Mary Wise: 700 Wins And Better Than Ever
Wednesday, October 20, 2010 | Volleyball, Scott Carter
GAINESVILLE, Fla. – The long road to 700 career wins for Gators volleyball coach Mary Wise started out with Wise taking an unexpected detour.
On the fall day in 1981 when Wise loaded her Iowa State team into a van and headed off to her first match as a head coach, Wise got behind the wheel and drove up Interstate 35. Wise ended up driving too far up I-35.
As the start of the match approached, Wise scrambled to get the Cyclones to the University of Northern Iowa in Cedar Falls in time for the match. It was a memorable start for Wise, the youngest Division I coach in NCAA history when she was hired at 21 by Iowa State.
“We took the long way,'' Wise said Tuesday. “I almost went through Minnesota to get there. None of the players wanted to say anything, but they knew I was going the wrong way. How much younger and more na?ve can you be than getting your team lost in a van on the way to your first match?''
Wise chuckled at the memory, then added: “But we won.''
Looking back, Wise's coaching debut provided a glimpse of what was to come. In her first match, Wise's Cyclones faced off against a Northern Iowa club coached by Iradge Ahrabi-Fard, an American Volleyball Coaches Association Hall of Famer.
Iowa State won in five sets, and an undefeated Wise loaded her team into the van and headed back to campus in Ames. You could say Wise's career has been cruising along ever since.
On Wednesday night at the O'Connell Center, the No. 1-ranked Gators (16-1, 9-0 Southeastern Conference) host No. 24 Tennessee in a nationally televised match on ESPNU at 8 p.m. Wise is going for career win No. 701.
She became the 16th head coach in Division I volleyball history to reach 700 wins on Sunday when the Gators knocked off Georgia. In her 24th season overall and 20th at UF, Wise has a 700-131 (.842) career record entering Wednesday's match against Tennessee.
STARTING OUT
Wise grew up outside Chicago in Evanston, Ill. She showed up to play for Purdue coach Carol Dewey full of energy and determination. However, Wise didn't play much at first, buried on the bench behind more talented players.
“When Mary was a freshman, she wasn't very good,'' Dewey said Tuesday from her office in Iowa City. “I recruited her because of her leadership. Mary came to us with great leadership skills.''
With the Boilermakers struggling prior to the Big Ten Tournament during Wise's freshman season, Dewey tossed out a challenge that Dewey said seemed silly then and sounds silly now.
Dewey told the team at practice one day that she would determine her starting lineup by whoever could walk from the net to the 3-meter line – on their hands.
“Mary did it. She walked on her hands from the net to the 3-meter line and she got to start in the Big Ten Tournament,'' Dewey said. “That was Mary. She just wants to win. She'll do whatever it takes, even if that means walking on her hands.''
Originally a hitter at Purdue, Dewey moved Wise to setter as a sophomore to take advantage of her natural leadership skills. By the time Wise graduated in the spring of '81, Dewey had no second thoughts about calling former Iowa State associate athletic director Elaine Hieber repeatedly to recommend the 21-year-old Wise to take over Iowa State's floundering volleyball program.
“Mary was a special person and gifted teacher. She was very competitive and just driven,'' said Dewey, who retired from coaching in 1994 after 20 seasons at Purdue. “I really pushed Elaine to take a risk on Mary and to give her a chance. She certainly improved that program.''
In her first season, Wise only had four scholarships available and 12 players. She drove the team around what was then the Big Eight Conference in that van, facing perennial power Nebraska regularly. Still, Wise was thrilled to be making $13,500 annually and sharing an office with a gymnastics coach.
“I really, really wanted to coach college,'' Wise said. “That I knew.''
In the early stages of her career at Iowa State, Wise wore many hats. She had to find an assistant coach. She also needed players, conducting an open tryout at one point to see if there were any diamonds in the rough walking around campus.
While doing all this, she refused to be called “Coach Wise'' by her players.
“Those were players just a few years younger than me,'' she said. “That's why I've never called myself 'Coach.' It just didn't seem right to ask somebody my age to call me 'Coach.' ''
Instead, her players call her Mary to this day. The approached worked then like now. In four seasons at Iowa State, Wise posted an 81-63 record while coaching many players her same age.
“I was in so far over my head,'' she said. “It was a different era. Iowa State took a huge chance on a young coach who had never worked a single match in her life. The career was fast-forwarded. You could never do that now. It was just the right place at the right time.''
“I couldn't even imagine [doing that],'' said former UF player Amber McCray. “I finished my senior year when I was 21. I couldn't imagine coaching girls and trying to gain their respect being only a year or two older than them. That's a testament to her and the person she is to be able to command that respect at such an early age.''
Diane Lichtenberg has been the girls volleyball coach at Bettendorf (Iowa) High for 27 years. She recently celebrated her 500th career victory.
Lichtenberg was a sophomore on the Iowa State team when the fresh-faced Wise arrived to take over the program 29 years ago. She remembers Wise immediately challenging the team's work ethic and accountability by installing conditioning drills that tested the players' resolve.
Some didn't like it. Lichtenberg embraced Wise's sturdy approach.
“When we heard it was this college grad that was the same age as some of the girls on the team, we were all kind of shocked,'' Lichtenberg said Tuesday. “We didn't really know what to expect. Coming in and being so young, I thought she did a nice job.
“I'm sure she doesn't feel like her best years of coaching were her first couple of years, but she worked us hard, she was very knowledgeable. We had some good laughs together. It was a very good experience.''
MAKING HER MARK
Wise left Iowa State after the 1984 season and took a year off from coaching to start a family. She returned in 1986 as an assistant coach at Kentucky, where she spent five seasons.
Wise took over the Gators in 1991 and has built Florida into one of the elite programs in the nation. Florida is ranked No. 1 in the AVCA poll for the first time since 1996.
Wise has the same focus and drive as when she first started out at Iowa State, but much more experience and a winning reputation that has helped her recruit against the best programs in the country.
McCray, now a post-graduate assistant at UF in women's administration, played for Wise from 2004-07. McCray said Wise made an immediate impact on her during the recruiting process.
“I felt like she was just a winner,'' McCray said. “I liked her competitive spirit and her true desire to win. I had a rough time in my career with injuries. She was just always so encouraging, the type of person who cared. That was the big thing about her, caring for her players off the court as well as on. She had a way of motivating and encouraging during difficult times.''
As for reaching 700 career wins, Wise is quick to give others credit. After Sunday's win over Georgia, her family invited several friends over for a surprise party. They had to wait for the guest of honor.
She was still on campus visiting with recruits. That's part of that drive others talk about.
What does 700 wins mean to her?
“It's a round number that gives us a chance to stop and reflect on how fortunate we've been with all the players who have come through this program,'' Wise said. “I've been lucky to be in place this whole time as people come and go. The wins are a result of all the talented people that have been involved and touched the program.''
That sounds like Mary.
