Coach Spotlight: Brandon Stephenson

Coach Spotlight:

Brandon Stephenson – Men’s Volleyball

A new school year sometimes comes with new coaches. Brandon Stephenson is the new men’s volleyball coach and the assistant for women’s volleyball. Stephenson started work with the men’s team last spring as their interim coach before being asked to take the full-time position. 

Before being a Yote 

Before coaching at Kansas Wesleyan University, he coached for 22 years. Previously as a head coach at Salina Central High School, Cameron University, Barton Community College, and Lamar Community College; an assistant coach at Highland Community College and Trinity Valley Community College; volunteered at Bethany College and McPherson College; and coached club volleyball for 6 years at different age levels. 

Stephenson became interested in coaching because of his parents. “I am a son of two parents who coached in college. As well as a great grandfather that coached baseball in southwestern Kansas.” His father coached at Bethany College Men’s Basketball and baseball for three years, and his mother coached volleyball for 46 years. 

“I think the time I spent with my mother’s teams over the years growing up sparked my interest. Since there isn’t any high school boys’ volleyball in Kansas, and club for boys in Kansas is just starting to get going. I coached Football with doing my student teaching at Salina Central and had opportunities to get into the collegiate ranks with a couple of former coaches of mine, but I preferred volleyball.” 

His mother coached at both the high school (Otis-Bison, Quivera Heights, Great Bend, Ell-Saline, Southeast of Saline, and Smoky Valley and college levels (Kansas Wesleyan University, Bethany College x2, and McPherson College).

Now this is Stephenson’s first men’s team. When asked why he wanted to become the interim coach under extreme circumstances, he said: “I had an opportunity to get into the men’s game about 12 years ago, but nothing came of it. I had a thought that the job could be coming open, and when I got the call to see if I would be interested in talking about the position, I was actually going to be heading the Mabee for the Salina Invitational basketball tournament to work the games…I also think that it was a way for me to get back to the collegiate level.”

Interim Coaching 

The term interim coach is defined as a temporary leader who takes charge of a sports team when the permanent coach leaves, resigns, or gets fired. There were some challenges that came with this new, temporary position at the time. Stephenson stated, “Not knowing if it’s just going to be for the season or being permanent. Also, trying to build culture and recruit players for the fall without knowing if I was going to be the coach.” But even though there was no certainty about what the fall was going to look like, he did have goals for the team. 

“I knew going into the first meeting that we didn’t have middles; we were going to be small, and our roster size was small. So I told the guys that I wanted to high-hand the block, quick-tempo offense, tough on the serving lines, and solid serve receive. I wanted to compete against the top schools and then beat those teams that we should beat.”

Ups and Downs 

Another challenge that came into play was the different styles of play between women’s and men’s volleyball. Stephenson spoke about the small differences, stating, “There have been some changes. The style of play is different with shorter rallies, and I have had to dig deeper into my bag of drills. I have been using the fall to test drills out to see what works best with the guys. Putting them into three categories (will not work, randomly use, and go-to drills). The trash-talking in the men’s game has been the biggest difference. So having to limit what is acceptable and what isn’t.”

Now that the entire team is settled and happy with Coach Stephenson. Preparing in the fall has him and the team ecstatic for the season in the spring. He spoke about his goals for the upcoming season: 

“With the team in the KCAC, our number 1 goal is to win the conference and go to Nationals. We have the depth in certain positions; we have true middles, and our height has increased. The guys have been building a good bond with each other and have been in the gym most nights, if not every night. When we scrimmage, it will get intense, and guys do not want to be outplayed. Another goal is that we are perfect at home, no losses. But ultimately, it’s to keep improving and building the culture of this team the right way.”

COACHES PERSPECTIVE

Throughout Coach Stephenson’s years of coaching, he has stated that his philosophy has changed and has gotten shorter too. 

“I want to develop the complete athlete, which involves the mental as well as the physical. I believe it is possible to teach athletes how to be competitive while being positive. Success can be obtained by focusing on execution and process. If you want to WIN, then pay attention to “What’s important now.” Keep it in the mind of the athletes to have quotes like “Learn to be comfortable with being uncomfortable” and “Goldfish mentality.”

Through experiences, he has dealt with many different types of Administrations and players who have the wrong motivations when it comes to the process of building a program that can be successful on the court but just as successful off the court. What he has also learned the hard way, as a young coach, is that “Loyalty has a time limit. We don’t know when the limit will run out,” and he observes the age of the athletes and the pressure that they have due to social media, home life, social life, and growing up in a society where we are judged on the smallest thing. So, he tries to reduce that pressure on them to be perfect. 

Even though he is now the head coach of the men’s team and assistant to the girls’ team, he states. “It’s always good to coach volleyball no matter the gender. Since I was on the women’s side for 18 years. It was good to get back to some of the drills and tactical side of the game. There is more growth that I see in the women’s game, and you get longer rallies.”

EXPANSION OF VOLLEYBALL

Boys volleyball is the 2nd fastest growing sport in the US. We are around 100,000 boys playing the game, and 30 states have boys volleyball as a sanctioned sport. Right now, Kansas has had boys volleyball on the ballot for KSHSAA for the last few years, and we are making a push to get it in high school.

Here is the link to the podcast “The Coaches Why”. Coach Stephenson is on

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r2kaaWsqu58

OTHER STORIES:

Women’s Volleyball Earns Big Win – Harley Ludacka