Sunday Sit-down with Mizzou’s new volleyball coach Dawn Sullivan
COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)
ABC 17 Sports Director Nathalie Jones brought on Mizzou's new volleyball coach Dawn Sullivan in this week's edition of Sunday Sit-down.
MU Athletics hired Sullivan in December. She came to Columbia with five years of experience coaching at UNLV. She ended her time in Las Vegas with a 109-39 record, a Mountain West Conference championship, five-straight postseason appearances and 20 or more wins in four of the last five seasons.
"I think that will be one of my biggest takeaways is making sure I stay true to who I am and my values and our team as well," Sullivan said. "We have a phrase we like to say in our gym, we say, 'let it rip.' You walk in and that's your way of being really relentless, very intentional and positive and just really passionate learners about what we do."
Sullivan is not new to the Midwest. She played college volleyball at Kansas State, where Mizzou was actually one of her first collegiate matches.
"One of my first matches that I think I played was here," she said. " I remember Volley Zou sitting behind me and how loud it was and I was like, 'phew, okay, take a breath.' I mean, I remember the community and what they can do and that excitement in the Hearnes Center."
She said she has had quite a few Zoom calls with the players that are still on Mizzou's roster. Once they return from winter break, the work will begin.
"I think a lot of is relationships. We have to build those relationships, so they want to run through a wall for you," she said. "You do that the right way, they'll be really bought in and they want to be a part of your family. Then secondly, you just gotta train, right. You got to get in the gym and train. So, we'll start this week already. We'll have individuals early on and then go into some team training, have some competitions at the end of spring. Then summer, the girls will take a little break, but come back and work pretty hard over the summer. So we're ready to go in the fall."
