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As then-president of the American Volleyball Coaches Association, Beth Launiere contemplated swimming against the beach volleyball tide.
It was put to a vote: Should coaches support beach volleyball's inclusion among NCAA "emerging sports," starting it down the path toward a full-fledged NCAA championship?
In the previous two years, 2007-08, participation in beach volleyball had grown 26 percent. Since becoming an Olympic sport in Atlanta, it's been among the most-aired events in every Summer Games.
Launiere played devil's advocate for a time.
Is it going to hurt cold-weather schools?
Is it going to hurt midmajor schools?
The Utah head coach might have privately wondered, Is it going to hurt us?
Still, Launiere couldn't bring herself to oppose something that would provide more scholarships and staff for women's sports, she said.
So here we are. The NCAA gives an "emerging sport" 10 years to amass 40 varsity teams. In just four years, beach volleyball hit 50. May 2016 will bring the first NCAA championship.
No current teams hail from Utah, land without beaches, but that might change soon.
Eight Pac-12 schools and six West Coast Conference schools have beach teams, and both conferences will hold championships next spring.
They'll enjoy the full attention of members Utah and BYU.
"We're definitely looking at it," Launiere said.
Responded BYU head coach Heather Olmstead, via email: "BYU is watching how sand volleyball is developing."
On the other hand, Utah State head coach Grayson DuBose said flatly, "We're not going to add it."
"We have Division I women's volleyball programs that aren't even fully funded now, and we're going to add another sport?"
DuBose, who voted against supporting beach volleyball as an emerging sport, worries he comes off as a grump.
He has his reasons, though.
1 • USU doesn't have the means to build a facility.
2 • Due to Title IX restrictions and Division I belt-tightening, new women's beach programs could endanger existing men's indoor programs.
3 • USU might be at a competitive disadvantage, both in recruiting and because of the extra training time indoor/outdoor opponents are allowed by the NCAA.
There are distinct differences between the sports. Beach teams field two players. Indoor teams field six, with frequent substitutions. The balls are different. Beach also has its own complex set of rules for hitting.
While many beach superstars, including the legendary team of Kerri Walsh and Misty May-Treanor, played indoors in college; an excellent indoor player isn't necessarily much good at beach, Launiere said. And vice versa.
The NCAA allows each school to hire up to two coaches and award up to six full-time equivalency scholarships for a beach program. Schools can opt to get by with less, though.
According to the NCAA, 60 percent of beach players only play beach, and many schools have beach-only coaches.
But that leaves "40 percent who play both" and "some who coach both." At Arizona State, for example, former BYU men's coach Jason Watson oversees many of the same Sun Devil women in both indoor and beach.
DuBose said that even if USU could afford a beach team, he fears that's too full a load.
"I'm an indoor volleyball coach," he said. "I wouldn't know how to coach sand."
Launiere's not sure how a beach program would look at Utah — whether it would be coached by indoor coaches or played by indoor players. Obviously, she said, Utah would need an indoor sand training facility, "and that's not exactly the same." No wind. No sun in your eyes.
But coaches at competitive programs like BYU (national runners-up) and Utah (No. 18 in the final AVCA poll) can't ignore that beach volleyball increasingly appeals to many of the best indoor prospects. Brighton's Dani Barton recently committed to the U. with the hope that sometime during her career, it will offer beach play.
The junior-to-be — No. 11 in Wasatch Beach's 2014 rankings, ahead of many former college stars — was offered by USC as a sand-only player. Arizona told her she could play both.
"That was a big factor, that [Utah is] trying to work on getting a team," Barton said.
Beach play tends to improve players' ball control and defensive reading skills, Launiere said. "It kind of strengthens your weaknesses because you can't hide."
In this May's inaugural eight-team, double-elimination tournament, each school will have five teams that face off in a race to three.
There will only be one winner. Unlike tennis, no individual pair is crowned champion.
Utah schools just hope their indoor programs aren't among the losers.
Twitter: @matthew_piper