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  • Western Carolina University
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  • HL_WesternCarolinian_2011-03-25_Vol77_No04_CampusLife_05

Page 5 WESTERN CAROLINIAN March 25th, 2011 - SCRE S Concepcion steps down as Western Carolina's head volleyball coach Justin Caudell, Fditor-in-Chief A peated: search for a new head volleyball coach is on at Western Carolina after Manuel Concepcion, who had been at the helm of the Lady Catamount volleyball - team since 2009, turned in an immediate letter of resig- _ nation. According to Chip Smith, director of athletics, _ Concepcion resigned a few weeks ago due to personal reasons. He has since re- turned to his home country. of Puerto Rico. Concepcion, who was an- nounced as Western Caroli- nas eighth volleyball coach on Jan. 27, 2009, came to Cullowhee after spending a year as an assistant coach at University of Evansville. He assisted in the clubs jump from a seventh place fin- ish in 2007 to reaching the Missouri Valley Conference tournament in 2008. Prior to his stint at Evansville, Concepcion was the head coach at Colby Community Concepcion. College, a NJCAA Division I school in Kansas. At just 25. years of age, he was the youngest head coach in the history of the Kansas Jay- hawk Conference. _ Before his coaching ca- reer, Concepcion played college Py at the University of Puerto. Rico- Mayaguez before transfer- ting to Concordia College in New York. In 2002, he was drafted by th San Se- _ bastian Caribes of the Puerto Rico - Professional oe League. As of press time, the se Ryan Alexander, Staff Writer (Editors Note: The fol- lowing is the second of a series of articles where Western Carolinian writers profile the lives and careers of coaches before they ar- rived at WCU.) _ Dennis Wagner is en- tering his fourth season at the helm of the Catamount Football program. A native of Waverly, IA, Wagner has been a football. coach for 25 years at St. Cloud State, Wayne State, Fresno State, Nebraska, and here at West- ern Carolina University. He played football at Drake University, followed by Ellsworth Community College, and finished his career at the University of Utah. He got his bachelors degree in Psychology, and went to work after college for an oil company. His job was - to convince gas station own- ers that it was ok to make the transition from a service sta- tion to a. convenience store style establishment. While he was employed with the oil company, he worked part time at a local Division II football team and found that he enjoyed coaching. At this point, Coach Wagners journey across the map of NCAA football began. _ Wagner looks like he could still strap some pads on and hit somebody. He is a built like the offensive line- man he was during his ca- _ reer playing college football. He was the captain and start- . ing Guard for a Utah Utes team that beat All- American quarterback Jim McMahon and his nationally ranked Brigham Young Cougars in Salt Lake City to tie for the Mountain West Conference title. His experience as a star offensive lineman has led to his expertise in coaching fellow offensive lineman, a coaching position he has loge at every school he has 1 4 letic department had not be- gun interviews. for WCUs new volleyball coach. According to the univer- sitys job board, the new vol- leyball coach is expected to coordinate the overall opera- tion and management of the universitys ener FILE PHOTO athletic womens volleyball program, including but not . limited to: recruitment and retention of qualified student athletes, apply best practices for student athlete develop- ment, individual and team preparation, practice and game organization, schedul- ing, and ahem and commu- nity relations. In addition, the aaa is expected to comply with NCAA, the Southern Con- ference and university poli- cies and regulations, and to plan, monitor and be ac- countable for the admin- istration of the programs budget and for the assign- ment of athletics scholar- ships, responsible for as- . sisting in the development of sand volleyball, capable for recruiting and develop- ing student athletes for sand volleyball and assume re- sponsibility for the success of team performance and for student athlete academic performance, eligibility, and behavioral conduct. Last season, the Lady Catamount volleyball team finished with a 6-26 overall record and,a 1-15 mark in the Southern Conference. , All said, WCU was 10-52 overall under Concepcion -and 2-30 in the Southern Conference: They Were WC U Coaches: Dennis Wagner WC U head football coach Dennis Wagner ve to his team dope _ spring drills been at. . Coach Wagners first full time job was at Ellsworth Community College in lowa _ Falls, Iowa. His career took off from that point, lead- . ing to a: coaching position at St. Cloud State, the head coaching position at Wayne State for seven years, the as- sistant head coaching posi- tion at. Fresno State for eight - years and at Nebraska for five years. He has coached a bev of Hoedible talents over his coaching career, and recruited Minnesota Vikings wide receiver Ber- nard Berrian while at Fres- no State and Detroit Lions Pro Bowler and Rookie of the Year defensive tackle | Ndamukong Suh while at Nebraska. He said that the ' best players he had ever actively coached, meaning offensive lineman, were Lo- | gan Mankins at Fresno State: d Carl Nicks at Nebraska. an Mankins is a two Pro Bowl offensive guard - for the New England Patri- _ ots, while Carl Nicks is a Su- . per Bowl champion and Pro Bowl offensive guard for the New Orleans Saints. Coach Wagner has also had. some vivid memories _ over the course of his coach- ing career. He has fond memories of Nebraskas 2007 game in: the Cotton Bowl against perennial SEC powerhouse Auburn. He time All-Pro and three time mentioned how his Fresno State Bulldogs played in a bowl game every season but one during his tenure with the program. He was also proud of his 1993 Wayne State Warriors led the coun- try in a multitude of offen- sive categories. Coach Wagner is opti- mistic about the progress he has made at Western Caro- lina, and feels like we have | _ a good foundation laid down that will lead to success soon. Pos : ' He said that hg ig ally fortunate to have cod coaches and players here, and that he is trying to es- - tablish.a soy ste tradition here at Western. : Given Coach Dennis Wagners pedigree of suc- cess at nationally promi- nent programs all across the country, wins soon should be piling up at the Western Carolina football program. Hunter reflects on 2010-11 WCU mens basketball s season From Staff