Tim Leeds Havre Daily News tleeds@havredailynews.com
A candidate for the position of head volleyball coach for Montana State University-Northern said, that it appears Northern’s team appears poised to do well and he would enjoy taking over its leadership. “From what I am told, the program is in good shape,” Steve Holman said after the meeting held in a classroom at Northern’s gymnasium Monday, adding that it would be the first time he has taken over a team that is in good shape if he receives the coaching position. Holman has applied for the position left by Greg Ryan. Ryan announced in June, after two years coaching the Northern volleyball team, that he was taking a coaching position at Augustana University College in Camrose, Alberta, starting July 1. Northern’s athletic director, Mark Samson, said at the start of the meeting that the short notice made finding a coach imperative. “We’re not cutting any corners to find someone,” Samson added. “The timing just isn’t very good for any sport in college, finding a coach in July.” Samson said he intends to make an announcement about the position by Wednesday of this week. He told the group at the meeting that he has known Holman since 1990, when Holman was coaching for Carroll College in Helena. “He had a lot of success at Carroll,” Samson said. “His teams are very good.” Holman, who has been involved in volleyball since 1976 and spent the last season coaching the Miles Community College team in Miles City, said how he will play the team depends on what skills are available. “Whatever you have is what you have to go with ,” he said. “Basically, I’m a basic person. You have to have technique, basic skills, to improve. All I can do is teach them to let them win.” Three members of the Northern team junior Brittany Baker and sophomores Jordan Merrill and Kaylee Bossert attended the meeting, and Holman said afterward that impressed him. “It’s nice to see those kids are interested in who they would get,” he said. Holman who said he knows a variety of styles of offense and defense said he can’t say at this point if he would change anything in playing styles or recruitment. “There’s not much to change right now,” he said, adding that the size of the team there were 17 players as of June also means recruitment isn’t an issue at the moment. He told the group at the meeting that the team’s style would depend on what skills are available, although he said he prefers a fast offense. When asked about how he would run discipline on the team, Holman said his actions would depend on the situation, including involving the athletic director as necessary. He said he would provide guidelines for the team, but every situation is different. “I don’t like hard and fast rules,” he said, adding, “If you embarrass the school you’re in trouble.” Holman said he first got involved with club volleyball in 1976, and his early training was while he was coaching with Bill Neville, coach of the 1976 Canadian Olympic team. “He basically taught me everything I knew,” Holman said. In 1984 he started coaching for Bozeman High School, then coached for Park County High School in Livingston. He said the team from Livingston didn’t do well the first year he was there, but came back to take third at state his second year including beating his former team from Bozeman then went undefeated for two years. He coached at Carroll from 1989 to 1995, with a losing recored his first season but breaking 500 the second. In 1991, Holman’s Carroll team tied with Northern for the conference championship, he said. “We went essentially undefeated the rest of the time,” he added. After the 1995 season, Holman returned to the private sector, managing a golf course. He has coached in Miles City for the last seven years, he said, including club ball and the Custer County High School team before taking over the Miles Community College team last season. Holman said he likes coaching at Miles City, and would like to bring some of his team members along he cannot, he added but can’t pass up the opportunity to move to Northern. “Because it’s a four-year school, is the big thing,” Holman said.
