Miami University women’s volleyball coach Carolyn Condit’s 44-year career ended in November after leading her teams into matches over 1,400 times.
After 40 years and 682 wins as the head coach of Miami’s women’s volleyball team, Miami President Gregory Crawford dubbed her the school’s “longest-serving and winningest coach” in a press release.
After completing a master’s degree at Indiana University, Condit began her coaching career as the head volleyball coach at Xavier University in 1980. The position was part time and paid only $3,500, so she worked at her father’s law firm “to really make a living.”
At Xavier, she said the students piled into vans and drove to their own matches. They were told when and where to practice, usually only after the men’s basketball teams had finished.
“In sharing that floor [with the men’s basketball team] we found that our balls were rolling in their spit,” Condit said. “[The men] wouldn’t worry, they would just spit on the floor.”
As volleyballs flew across the gym floor during practice, they were covered in spit. It stuck to the girls’ hands as they tried to practice.
“So I took one of those balls and sat it on the lid of a hairspray bottle on [the Xavier AD’s] desk so he saw what we were dealing with everyday,” Condit said. “It was one of the nerviest things I’ve ever done. I never heard from him again on that, but he did put out garbage cans for them to spit in.”
She finished her time at Xavier after four years with 99 wins and 80 losses, growing the program from NCAA’s Division III to Division I.
Condit said that first job helped her develop her coaching philosophy: teaching with a “player-centered focus.” By asking players for their input on the direction of the team, she was able to have fun with them while also gaining their respect.
Former player for Condit, Jennie Gilbert, now associate athletic director at Miami, said Condit’s coaching style helped players learn to become “part of something bigger than themselves.”
“She loved us enough to tell us the things we didn’t want to hear,” Gilbert said. She was brutally honest with us, but the way she did it she still showed us she cared about us. Sometimes it hurt our feelings, but she was telling us what we needed to know to be a better person, a better volleyball player and a better teammate.”
In 1984, Condit said she brought these lessons to Miami’s bench. In the 40 years since, success has followed: nine MAC season titles, five MAC tournament titles, nine NCAA tournament appearances, among other achievements.
But, at the start of her tenure, Miami’s women’s teams were practicing in 40-year-old Withrow Gymnasium, while the men were playing in the new Millett Hall.
Withrow had no air conditioning, making summer training brutally hot, and little heating, making winter training just as difficult.
Gilbert said Condit worked hard to get improved facilities for the team.
“She had the conversation with the athletic director saying ‘these women are working just as hard as your men are working, and they are representing Miami in amazing ways, just like your men are. They deserve the respect of playing in a nicer place,’” Gilbert said.
Condit also worked to get Miami to provide more resources, like equipment and practice uniforms, for the women’s teams.
“When I first got here, we still wore our own t-shirts, bought our own shorts, shoes and knee pads,” Gilbert said. “By the time I had graduated she had had a lot of those things upgraded. It was a big deal, getting shoes paid for, we were on cloud nine!”
Condit said that she loved seeing chemistry and trust build between her players on the court.
“When they have that, there’s no selfishness out there,” Condit said. “Their timing, the way they anticipate, it’s all saying we’re going to be the best. And they go out and prove it.”
For Condit’s final home game on Nov. 11, 99 out of 130 alumni who had played for her at Miami came back to show their support. Gilbert said the relationship between the alumni shows Condit’s success in building her teams.
“They came back because of her,” Gilbert said “We all feel a sisterhood because of her.”
More than just a coach, Condit said she sees herself as a teacher. She emphasized teaching her athletes the importance of honesty and accountability.
She said her proudest accomplishment was the 100% graduation rate of her student athletes.
Despite retiring at the conclusion of last season, Condit said she doesn’t plan to leave the world of volleyball behind. She already has a trip planned in March to watch the Mideast Qualifiers, a national tournament for high school players, where her former players’ children play.
“The most fun thing is seeing a kid come back as a mom,” Condit said. “Everyone grows up and matures and I think that’s what teachers like to see, right?”
Volleyball has changed drastically over Condit’s career, and she says it’s only getting more exciting.
“It’s far more explosive. Blockers are bigger and better than before. That kind of domination and that kind of power is what makes the game exciting,” Condit said. “But because women don’t hit as hard and are able to play more defense, long rallies create incredible athletic plays that make our game even more exciting to watch.”
Not only has volleyball changed, but women’s sports as a whole have too. In late August, Nebraska volleyball played a game in their football stadium in front of 92,003 people, setting a world record for the largest attendance at a women’s sporting event.
“It’s neat to see where it’s going,” Condit said, “When I look back in the ‘80s when I came to Miami, I was just excited to have my own desk in my own office.”
