Kevin Deslauriers knows how to relate to volleyball players.
After coaching them for 25 years at a variety of levels, including in college and in a club setting, Deslauriers understands the balance it takes to get boys and girls of all ages to grasp concepts and to buy into a team mentality.
Deslauriers also knows having a presence helps a coach connect with players. Twenty-five years of experience tells Deslauriers that Roxanne Hernandez has that intangible.
It’s easy to understand why because Hernandez, a 6-foot-3 former middle locker at Canisius College, can be an imposing figure, especially if she is swinging down on you and trying to plant a volleyball on your head.
Deslauriers, who is a director/coach at The Island Volleyball Academy in Long Island, New York, likely hasn’t had the pleasure of Hernandez doing that to him, but he has seen her in action as a coach and is confident she is the right fit for as the new volleyball coach at The Mississippi University for Women.
“She doesn’t sit in the back of the room,” Deslauriers said. “She walks right in and sits there and talks to you. … She has a presence. When it comes to college athletes, they take one look at her and go, ‘Woo.’ She definitely did something in college, and her physical stature alone demands a little respect from those kids.”
The hiring of Hernandez, which was announced Thursday afternoon, is the school’s latest step in its process of bringing back a women’s intercollegiate athletic program and creating a men’s program for more than 2,500 undergraduates. The W will compete in baseball, softball, men’s soccer, men’s and women’s cross country, and women’s volleyball beginning in the 2017-18 school year. It will add more sports for the 2018-19 year as it continues the process to gain NCAA Division III status.
The W Director of Athletics Jason Trufant and the school went through a nationwide search to find coaches. He said it is exciting to add Hernandez to the athletic department.
“Her experience at the NCAA and club levels, both as a student-athlete and coach, will be a tremendous asset as we begin to build the volleyball program,” Trufant said in a statement. “I am excited for this new chapter of W Athletics to begin.”
Then-MUW President Claudia Limbert moved to discontinue the school’s athletic department in 2002 after a November tornado in that year destroyed the school’s gymnasium. The Mississippi Institutions of Higher Learning (IHL) Board of Trustees approved the move in 2003.
Trufant arrived at MUW from Dowling College, a Division II school in Long Island, New York, where he was responsible for the day-to-day operations of compliance, game operations, fund raising and marketing, sport supervision, team and departmental budgets, and purchasing. Prior to that, he served as associate director of athletics at Molloy College and as assistant baseball coach at Frostburg State University. He also served as baseball coach at the State University of New York at Cobleskill.
Hernandez played in 104 matches in her four-year career (2010-13) at Canisius, which is a member of the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC) and is located in Buffalo, New York. A native of Medford, New York, Hernandez had more than 130 kills in each of her last two seasons at Canisius. She improved her block total each year, and finished with 115 total (15 solo) as a senior.
Hernandez, 24, majored in communications at Canisius. She was a three-time team MVP and two-time team captain at Longwood High School. She also played club volleyball at The Island Volleyball Academy in Long Island, New York.
Hernandez worked as a coach of the 13 Red girls team at The Island Volleyball Academy.
Earlier this year, Hernandez joined LIU Post University as an assistant volleyball coach. She also served as graduate assistant at Dowling College and helped the team earn a NCAA tournament appearance in 2015.
“I am beyond excited for the opportunity to head the women’s volleyball team,” Hernandez said in a statement. “I would like to thank Jason and The W for the chance to build this program from the ground up, and I look forward to carrying on the rich tradition of The W through the reinstatement of athletics.”
Deslauriers said he spoke with Trufant as a reference for Hernandez and answered general questions about her. He said he knew Trufant from his work at another college and from the time the almost two years they spent working together at Dowling. He said Hernandez’s ability to build relationships is going to serve her well in her new position. Deslauriers said Hernandez knows how to talk to people and can convey her knowledge of volleyball to them. He said he encouraged her to apply for jobs because of that quality.
“She connects with the kids right away,” Deslauriers said. “Kids look to her once they get to know her. She has a good rapport. In college ball and youth ball, the biggest part of the challenge is establishing the relationship with the kids.”
Deslauriers said Hernandez knows how to mix her fiery personality with a calmer side. He said he saw that at Dowling, where Hernandez replaced another coach and gained the trust of the players. Deslauriers feels that ability will help Hernandez when she recruits players and tries to find student-athletes who will be the right fit for The W.
In fact, Deslauriers said Hernandez tried to answer that question as she researched about The W for her interview. He said “winning is a byproduct of putting good people in place” and believes Hernandez is ready for the hard work it will take to build a program from the beginning. Deslauriers said he will provide any help he can to Hernandez to help her get started.
“I spoke to her right after she took the position and she is very excited,” Deslauriers said. “Obviously she is a little nervous because it is going to be a change in lifestyle, but she is very exited about the next step in her life.”
Follow Dispatch sports editor Adam Minichino on Twitter @ctsportseditor
Adam Minichino is the former Sports Editor for The Commercial Dispatch.
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