MINNEAPOLIS – It's not your typical transition, but Hugh McCutcheon is a coach worth waiting for.
On Feb. 10, 2011 – more than a year ago – the University of Minnesota named McCutcheon its next volleyball coach, to succeed Mike Hebert, who retired the past December. Now, nearly 14 months and a full season later, there's still no sign of McCutcheon in Minneapolis, and as strange as that might sound, it was all part of the plan.
McCutcheon has coached the US women's national volleyball team since 2009, and when he agreed to take over at Minnesota, it was with the understanding that he wouldn't report to the university until after the 2012 London Olympics.
Now London is fewer than five months away, and McCutcheon's arrival date in Minnesota is rapidly approaching. And though he's looking forward to beginning a new phase of volleyball at the U in the fall, McCutcheon's current focus is trained solely on the task at hand: Getting his top-ranked squad a gold medal at the Olympics.
In recent weeks, McCutcheon's players have been trickling into the USA Volleyball training facilities in Anaheim, Calif. They'll continue to arrive throughout the spring, to work out and make sure they're prepared for London. Training lasts through May, and though arrival dates are flexible because of varying international team schedules, McCutcheon said his players know they need to arrive as soon as they can.
"Take as much time as you need," he tells them. "But maybe not as much as you want."
The US women's team finished the 2011 season with a 39-10 record, and it unseated Brazil as the world's No. 1 team in November. But even after winning the silver medal at the FIVB World Cup, which qualified his team for the Olympics, McCutcheon isn't getting complacent.
"I don't know if that means we're the best team in the world, but we're certainly in the top few," McCutcheon said of his team's ranking.
For now, the coach is focusing on strategy and preparedness. He knows there's a lot out of his control when it comes to the Games, that he can't control what's going on in the gyms of top competitors China, Brazil and Russia. But McCutcheon also knows he has an advantage: Not only has he been to the Olympics before – as the US men's coach in 2008 – but he's also had years with this women's team to lay a foundation.
Since the moment McCutcheon took over the women's squad in 2009, the Olympics have been at the forefront of his mind. Sure, there were other competitions to think about and relationships to grow, but by focusing on the Olympics from Day 1, McCutcheon hoped to build a foundation of success for his team.
"The reality is that the Olympics tends to be about a couple points here and a couple points there, and being able to effectively communicate strategy is an important part of it," McCutcheon said.
Right now, McCutcheon and the US team seem poised for success in London. When the coach reports to Minnesota this fall, he may or may not boast another medal on his resume. But no matter what, he'll have a variety of experiences that have colored his coaching career.
A native of New Zealand, McCutcheon played for BYU and was an assistant coach there from 1995-2001. He then entered the international coaching arena, where he worked as an assistant and eventually the head coach of the US men's team. He made a seamless transition from coaching men to women when he took over the women's national team, and McCutcheon's self-described "atypical" path and resume should make the transition to college coaching even easier.
Although McCutcheon's decision to come to the University of Minnesota was fueled in part by a desire to spend more time with his family – he's married to Minneapolis native and former Olympic volleyball player Elizabeth Bachman – he's also pleased by the added challenge of yet another transition. He's the kind of coach who knows the value of growth, of not getting pigeonholed as a certain kind of leader or teacher. And he said he's been fortunate to get the chance to work in so many different spheres.
When McCutcheon arrives at Minnesota in the fall, the transition from Hebert will have already begun. The move toward his own style of play will start, and to finally have his experience and expectations at the gym with the team every day will be invaluable. But right now, that's not what McCutcheon is thinking about. It's not that he isn't excited or interested; he just knows there's something else he has to conquer first. And instead of feeling slighted or overlooked, members of the Minnesota volleyball team and their fans should be happy. That same singular focus will be theirs in just a short time.
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