Mary Wise took over in 1991 and continues to leave a legacy as a trailblazer, mentor, and winner.
Jeremy Foley, Tom Collett Explore Wise's Impact on Gators
Friday, September 22, 2017 | Volleyball
Share:
"People talk around Gainesville about the way Steve Spurrier changed football. Mary Wise did the same thing for volleyball in the SEC." --Tom Collett
By: Zach Dirlam
Mary Wise reached yet another major milestone in Gainesville last weekend: 800 wins as head coach of the Florida Gators. Only 10 other coaches in NCAA history won 800 matches at the same school, and only three of them, like Wise, did so at a Division I program following the first NCAA volleyball season in 1981.
Counting victories, or even taking a moment to celebrate an achievement related to her win count, is of no interest to Wise. She focuses on what is next. Turn the page, as she likes to say. And there are several chapters remaining in the novel she started over 35 years ago, as a 21-year-old head coach at Iowa State, the youngest one in Division I history.
Wise's story at Florida began in 1991. Back then, Wise could not fathom being with one program for so long.
"It just doesn't happen in college athletics," Wise said last Friday. "That's how I know how blessed we've been with the quality of players that have come through this program, dating all the way back to our first year. It's the players who win the matches. I've just been very lucky to be a part of that."
While Wise is busy keeping her focus on the pages ahead, Athletic Director Emeritus Jeremy Foley and play-by-play broadcaster Tom Collett, who started as the volleyball public address announcer in 1994 before transitioning to radio a year later, reflect on her 26-plus seasons with the Gators.
Collett and Wise prior to a match in 2004. (Photo: UAA Communications)
Below is a question-and-answer session between Foley and Collett with FloridaGators.com writer Zach Dirlam.
You didn't take over as athletic director until 1992, but were you part of the search committee that found Mary?
Foley: I wasn't. But I want to say in 1993 or 1994, Texas made a serious run at her and we kept her, so I've always claimed Mary. It's incredible what she's done here.
Wise following Florida's 56th consecutive home win in 1994 which, at the time, set an NCAA record.
What struck you about Coach Wise the first time you met her?
Foley: Incredible intensity.
Collett: I was just impressed by the way she carried herself. I said, 'This is someone who's going to transform this program.'
Wise was always ahead of the curve when it came to marketing and promoting the sport, especially in Gainesville.
I was working for a fledgling radio station the year she was hired … we had her on the radio multiple times. There she was, at a morning-drive radio show, on-site at Skeeter's Breakfast House on 13th Street, talking about volleyball. I said, 'This is someone who gets it; she wants to utilize every opportunity she can to promote, to elevate, to establish her program.' She had a presence.
What else would you say makes her so successful and has kept this thing rolling for 27 years?
Foley: Incredible focus, incredible drive, incredible passion for the game. Loves the University of Florida. Likes to compete. And she likes to win. She wants to win again and again. Failure is not part of her vocabulary. I used to talk all the time when I was the AD about how this program was not going to accept mediocrity. Nobody typifies that more than Mary. She never gets complacent. I've never been to Mary's house, but I wouldn't be surprised if the rings are in her drawers somewhere because she's always worried about the next ring.
And the sport has gone through a number of changes throughout the last 30 years, so how has she evolved with the sport, or even got ahead of it?
Collett: She's been heavily involved with the American Volleyball Coaches Association and with rule changes in the game. Side-out scoring to rally scoring. I had to explain to a lot of folks who were casual fans that didn't understand you could only score while you were serving, not in serve reception (prior to the 2001 rule change). That was the first big change.
The second was the addition of the libero position. She and other coaches around the nation changed their recruiting. It opened doors for a lot of players who weren't 6-foot, 6-foot-3 or 6-foot-4 to be able to be part of the game. She recognized that and changed the way she would identify and look for some players.
Have you ever seen anything like the run of 18 consecutive SEC championships from 1991 through 2008?
Foley: No.
Collett: Never have.
