The last time the LSU volleyball team wasn’t the defending Southeastern Conference Western Division champion, Katrina was just another name to New Orleanians.
For the better part of a decade, LSU coach Fran Flory has led the Tigers to the top of the Western Division standings.
“I’m proud of [the streak],” Flory said. “It’s really kind of an expectation that we do it. I think if there’s pressure, you think you’re not going to. But if you expect it, you’ll get it done, and it’s more of what we’re supposed to do here.”
In her 15 seasons at LSU, Flory has amassed a 272-164 record, including six NCAA tournament appearances and an SEC overall championship in 2009.
Flory said the key to a true championship team is winning on the road.
“This program has been able to win matches on the road,” Flory said. “We go into other places, and we can win. And the other side of this is that you can protect your home court.”
Flory took over for the Tigers in 1998 and had the unfortunate task of returning a program to conference relevance after coming off a 9-21 season in which LSU failed to win a single conference game.
But while at the helm of the Tigers, Flory has produced seven All-American honorable mention players and Brittnee Cooper, who was named AVCA All-American twice in her tenure in Baton Rouge.
Cooper was part of the 2009 team that earned Flory her only SEC title as a head coach.
“That was one of the most rewarding seasons,” Flory said. “We had a couple people coming back from injuries … Cooper emerging as a true player of the year candidate. We just had the pieces.”
Ironically enough, LSU’s streak of western championships began in its biggest period of adversity.
In 2005, Hurricane Katrina battered the entirety of the Gulf Coast and left the Tigers with the challenge of playing several weeks’ worth of games on the road, all while dealing with the realities transpiring back home.
Flory compares the difficulties her team has faced this season to those of the 2005 season, saying her players were mentally fatigued from all the things going on around them.
“I kept thinking this past week how we kept that team together,” Flory said. “Why is this year different from that year when we had the same adversity, and that was longer? …I think the bottom line is that we had more fun. We did things outside of volleyball; we didn’t just hammer and hammer. And we’ve been hammering these kids.”
Flory’s efforts to make sure her teams enjoy playing volleyball haven’t gone unnoticed.
What Flory’s current players say separates her from other SEC coaches is her genuine concern for them as people outside of volleyball.
“It’s a little different for everyone,” said senior libero Meghan Mannari. “She tries to understand each player differently and understand how we respond to her. Some people, it might be she needs to be stern with and yell at and challenge them. Others, it’s more of an encouragement challenge.”
Junior middle blocker Desiree Elliott qualifies Flory as more of a players’ coach who tries to get the best out of each player by allowing them to know she always has their best interests in mind.
“Fran knows everything that’s going on in your life,” Elliott said. “Even stuff she doesn’t want to know about, she’ll find out.”
