The Texas A&M volleyball team has a busy few months ahead of them, and head coach Jamie Morrison, in her second year as head coach, appeared on TexAgs Radio on Monday to discuss the upcoming weeks of commitment, updates on the team and more.
Key takeaways from Jamie Morrison's interview
- My staff keeps me organized. I hire great people who can handle the load without me. I have to give a shout out to my Director of Operations, Ashley Liasor. She keeps me on the right track. It's best to have people you can trust. The next three months are going to be pretty busy.
- The biggest thing is for them to understand they are student-athletes. They have to juggle these two things, which is not easy. They can put their head down and devote themselves to volleyball. There are a lot of different components. It's like running a small business.
- One of the hardest things in college sports right now is that it feels like the ground is shaking under our feet. We're just starting to understand where it's going. We can compensate our players. We don't know how much, what sports, etc. I have conflicting feelings about it. I think our players deserve compensation.
- We're trying to professionalize this. The college environment gives players the opportunity to fail and learn from it, not in a professional atmosphere where you get fired, but in a college atmosphere. We need to preserve that in some way to keep kids as kids and students as students.
- There has always been a core here and there are pieces around it. They added some players through the portal. Amare Hernandez is due to join in 2024. She's the only young player coming in.
- My biggest motto is to hire great talent, whether it's through portals or traditional recruiting methods. One time, a transferee had to get a new passport. It took five hours, but I enjoyed every minute of it. That's the kind of talent you want around you.
- It meant the world to me that my U-19 team won last year. Just like the college experience, it's okay to make mistakes. We had veteran players on the team. The team got really good at volleyball. The schedule was released and we had three days of overlap with the college schedule.
- I couldn't believe we won. I hugged my team and my staff. It was an amazing job preparing these young women to accomplish something that has only been accomplished once in the history of USA Volleyball – winning a gold medal at the junior level. So I signed up to do it again.
- I wanted the release video to be entertaining. I wanted to have fun. It turned out great. I hope you all enjoy it.
- What a treat to start the SEC with Texas. One of the goals for this program is to pack the lead. We're going to start promoting this now. September 27th.
- The sport of volleyball is growing. The student sections are getting louder and more interesting. Each gym has its own character. Now that I've visited SEC schools, each city has its own personality. There's no night off in our conference.
- Has a school ever won two national championships within 48 hours? I was watching women's tennis. It was amazing. I turned on the TV the next day and Adela Cernosek had won. We have a head coaches text group. We were texting there. It wouldn't surprise me.
- This school is going to be a national powerhouse in all sports, and we're really excited about that and we're really excited about each other.