Foley: But you ask Mary, the ones she's going to remember are the ones she didn't win. That is part of her makeup. The year she didn't win it, we had the annual coaches party, where we give out awards to coaches. She was about as far back in the room as she could be. It's not because she didn't respect the coaches who were getting them. It was just very hard for her, because she is such a competitor. That is what drives her.
Collett: The streak of conference titles continues to amaze me to this day. She uplifted the whole conference. We see better competition. We see other schools hiring top-name coaches, spending more on facilities. It is because of what Florida did, winning those 18 championships under her guidance, that we've seen the SEC elevated in volleyball.
A lot of people talk around Gainesville about the way Steve Spurrier changed football. Mary Wise did the same thing for volleyball in the SEC.
Did the two of you ever have a conversation about the streak after it came to an end? It probably felt like it never would.
Collett: Not really.
Foley: Like most of our coaches around here, when they lose, you can't really console them. If I said anything to her, I said, 'I hope you take a lot of pride in what you did accomplish.' Eighteen straight? That's incredible. Incredible.
Collett: Mary isn't one to dwell on the past. And that's where the league got. In talks we would have, or talks she would give to the Gator Attack Club—which is the booster club for the team—she would always say, 'Be careful what you ask for.' For years the question was: when is the SEC going to get better?
That run in 2003 was not only the closest the program has been to a national title, but it was a huge moment for Mary, being the first woman to coach in that match. What did that moment signify both for her and the program, even though they lost the NCAA Championship match?
Collett: When they beat Hawaii (in the national semifinal), against what all the prognosticators were saying would not happen … I think it was a weight off her shoulders to get past that point.
Foley: Anytime you play in the final match of the year it's special for the program. We like winning. We like being in that final game. I remember the incredible pride I had sitting there, watching the Gators play for a national championship, and how happy I was for Mary because I knew how hard she worked to get to that point. The fact she was the first woman to coach in that game, and that's still the case, it's a reflection of her incredible talents and incredible will to be successful.
Collett: I know she felt very proud to be the first female to coach the national championship match. It gives her a great sense of pride she can say that. Looking back on it now, that team, at full strength, I truly believe could have won the national championship. But with (three-time All-American middle blocker) Benavia Jenkins going down against Arkansas late in the season … I think at full strength that team could have taken the title.
What would you say to anyone who thinks Mary's career will be unfulfilled without a national title?
Collett: Hogwash.
Foley: It would be so shortsighted. I get it. I get that comment is out there. It is really hard to win national championships. You ask any coach around here who has won one, it is really hard. You have to get breaks, it has to go your way, it has to be perfect—the bracket, upsets, all that stuff.
For people to say that, even now, that she's not achieved … she's achieved at the highest level. She is one of the all-time greats, and always will be. You look at the numbers she put up, the rings she's won, the program she's built, the way she's respected nationally, at the end of the day that's what it's all about.
Collett: What she has done locally, regionally, nationally, all the SEC championships, all the Final Fours, the national championship match … she has been part of a movement with what she has done, promoting volleyball at all those levels, that now volleyball is the number-two sport for girls playing in high school. We hear about softball, we hear about soccer, but it's volleyball (behind track and field). She is a big part of that on the national scene with what she has done in her career, both at Florida and coaching in the USA Volleyball program. Wise connected with fans upon her arrival in Gainesville, and still does so today. (Photo: UAA Communications)
She has a legacy of guiding, directing, mentoring, and coaching young women, not just as volleyball players, but growing them into mature young women. That is a legacy she is proud of as well.
Foley: I'll also tell you this: her career is not done yet. There are many more matches for Mary Wise.
Does it surprise you Mary wants very little attention paid to these individual milestones?
Foley: No. We give her a ball (for milestone wins). I would give it to her, and I can remember that is about as uncomfortable as you will see Mary. That is not her shtick at all. She likes to win, but she doesn't want the headlines. She likes the rings, but she's not going to flaunt them. She wants to be successful, but she wants to do it her way.
Collett: Doesn't surprise me at all. When it's done, it's done. Move on to what's next on the agenda. She's a very humble person, not one to dwell on accomplishments but what's next.