Reports As post-season basket- ball tournaments across the country roll on with the brackets and buzzer-beaters associated with March Mad- ness, Western Carolina head coach Larry Hunter reflects upon the 2010-11 season, The veteran leader exudes . pride for what his players ac- complished on the heels of graduating five seniors: the season prior, while also re- serving the slightest hint of disappointment that his team did not reach all of its goals and return to post-season play. Western Carolina finished the season 18-15 overall the program 5 third-straight - winning seasonwhich is the longest run of above-.500 finishes since five-consecu- tive winning seasons from 1979 through *84. The Cata- mounts claimed a school-re- cord 12 victories in Southern Conference play en route to the programs third divi- sional title - and second in the past three seasons - shar- ing the SoCon North Divi- sion crown. WCU also took care of the home court in the Ramsey Center, boasting an 11-1 record in Cullowhee. The Catamounts scored their second-straight victory over a Big East Conference foe, following up the Lou- isville win of two years ago with this seasons first win over a storied DePaul pro- gram to highlight the sched- ule. WCU also shut down William & Mary, limiting the Tribe to just 39 points - the fewest allowed to a NCAA Division I team since moving to the highest level of competition in 1976. I was extremely pleased with the young men in our . program from the stand point of how we improved the en- tire season, said Hunter. I knew with the early..sched- ule; the number of road games and the caliber of competition we were play- ing early, with seven new guys we would have some growing pains. But, I really liked this team from day one. I liked our skill level, I liked our athleticism, I liked our competitiveness. He added, The only die appointment I have is that we didnt win the conference tournament and didnt get a bid into one of the post-sea- son tournaments. But, thats _ just the way it is - we'll deal with that and come back, try a little harder next year. Like momentum in games can swing, WCUs ~ -. Hunter year, winning eight of its fi- nal nine games to win a share - of the divisional crown. We played well early on in November and December. We weren't able to get many wins, but we got better and played some good teams very, very well. But we con- tinued to stay the course, our 2010-11 season was atale of . two halves. The tough road : slate that greeted the Cata- mounts13 of its first 15. games away from the friend- ly confines of. the Ramsey Centertook its toll early while the squad flourished at home the second half | the chemistry kept getting better. Individually, guys got better. and we got better as a team, said Hunter. Hunter felt the teams mindset as it returned from the Christmas holiday was crucial in the squad turning its fortunes the second half FILE PHOTO of the year in the bulk of conference play. T thought we became a very competitive basketball . team in January and Febru- ary. We really rallied around our defense. We got better offensively, started scor- ing more points because we got better in transition. We rebounded the ball more - consistently and established some. inside offense, esp- cially with Richie (Gordon), Tawaski (King) and Preston Ross, so we had more bal- ance to our offense. Mike Williams got healthy, that was probably | key as anything. And then I think Harouna Mutombo. really grabbed a hold of our four position and was very, very productive at that spot, Hunter added. The Catamounts capped the season with a seven- game win streak in February, closing the season with vic- tories in eight of their final nine games. Utilizing | energetic youth and role vis West- eth Carolina won games in 2010-11. But, it was the play of its seniors - guard Mike Williams and post Richie Gordon in particular - that sparked the second half turn- . around. There is no question that those two guys - Williams and Gordon - were the hub of our team, said Hunter of two of his four senior class members. Richie I thought had a great year, and a great career. He was a terrific de- fensive player especially inside for us. He probably fouled too much and had some short comings, but he had great energy and was a terrific competitor. He un- derstood our team defensive package and how to be effec- tive within that package as well as any big man I have coached in my career - and Ive had some good ones. Of Williams, Hunter said that he would have loved to have had him for four years. He was a really, really great player and a ee per- son within our program - as were all of our seniors, said _ Hunter. Mike added a lot of leadership to our team this year in a year where we needed someone to be a good leader for us. He and Trey (Sumler) really played well off of each other, com- plimented each other very well and olor us a great guard presence. Hunter feels that Sumler - who was a redshirt freshman - really benefited from work- ing against both Williams and former point guard - and WCU all-time career leader in steals, Brigham Wagin- ger - in practice a year ago. A native of Rocky Mount, N.C., Sumler parlayed that on-court success - as well as an off-the-court maturation process - into SoCon Fresh- man of the year. As his squad moves into the off-season, Hunter will spend time meeting with each player and establish both individual and squad goals. - Hunter concluded, Im just looking for us to im- prove and get better as indi- viduals and as a team and as a program. As long as weve got good people in our pro- gram that do things the right way, that earn their degrees anid really want to be the best they can be, that is what the program is built on..

The Western Carolinian is Western Carolina University's student-run newspaper. The paper was published as the Cullowhee Yodel from 1924 to 1931 before changing its name to The Western Carolinian in 1933.

• Creator
  • Western Carolina University
• Format
  • Publications (documents)
• Type
  • Text
• Date
  • Date original: 2011-03-25
• Extent
  • Dimension: 22.75" x 11.5"
  • Pages: 12
• Subject - Topic
  • College student newspapers and periodicals
  • Cullowhee (N.C.) -- Newspapers
  • Universities and colleges -- North Carolina -- Cullowhee -- Newspapers
  • Western Carolina University -- Periodicals
• Location
  • Jackson County (N.C.)
  • Cullowhee (N.C.)
• Source institution
  • Western Carolina University
• Source Collection
  • WCU Students Newspapers Collection
• Identifier
  • HL_WesternCarolinian_2011-03-25_Vol77_No04
• Repository
  • Western Carolina University Hunter Library