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Texas A&M Volleyball

Laura "Bird" Kuhn to take over as head coach of Texas A&M Volleyball

December 30, 2017
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Texas A&M named a new volleyball coach on Saturday as Scott Woodward announced that Laura “Bird” Kuhn will take over the program following Laurie Corbelli’s resignation in late November.

The 35-year-old Kuhn experienced tremendous success at Kansas as an assistant, playing a critical role in coaching the Jayhawks to their first ever Final Four appearance as well as their first Big 12 championship. Kuhn was named the AVCA National Assistant Coach of the Year in 2015 as the Jayhawks advanced to the Final Four.

"Not only is Bird an exceptional recruiter, but she has an uncanny proven ability to connect with, and develop, student-athletes," Woodward said in a statement. "She brings an energy, intensity, and no-nonsense approach that we are confident will resonate with our current student-athletes and recruits. We are thrilled for her to become our next head volleyball coach, and we welcome her to the Aggie family."

kuathletics.com
Kuhn was the AVCA National Assistant Coach of the Year in 2015 after helping lead Kansas to the Final Four.

Kuhn inherits a young, talented roster, led by sophomore outside hitter Hollann Hans and freshman setter Camille Conner. The Aggies will lose only two starters from a team that went 10-15 in 2017 but finished on a three-match winning streak.

"When this position opened, I just knew this is where I wanted to be,” Kuhn said. “I am excited for the future of this program and to build on the foundation and tradition already established by the Corbellis. I believe it is possible for this program to have a prominent presence, consistently at the national level."

Kansas won at an .800 clip in Kuhn’s seven years there, the last three of which she served as associate head coach in addition to her recruiting coordinator duties.

Discussion from...

Laura "Bird" Kuhn to take over as head coach of Texas A&M Volleyball

11,311 Views | 12 Replies | Last: 6 yr ago by MidTnAg
Pioneer
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Good luck to the 4th choice coach.
TMartin
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Pioneer said:

Good luck to the 4th choice coach.
Who were the first three?
AGECO95
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Quote:

Good luck to the 4th choice coach.

Seriously??? You are insufferable and embarrassing. Rather than a heartfelt "welcome to Aggieland" and / or "good luck coach", you post garbage like this?

If indeed Laura Kuhn was Scott Woodward's 4th choice, I'm extremely impressed and consider her to be an awesome hire. In light of the Jimbo Fisher hire, you would have to assume this puts Kuhn in elite company b/c the first three calls were likely to HCs with multiple NCAA volleyball championships (i.e. John Cook, John Dunning and Russ Rose).

Since Kuhn arrived on campus at KU, Jayhawk volleyball has experienced a miracle turnaround. HC Ray Bechard has been there at KU for 20- years, where the Jayhawks were the perennial bottom dwellers of the Big 12. In fact, I remember feeling sorry for KU b/c they were that bad. Then beginning in 2012, Bechard wins Big 12 coach of the year 4- times and KU is suddenly a final four volleyball team...all of which correspond with the arrival of Laura Kuhn.

Good luck coach Kuhn, Welcome to Aggieland and Gig'em!
Wicked Good Ag
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If you think any of the ones you mentioned were contacted then you must smoke the same stuff Hogg has been doing.

And Dunning retired last year.

That said I am happy from a recruiting standpoint. Unclear of the head coaching aspect and time will tell.

The issue I have is not with Kuhn it is more the fact you fired the coach after one bad season without a replacement already ready in place hence the fourth choice. The job has definite issues that need to be addressed but not the dumpster fire many think it is. Recruiting will be key The Corbellis recruited to their style and it can work but has to be running correctly which meant solid first contact
That is why I am curious with this hire. She can recruit but what is the style she will employ and can she get the Texas players to come to College Station
AGECO95
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Quote:

If you think any of the ones you mentioned were contacted then you must smoke the same stuff Hogg has been doing.
The bottom line is this "4th choice coach" non-sense is all speculation and conjecture. As far as anyone knows, Kuhn may have been the only coach considered and / or contacted for the job. Anyone suggesting otherwise, please document by providing a link.
Quote:

And Dunning retired last year.
I was sarcastically providing successful VB HC examples, never stated Dunning or anyone else had actually been contacted.
Quote:

The issue I have is not with Kuhn it is more the fact you fired the coach after one bad season without a replacement already ready in place hence the fourth choice.
It's probably more accurate to view the Corbelli's marginal successes in recent years as buying them more time, where Aggie VB has been a frustrating roller coaster ride ever since rally scoring began. Therefore, I think it's grossly inaccurate to state the Corbelli's were resigned / fired "after one bad season". Again, unless you have a link to support it, you're speculating about a replacement not being in place.
Artimus Gordon
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I like this hire the more I read about her. She is young (35) and has a lot of get up and go. She is not a native Texan but has recruited 6 lone star state volleyballers to Kansas and won with them. She obviously knows talent and has a good rapport with Texas high school coaches. Kansas was nothing in volleyball until she arrived as an assistant.

After 25 years the volleyball program here had gotten stale. The corebellis weren't able to do enough to keep from getting assigned to a regional in austin. The one time they did get a regional in college station they lost in the second round to Hawaii. Last year they lost in the first round to smu in. Austin. This year was an unmitigated disaster. So a changed needed to be made.
sharpdressedman
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Congratulations and best wishes to her. Hoping she can right the ship.
Wicked Good Ag
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I know of two of the offers that were made. One was to Keegan Cook at Washington. Woodward aimed high. No question.

As for the firing/resigning. Unless changes are made by the NCAA we will have to be top 16 to avoid Austin each year which was one of the problems in moving forward among others. She I think will be a good coach however she has no head coaching experience but tons recruiting so we will see.


As for rapport with high school coaches. Recruitment in volleyball is done at the club level not high school. But I do know she has solid connections after recent discussions with some club directors in Texas
nereus
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AG
I think the goal is certainly for us to be a top 16 team more often than we were under Corbelli. That being said, it isn't like we were running into this top 4 team every year in the second round that we just kept getting stuck with due to geography. We couldn't even get to that team 4 of the last 5 years (even the year they weren't in our path due to us getting a top 16 seed we didn't advance).

2017 no tournament
2016 SMU in 1st round in Austin
2015 Hawaii in 2nd round at Reed
2014 Arizona in 1st round in Austin
2013 t.u. in 2nd round in Austin
coldmoose
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Welcome Coach Kuhn! Glad to have you in Aggieland.
Looking forward to seeing your squad in action.
BigJim49 AustinNowDallas
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MidTnAg
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AG
If she can recruit Texas talent to A&M as well as she recruited Texas talent to Kansas, she will do great.
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