Behind every great coach, there’s someone waiting in the wings.
For LSU volleyball coaches Fran Flory and Jill Lytle Wilson, that person is Ethan Pheister, who accepted the assistant coaching position in February.
Pheister’s coaching takes its blueprint from his remarkable student-athlete career at Ball State University. As the setter and team captain, he became a three-time all-conference selection and two-time academic all-conference pick and was named the National Player of the Week by the American Volleyball Coaches Association. By the time his career was over, his 4,103 assists ranked fourth in school history.
“We wanted somebody to run the offense and be creative with it,” Flory said. “And with him having been a setter, I wanted somebody who could come in and train our setters, while being able to speak from the same perspective by having walked in their shoes.”
The Shorewood, Wisconsin, native gained his first coaching experience at the University of Cincinnati, where he was mainly responsible for training the team’s setters. Other stops have included Duquesne University and fellow Southeastern Conference school University of Arkansas.
With four games left, Pheister is close to finishing his first season at LSU, which has not only given him a dynamic team but also an interesting experience because of change in personnel and injuries.
“Fran and Jill are so well-respected in the volleyball community that my goal is really just to learn as much I can and be a part of a great team and the family atmosphere they have at LSU,” Pheister said. “With fairly inexperienced setters and all the injuries, I’ve learned an awful lot about how to handle different situations. It’s been great.”
Freshman defensive specialist Katie Kampen said the team’s reception of him has been positive, mostly because of the added diversity he brings to the program. From a coaching standpoint, Kampen said Pheister defines himself by being very “straight up.”
“He is very witty,” Flory said. “I think in the beginning they didn’t really know how to take him. He is very sarcastic, so as the season has evolved, I think they enjoyed his wit, they enjoyed his personality, but he is still a feisty competitor and he hates to lose.”
Pheister’s calm but serious coaching style is a result of earlier experience and advice he received from other coaches.
“One of the best things I learned from someone I coached with in college was, ‘In order to be the best coach you can be, you have to be yourself 100 percent at a time,’” Pheister said. “Maybe it’s not for everybody, but I try to be myself no matter what I do. If I’d try to do something I’m not, it’s just not going to work for me.”
Having worked all season with sophomore Cheyenne Wood and freshman Lindsay Flory, who are in their first season as setters at LSU, he said he enjoys being back at calling the offense, although he hasn’t done it since he was a student-athlete himself.
Pheister’s perspective from men’s volleyball gives him the opportunity to bring in different tactics, even though it’s technically the same sport.
“Women’s volleyball is a lot more well-rounded,” Pheister said. “You have to work on a lot more parts of the game, while in men’s volleyball, all you have to do is be more physical, stronger and faster than the other team and you’ll win. I think as time goes on and I get a little bit more comfortable with how to introduce those tactics and those different types of ways of seeing the game, hopefully we’ll work with that, as well.”