By Will Baskin-Gerwitz

A new men’s head coach will join the girls’ volleyball team this upcoming year, the athletic department announced May 10, ending a two-and-a-half month search. Adam Black will fill a vacancy that has lasted since the resignation of former head coach Jesse Quiroz Jan. 31.

Black comes to the team from a variety of college assistant coaching jobs, most recently a two year stint as the men’s assistant coach for Pepperdine University.

His new job will be his first high school position since he left Chaminade in 2003, and his first time coaching girls since he was the assistant coach at California State University Northridge in 2002.

“I think [in] men’s volleyball and women’s volleyball, boys’ volleyball and girls’ volleyball, there’s not a whole lot of difference,” Black said.  “I think coaching is coaching, and we are really coaching individuals rather than genders.”

Black’s initial changes to the program will focus more on coaching. Although nothing has been finalized, he said that there may be a few new coaches, or old coaches taking on new responsibility. He also plans on expanding the team’s statistics program to the junior varsity level.

Although he first saw the Wolverine volleyball program while coaching Chaminade, he was drawn this year to coach the girls’ team in large part due to the Athletic Department’s policy of vertical integration.

The structure allows varsity coaches to guide the growth of athletes in the sport from seventh grade up through their senior year.

“It’s an interesting aspect for me, coming from the college level,” Black said. “At Division I, when you only have four years with each athlete, you don’t have a chance to really train them. Here, you have a few extra years.” 

Black will be replacing Quiroz, who won seven CIF championships.