Returning to the Troops: Former Tigers volleyball player Savannah Barnett named head coach
Published on Friday, May 31, 2024 at 1:07 p.m.
As the 2024-25 high school volleyball season gets underway, there will be a new face in charge of the Troup High School program, as Troup High School graduate and former volleyball player Savannah Barnett completes a full circle moment by taking charge of the program that achieved so much in her younger years.
“I thought about it for a few days. I was a teacher at another school and I was also attending LaGrange College and I was getting a professional degree, so I had a lot to do outside of volleyball, but I ended up being like, 'Oh well, I'll give it a go,'” Barnett said with a laugh. “I never thought about coaching because I just wanted to play, but when I got older and graduated high school and decided I wasn't going to play in college, I realized I still wanted to be involved in the sport.”
I always wanted to stay involved, so I graduated high school and went to college and started coaching, then I coached as a JV coach and then some clubs.”
From 2013 to 2017, Burnett was a key figure in the Troops volleyball program as a player, playing for the Tigers all four seasons. Burnett learned a lot about the game of volleyball and about being a leader while playing under Jody Dowden.
“I had a really good coach, Jodi Dowden, and I'm really close with her daughter, so she was like a second mom to me,” Barnett said. “She taught me a lot about volleyball.”
“The group of girls I played with, we played together from elementary school until we graduated from high school and we were like a family. We spent all our time together, both playing volleyball and outside of volleyball. We were a really tight-knit group and I would say the same is true for our current team.”
This is not Burnett's first time joining a coaching staff. She previously coached expedition volleyball, had a brief stint coaching at Long Cane and coached Troop Junior volleyball last season. Burnett already has good relationships with most of the players on the team, which will help her during this transition.
“A lot of the girls I knew from church and around town, and I've played with their brothers so I already know a lot of them and their parents pretty well. It was a really good experience coaching some of them on the JV last year,” Barnett said.
Burnett took over as leader of the program at the right time, as the sport of volleyball has grown exponentially since Burnett wore the blue and gold.
“I started playing volleyball in elementary school when I'd never even heard of club volleyball and there really wasn't anything around,” Barnett said. “Jodie Dowden helped start it all and I'm honored to follow in her footsteps.”
The bar has been reset for Troup High School volleyball. Last year, the team reached the state quarterfinals for the first time, putting Central Carrollton High School in a tough spot before losing in four sets for a spot in the semifinals. Now the challenge for Burnet High is to maintain the level of success the team enjoyed under former head coach Hatch Blair.
“It's good to have high expectations. It's good to have high expectations that you want to achieve,” Barnett said, “so I think that's the best way to operate. If you want to feel like you're actually reaching your goals, you have to have high expectations. So it's letting the girls know that they're not just working for themselves, they're working for something. They're working to build an entire program.”
The team will also be searching for new leaders in the form of captains and players. The team lost four seniors from last year's team who helped set the standard. Fortunately, the Tigers have a lot of seniors next year, and Barnett will look to them to lead the team.
“We actually have quite a few seniors coming in this year, I think we have six,” Barnett said, “and I think they're going to step up as leaders. I know we have a couple of guys back who were on varsity last year, and I'm hopeful they'll take over the reins and help the younger girls that are just coming in be successful.”
Though the season is still two months away, Barnett is already full speed ahead as head coach, having already held tryouts and made progress with his team.
“A lot of the girls are still familiar with my methods from last year, how I run the team and what that involves,” Burnett said. “We actually had a parents meeting earlier this week where we talked a little bit more about it. We'll start summer training the first week in June and have a more detailed discussion with the girls then.”
