Neilson introduced as BYU women's volleyball head coach

PROVO, Utah — BYU director of athletics Brian Santiago officially introduced Rob Neilson as the seventh head coach in BYU women’s volleyball program history on Thursday morning.

BYU director of athletics Brian Santiago's opening statement
"On behalf of BYU Athletics, this is an exciting day for the future of BYU women's volleyball, and it's my privilege to introduce to you Rob Neilson as our new head women's volleyball coach. We were just talking a minute ago about the fact that he's home. He talked about being at the basketball game last night, and said, 'man, it's amazing how many people that I know'. And I said, 'because you're home, this is you, this is your place. Your blood, sweat and tears are right here on this floor, and you helped us hang one of those banners up there as a national champion.' We're super grateful to welcome you back to BYU, Rob, especially with Sarah, your sweet wife, and your children. You're part of our family and our BYU family, and we couldn't be more excited."

"We're also super excited for you to lead these incredible young women that are over here on the side. These are some of the most remarkable student athletes anywhere in the country, and we're super grateful that the program is in such a strong position as we segue into the future of BYU women's volleyball. We're grateful to have your parents here. Thank you, it's a pleasure to have you be here, and you're part of our family as well."

"I just want you to turn around for a second, Rob. You're going to see it in just a second. You've got coaches and support staff across this way that are super excited to welcome you into the family. The future of BYU volleyball is strong. We have a top-15 program. In a lot of situations when there's transition, you're building and you've got to start from scratch, but we're super fortunate that our volleyball program is in such a strong position, and we're super grateful for the leadership that the volleyball program has had in the last 10 years, the fact that we have such a strong program that's nationally relevant as we continue to chase greatness and do it the BYU way. We're grateful that we get to do it from a position of strength, and it starts every day with these incredible young women. So on behalf of all of us at BYU, let's welcome our new head women's volleyball coach, Rob Nielsen."

BYU women's volleyball head coach Rob Neilson's opening statement
"It is good to be home. It is the honor of a lifetime to get to coach at this university that I love so much, on this court, in this venue that is the best volleyball venue in the entire country. I love BYU, and I love BYU volleyball. Thank you to the Board of Trustees, President Shane Reese, Vice President Vorkink, Brian Santiago and Chad Lewis, for your trust and for the opportunity. This is amazing, and I go way back. I've known Brian for 25 years. President Reese used to come into our practices when he was a statistics professor and run regressions and analyzes on how we could play the game better 25 years ago. We'd play a volleyball match, and Chad Lewis, this Super Bowl champion and Pro Bowl tight end, would come up to me outside the Student Athlete Building and say 'Rob, you just played the most amazing match.' And I think, first of all, how are you watching our matches? And secondly, how do you know who I am and remember my name, and it's just an incredible group of leadership. I'm so honored to be led by you and supported by you, and I can't wait to begin."

"BYU volleyball has an incredible legacy from from Carl (McGown) to Tom (Peterson), to Chris McGown, to Shawn (Olmstead), now on the men's side, and then, of course, the women's side, from Elaine (Michaelis), to Jason (Watson), to Shawn (Olmstead) on the women's side, and to Heather (Olmstead). There is an incredible legacy here to build on, and I'm so excited to be able to push it forward. What an honor to be able to build on what amazing athletes and coaches have built here. Some of the greatest coaches in the nation have come from BYU volleyball. I just want to say thank you to the mentors of mine in the game, obviously, Carl and Chris McGown, John Speraw, Mike Wilton and Hugh McCutcheon. I've been honored to be around some of the greatest coaches in volleyball history, and they've taught me what championship culture and process looks like. I hope some of that is rubbed off, and I'm excited to share it with our our team."

"Every BYU coach that's here and that's not here. I'm amazed to watch the phenomenal things that are happening around this athletic department. We're winning in every sport at a high level, and doing it with amazing people that have and share amazing values. I can't wait to learn from you and be with you and cheer you guys on as you go and do amazing things. Thank you to the amazing staff members. I keep telling people, I've met 40 people in the last two days that have an influence over our program and first off, it's amazing that we have so much support. I'm amazed at the support that we have here at BYU. But of those 40 people I know, 30 of them from 10 years ago that are still around, and it's just been an amazingly beautiful reunion. It just it feels like home everywhere that I turn."

