200 wins later, BYU coach Shawn Olmstead still 'luckiest dude in the world'

PROVO — One thing remains constant for BYU men's volleyball coach Shawn Olmstead, whose 11 seasons in charge have seen remarkable growth in his own program as well as the game on a national level.

Indeed, the Cougars' former star libero who helped the Cougars to national championships in 2001 and 2004 and a runner-up finish in 2003 was as consistent as it comes as he approached a milestone 200th win of his BYU tenure.

Perhaps that is his biggest secret. Players, teams and even conferences change — but Olmstead remains the same.

"He's known for winning, and he's great," said BYU setter Tyler Herget, a senior who transferred in from Penn State three years ago. "We have a very good program. But he builds a culture where guys know what they can get out of the program, and lots of guys can do anything. People go work and are do whatever they want to do when they are done, including play pro. And I think that's something that Shawn does a great job of balancing."

The No. 7-ranked Cougars (12-2, 2-0 MPSF) wrapped up Olmstead's 199th career victory Friday night with a 3-0 sweep of Fort Valley State, then stretched their current winning streak to nine-straight matches and 27 sets Saturday against the reigning Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Tournament champions.

That puts Olmstead just five wins away from matching BYU legend Carl McGowan for most wins by a head coach in program history.

It took McGowan, the hall-of-fame coach who died in 2016 at age 76, some 336 matches to reach the mark. Olmstead, whose career has labored by ups and downs — and a global pandemic with what may have been his best team in 2020, has coached in 277.

Not that the self-proclaimed "luckiest dude in the world" is counting. No, really.

"Sometimes I feel like I'm still making things up," Olmstead joked after Friday's match. "Someone just barely told me that if we win tomorrow, I get 200 and I would have not had the slightest clue. No way."

For Olmstead, it still feels like yesterday that he was moving over from a wildly successful run with the BYU women's volleyball team — one where he collected 100 wins in four seasons, was named AVCA national coach of the year in 2014, and led the Cougars to the championship match of the NCAA Tournament for the first time in school history.

Women's volleyball is significantly more stable than the men's game in modern college athletics. But Olmstead has continued his success with a program that saw immense change when the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation essentially split in half as the Big West sponsored men's volleyball in 2016.

When Olmstead returned to the men's game, three conferences led the way nationally: the MPSF out west, EIVA on the east coast, and MIVA in middle America. That group has grown to 10, including the HBCU-centric SIAC adding the sport ahead of the 2022 season.

"BYU started with nothing," the coach added of the program that has won three national titles, eight conference tournament championships and 10 regular-season titles since it was sanctioned in 1990. "They were a late Division I team in the big picture."

The other constant to Olmstead's tenure, besides the coach with a winning record in all but one campaign? Great players. Stars from Brenden Sander, Ben Patch, Jake Langlois, Gabi Garcia Fernandez, Leo Durkin and Price Jarman to current stars Trent Moser and AJ Cottle have littered his lineups.

"He gets guys that embrace the BYU culture," said Herget, who dished out 35 assists Friday night. "I think that's important. Having guys, whether they are members of the LDS faith or not ... that want to play at BYU an want to play under him. And he does a great job of building a culture."

The Cougars wrapped up a four-match homestand Saturday with the Wildcats, and will head to Hawaii to face the No. 3 Warriors for a week before returning to MPSF play March 6 against newcomer UC Merced. BYU will return the trip to Fort Valley's Georgia campus next year, Olmstead noted.

He never thought he'd say that 11 years ago. And he hopes to say it more for years to come.

"I have such a strong connection to this program," Olmstead said. "I'm either gonna die here, or they're going to have to run me out one day. I hope that i can continue to just get to work with great kids that allow me to be successful and stay here. I love it; this men's program has always had a very special place in my heart, for the way it formed my life, for the lessons I got to learn, and for the teammates I had.

"I'll always had on to that forever."

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