Jesse Mahoney is a Boulder native and a 1995 graduate of Colorado. Up till he turned CU’s head volleyball coach, Buffaloes athletics and the Massive 12 Convention doubtless had been synonymous for Mahoney.
Like the remainder of the CU athletic division, there was a component of change hovering throughout the Occasions Heart on Tuesday because the Buffs opened preseason observe forward of Mahoney’s eighth season at CU. Following the upcoming season, which opens on Aug. 25 at house in opposition to UNLV, the Buffs will transfer from one of many prime volleyball conferences within the nation (the Pac-12) into one of many different prime volleyball conferences within the nation within the Massive 12.
“It’s been a loopy week and to observe what’s occurring to the Pac-12 is clearly unlucky,” Mahoney stated. “We had a fantastic run within the Pac-12 and I’ve actually loved the expertise there. However I’m excited to maneuver into the Massive 12. It’s clearly one other energy convention. Final yr it was the primary RPI convention. That they had the nationwide champion out of it and there’s nice groups coming in together with nice groups from the Pac-12. We’re trying ahead to it. It’s going to be an thrilling convention for us.”
Maybe greater than some other crew sport at CU, the shift in leagues seems to be a wash competitively for girls’s volleyball.
The Massive 12 completed the 2022 season as the highest volleyball RPI convention within the nation, a mark powered largely by nationwide champion Texas, which is leaving the Massive 12 after this season for the SEC. Nonetheless, that departure might be offset by the addition not solely of CU, which reached the NCAA Event final season and has earned three bids previously six seasons, however with Massive 12 newcomers BYU, Central Florida and Houston. BYU reached the second spherical of the NCAA Event final yr, whereas Central Florida (No. 17 RPI) and Houston (No. 18 RPI, Candy 16) had been the highest groups within the American Athletic Convention.
The Massive 12 despatched 5 of its 9 groups into the match (Oklahoma State doesn’t have a volleyball program). The Pac-12 despatched six groups into the match, however 4 of these groups — CU, plus Massive Ten-bound Oregon, Washington and USC — might be gone after this season.
Very like CU males’s basketball coach Tad Boyle, Mahoney stated the convention shift doubtless will put a better recruiting concentrate on Texas for his program.
“It in all probability will change just a little little bit of our recruiting dynamic, however hopefully that might be a constructive for us, too,” Mahoney stated. “Since I’ve been right here it’s been just a little little bit of a wrestle to drag out of Texas possibly the best way we’d prefer to. I feel this may give us just a little bit extra of a foothold in locations like Houston, in locations like Dallas. Within the Massive 12 we’ll have just a little little bit of a distinct model. I feel we’ll nonetheless be a fairly pure match for lots of recruits out of California.
“You all the time have the child who’s a California child however needs to get away just a little bit, however enjoys coming house a pair instances a yr. I feel we’re going to see that the opposite approach, the Texas child needs to get away just a little however can have a chance to go house and play.”