"It's not lost on me that I get to live my dream because of the blood, sweat and tears of our athletes and staff at Utah State, and because of the support of the administration and the community that was so amazing. I love the spot where the sagebrush grows. I'm going to miss it. Sarah and I poured our hearts into that community, and the abundance of love that we got in return is something that we will never forget. I've had multiple opportunities to leave there for some big time opportunities, and every time I stayed, more and more I realized that it would take somewhere truly special to tear me away from that spot and this is that place. It's our promise, Sarah, and mine, that we will pour our hearts into this town, this community, this department, to this fan base and and to these athletes. Loving these women and mentoring them to be the best that they can possibly be, to fulfill their divine potential, their limitless potential, is our directive, and it's our aim.

"To my incredible wife, I love you, Sarah, to our children, Etta, Liam, Charlotte, Whit and Lois, thank you for your support and your sacrifices that allow me to go chase my dreams. You're absolutely the best part of who I am."

"I'm excited for the incredible staff that I get to work with. Thrilled to announce that we just hired Chloe Hirst, who was our associate head coach at Utah State, and so excited to work with her. She is all time good. Together we'll recruit the best Latter-day Saint players, the best non-Latter-day Saint players, the best international players, playing in front of the ROC, in the best venue in the country, is where many of the best athletes in the country will want to be. We're going to bring the best teams to play against us in Provo in big time non-conference matches. We're going to compete with and we're going to beat the best to become the best versions of ourselves."

"Finally, to this amazing team of women, thank you for your trust. Thank you for who you are. It's been amazing to just chat with you the last few weeks. I can't tell you every conversation that I've had has been finished with them asking 'what help do you need, what can we do for you guys?' It's rare, and it's amazing, and it's powerful. I'm excited to compete with you, to work with you, to fail with you, to succeed with you, and to grow with you. These will be some of the greatest years of of your life. It's not going to be easy. It will ask everything of you, but your experiences will influence and inform the rest of your lives for the better. I was lucky to be part of that last 2004 national championship team, and when we get together, we don't talk about the games, we don't talk about the wins, we talk about the process, the practices, the trash that we talked to each other, the relationships that we had and the effort that we went through that allowed us to go and do great things. I can't wait to embark on that process with you guys. It's going to take your blood, your sweat and your tears, but championship moments await those of us who will dare greatly. So let's go do great things. Go Cougars."

Coach Neilson's Q&A Responses
On the advice that Carl McGown would give to him at this point as well as what he learned from Tom Peterson and Chris McGown
"Carl was a master at attention to detail. He was a master at so many different parts of the game. But the coolest thing that I got to see was that Carl had a different relationship with the early alumni versus the alumni at the end of his career. The early alumni would say 'man, Carl was a great coach, but I don't know that we always saw eye to eye,' and the alumni that he coached at the end of his career revered him as a father figure. It was because he realized how to build deep and lasting relationships with his athletes and not just be hard on them in the gym, but to be supportive. He would give you that little high five that meant so much to all of his guys, and he built us up in so many ways. He demanded a lot, he asked a lot of us, but it was always building and expecting the greatest out of us. So I think, wherever he is, that's what he would hope to see from us in our program as we begin with our athletes."

On his top priorities upon his hiring and where setter Alex Bower fit into that conversation
"We want talented, amazing athletes, and so speaking with the team and understanding the culture that we want, and speaking with Alex, she's such a competitor, and obviously, an incredibly talented athlete. To be able to bring her back has been an amazing process, just to get to know her, and then just conversing with all the athletes and kind of understanding their goals and how they want to be pushed. This is a competitive group. This is a talented group. This is a group that's ready to get after it. This is a Top-25 team at the end of the season that's made the tournament for the 11th straight year. This program is an amazing place and and they're just ready to get going. They're hungry and excited, and I can't wait to work with them."

On the timeline of getting hired at BYU
"It happened quick. The announcement was made that, hey, Heather (Olmstead) was moving on to some other opportunities. And then I heard from Brian not too long after. We hadn't talked in a long time, but immediately got to catch up and just share a little bit about our visions for what we thought BYU volleyball could go and accomplish and certainly a little bit about our history together and the traditions that we're excited to build on. The process of hiring at BYU is a little winding, and there's some ins and outs. I'm just so grateful that there's so many hands that played a role in pushing it, speeding up and expediting the process over the Christmas season. There's a lot of a lot of people that made a lot of sacrifices to help move this forward, and I'm grateful that they did. I'm so excited to get going. There's just been so many people that I've gotten to talk to that, again, it feels like I'm coming home. Everyone I speak with just enhances my excitement to be here with everything that's going on, everything that's changed and everything that's grown in the last 10 years"

On how his volleyball mentors have defined his style as a coach
"Carl McGown is a master technician. He is unbelievable. He was unbelievable at teaching the game. His son was very similar, just understood the fine nuance of the game. John Speraw is on the opposite end of the spectrum, is the greatest storyteller, motivational person and creative mind that you could ever imagine. I love those two. I mean, I don't know if there's two better mentors that I could have had. How do we teach the game at a high level? But also, how do we inspire? How do we tell great stories and great narratives for our athletes to buy into? And then, how do we think outside the box? We want to train what's in the box and how to play in the box, but then how do we push some boundaries and think outside those things? And John was a master in that area. I'm so grateful for both of those men, and then certainly all the other coaches that I've been blessed to be around with, USA volleyball, BYU volleyball, just in a lot of different places, I've had really amazing mentors."

