Deuser is Men’s Volleyball Coach at Lewis University in Romeoville, the defending NCAA Champion in the sport.
So a tiny, 4,400-student school in Romeoville, Ill., has become a national athletic powerhouse. Is the volleyball world as surprised as the rest of us? Not really. We’d already been to two NCAA Final Fours in 1996 and 1998, losing to UCLA in the semifinal both those years. We’ve been ranked in the top 10 pretty consistently for the past eight years.
So how does a small Division II school become a giant killer? Well, you have to have the horses, no doubt about it. You’ve got to have the talent on the floor. Other than that, I might deal with my players a little differently. We have a family-orientated team, where the philosophy is that we’re in this together, and not like I’m calling all the shots.
So there’s no special offense or training regime? I really don’t think I do anything differently as far as X’s and O’s. But I do think I can get the most out of my players. College sports are so much about keeping your guys happy, keeping guys motivated.
But recruiting must have a lot to do with it, too. Top high schoolers can’t be that interested in Romeoville. There were guys on the team last year who were overlooked out of high school. They weren’t marquee players. I got them and, boom, three turn into starters on a national championship team. Once in while, a kid doesn’t market himself enough coming out of high school and will slip through the cracks. I don’t have a recruiting budget and didn’t have an assistant coach to help me recruit until this year. The majority have literally fallen into my lap.
But a national title must help recruiting. It’s getting easier because more of the talented players from California are willing to take a look at us now. Before, it was a foregone conclusion that they were going to stay on the West Coast.
Are other schools looking to hire you? There’s only like 50 varsity men’s volleyball programs in the country. On the women’s side, there are a couple hundred. So there’s not a lot of turnover on the men’s side. Not that I would even consider one if there was [an opening]. I’m very happy here.
