UF volleyball coach Mary Wise, masked up, looks over a preseason practice in her 30th season on the Gators sideline.
Wise Thought She'd Seen It All, Then ...
Tuesday, October 20, 2020 | Volleyball, Chris Harry
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By: Chris Harry, Senior Writer
GAINESVILLE, Fla. — Sometime over the last few months, Florida coach Mary Wise was texting with one of her former players; one of her many great former players.
Wise and Carli Snyder, now playing professionally in France, were discussing the unique circumstances of the offseason and uncertain nature of the present-day sports landscape when Snyder reminded Wise, more than three decades into her head-coaching career, that she once told Snyder that there was nothing in the profession she hadn't seen.
Repeat: Nothing.
Ah, but this is 2020.
As such, Snyder typed, "Not so fast … "
So here it is, late-October. COVID-19 willing, the most prolonged offseason and most unpredictable preseason is set to give way to an actual regular season, with the fourth-ranked Gators set to open the reconfigured 2020 collegiate volleyball and odd-ball Southeastern Conference schedule Wednesday night at Auburn. Assuming all goes as planned, Wise officially will embark on her 34th season as a head coach, the last 30 on the UF sideline.
The only time Wise said she could remotely draw comparisons to the surreal nature of the last few months was the impact and aftermath of 9/11. As far as day-to-day operations and pure on-court volleyball ramifications, that lasted about a week.
"As coaches, we're all control freaks," Wise said. "Our systems, our traditions, our policies and procedures, not that we don't morph over time and change, but things that have worked we've stuck with. This is all brand new. Many times I've had to say, 'I just don't know. I'm learning on the fly just like you.' No one knows."
From the moment the pandemic shut down the country down back on March 13, the phrase "I don't know" not only has been countlessly repeated, but been perfectly acceptable. Frankly, a case can be made that Wednesday's match with the Tigers is not a given — check the SEC football schedule lately — and no one around the league would argue.
But assuming the '20 season commences as planned it's going to be radically different. First off, it's nearly November, whereas volleyball season usually begins in late-August. Secondly, the league schedule-makers opted for an unusual eight-match, split season, with teams playing four back-to-back series at the same site. The Gators boarded a pair of buses (two vehicles, another first) Tuesday for Auburn and will play the Tigers Wednesday, then again Thursday. It'll be rinse-and-repeat with the same format for Alabama (Oct. 30-31 at home), at South Carolina (Nov. 11-12), then back home for Georgia (Nov. 20-21). The record those eight matches produce will carry over into a second half of the season — with that schedule still to be determined (also odd) — in January, including some non-league games sprinkled in.
Different? Yes.
Weird? Probably.
But real, live volleyball that counts? Finally? Absolutely.
"Our coaches usually have answers, so I've never seen Mary not have a definitive, confident answer," said junior and two-time All-America outside hitter Thayer Hall, one of five returning starters from last season's squad that went 27-5, won a share of a 24th SEC title, and lost in the regional semifinals of the NCAA Tournament. "It's been interesting, but kind of fun to navigate that with everybody. Ultimately, that's all brought us together, and right now, I feel very much like this is a family, so comfortable and so in touch with everyone. She may not know what's going to happen, but she's done a great job to instill in us that whatever we're doing we're doing it at 100 percent. It's going to be so much fun to go back to a real match [wearing] a real jersey. I can't wait to see 'Game Day Mary' again."
Coach Mary Wise and her team at a preseason practice.
For the last six months, whether on Zoom on in person (masked up, of course), the Gators have seen varying other versions of their coach.
"Managing Mary" had to deal with the day-to-day COVID alterations (sometimes of the last-minute variety), what with scaled-back practices in the volleyball bubble and all that that entailed.
"Psychologist Mary" had to talk her players through, first, the very real anxiety that the volleyball season might not happen, then the uncertain days of wondering when it finally would.
"Counselor Mary" weighed the possibility of advising players to opt out of a potentially truncated 2020 season before news came the NCAA would grant an extra year of eligibility to fall student-athletes.
Wise had worn those hats aplenty during her career; one that now shows 958 victories, two dozen SEC titles and 29 consecutive NCAA appearances.
But adding "Epidemiologist Mary" to the job description was a new twist.
"I always joke, 'When I write my book … ," Wise said. "Well, when I do my book I'm going to include a chapter, 'How to Build a Dysfunctional Team.' Not just our group, any group. Our players [came] back [in June] and couldn't be with one another. They had to be separated by roommates, couldn't visit their friends, had to train at different times, couldn't be at the gym at the same time. It was just set up to be incredibly difficult for any team, but especially a women's team. We're a gender that likes to be around each other and stay connected and be together."
Eventually, the Gators were able to be together — and now comes the fun part. Like Hall said, they get to pull those jerseys and get pumped up en masse for competition.
And with "Clipboard-Carrying Mary" on the sidelines.
Redshirt senior right side hitter Holly Carlton started all 32 matches during the 2019 season.
"Once we'd been home for a few months, with no guessing of when we'd return, that's when things were really tough," senior right side hitter Holly Carlton said. "We've invested years and years of our lives to this college experience, and to our team. Being able to train as a team is something that is so precious to us that the thought of not having that or not knowing when we'd come back was probably a low point for us."
Time to create some high points.
"A road trip will be the best thing for us," Wise said.
One with an actual volleyball match on the other side.
Prediction: When that first service ace is in the books it'll be one the likes of which "Game Day Mary" has never experienced before.