On how things have changed in the 10 years that he was away from BYU and how he plans to utilize those changes
"It's amazing, right? The program went through a coaching change two weeks ago, and all these athletes are back here and wanting to be here. There is such value that BYU provides that's sometimes outside the transactional nature of college sports these days. This place is transformational, and there's just such power in that. This is one of the most amazing places, an amazing fan base. This place gets louder than any other venue in the country. We get to tell so many different stories. We get to compete in the Big 12, which is different than it was 10 years ago, at the highest levels of the sport. We're going to make runs in the tournament and go to Final Fours, and there's going to be All-Americans that are going to love being here. A line that I missed in my notes was just thanking the boosters, thanking the supporters and contributors to this program. I know so many of them. We're going to need you. We're going to need them now more than ever. And so we get to marry all of these different amazing things to recruit amazing athletes. The demographics of volleyball lend itself to members of our faith. There are so many talented Latter-day Saint volleyball players. We're excited to bring them home and to excite them about the opportunity that they have here. There's just so many aspects of being here that will contribute to the success that we can have, continue to have, and we'll build upon.

On if he's continue to recruit local talent like at Utah State
"We're going to find the best players, wherever they come from, whoever they are that want to come and be here. One of the things that we had to do at Utah State was change the narrative a little bit. Our staff did a phenomenal job of telling the story of what we wanted our program to be about. I'm excited to create that narrative here. We're going to have a staff that loves life, that loves people, that loves the game, just great vibes. I love the individuals that I get to go to work with every day, and I believe that positivity is going to radiate out from our offices, out from our program. It's going to combine synergistically with all the amazing things that this university, that our athletic department has to offer, and the sky is the limit."

On Chloe Hirst, the first assistant coach hired to the staff
"Chloe is our newest hire, our first hire. She is amazing, again, our associate head coach at Utah State. She's been involved in recruiting. I don't know, half of our team, maybe more, just has an amazing relationship with Chloe and they just came in beaming yesterday. I wish I could capture for you the smiles on their faces when they saw her. That's usually how it goes. People shake my hand 'good to see you, Rob,' and then they just see Chloe and light up, and certainly that's how it should be. She's the best part of what we've got going on as our staff, and we're going to surround her with other other great staff members."

On what he hopes to bring from his success at Utah State
"We had an incredibly competitive group up there. I will say, one of the things that contributed to our success was getting our tails kicked a little bit in the non-conference season, including by these ladies over here. They came up to the Spectrum in probably one of the funnest, loudest environments that they had been in outside of the Fieldhouse, and it brought out the best in them. I'm still going to have nightmares about Claire (Little Chambers) hammering balls over the top of our blockers deep to area five. Hannah Billeter went on like a 30-point run, it felt like, from the service line, and they played great. They beat us up, and I'm okay with that. We're going to bring the best teams in the country, and we might lose some games in the Fieldhouse, but we're going to learn from those moments. We're going to play the best teams so that again, we can bring the best things out of ourselves. We're going to rise to some of those moments, we're going to fail in some of those moments and we're going to learn from all those things so that we can be our best at the end of the season. And that was a hallmark of our team up at Utah State. We failed early so we could win big late. They had big time moments, they rose to the occasion and they were tough, powerful, amazing women, and I'm excited for this group to build with the same, same ideals."

On his goal for year one
"My expectations are to work hard tomorrow in practice. We want to work hard. We're going to get after it every day. I don't know what my goals are. I don't know what we can accomplish. I know that almost every time that I've set expectations, our teams have surpassed those. We didn't dream high enough at the beginning, when we started to try and write down what we thought we could accomplish. We just want to get to work. We have expectations that we're going to work hard every day, with the understanding that we have the talent, we have the character and we have the women, that the sky's the limit. Who knows what we can accomplish? We can go do big things. We can compete for Big 12 championships. We can make runs in the NCAA Tournament and compete for national championships, but we've got to get to work, and the expectations are that we're going to go get after it every single day."