, Heather Olmstead shook her head and blushed. The BYU players cheered.