There is a new face around the Stuart C. Siegel Center this fall season with James Finley in his first year as the head coach of the volleyball team.
After a disappointing 2004 season in which the Rams posted a 6-21 record overall, 2-12 record in the Colonial Athletic Association, Richard L. Sander, director of athletics for VCU, found himself looking for a new head coach.
His search ended with Finley, an experienced coach who led Arizona Western College to a fourth consecutive National Junior Collegiate Athletic Association Region I Division I Championship in four years of coaching, as well as posting a 39-7 record last year.
He said the first thing a team needs to do when they have struggled in the past is to change the mindset of everyone on the team. Finley said he has stressed a winning attitude, as well as teaching his team to believe in themselves and their abilities.
Griselle Lopez Pereira (Caguas, Puerto Rico), a senior who has played volleyball for the Rams since she was a freshman in 2002, said the best quality of her new coach is his teaching ability and his knowledge of the sport.
“He has taught the girls to play good volleyball,” she said. “He knows about the team. He knows every single detail about being a volleyball player. He himself is a great volleyball player so he knows what’s going on and off the court.”
Other players on the team also believe in their new coach’s tactics, but for three VCU players, his style of coaching is relatively old news.
Ludmila Francescatto (Fraiburga, Brazil), Renata Salvatori (Londrina, Brazil) and Melissa Peterson (Ganado, Ariz.) all played for Finley at Arizona Western College last season and transferred with him to play for VCU.
Francescatto, a junior who leads the team with 166 kills this season, agreed with Lopez Pereira’s praise of Finley’s teaching ability.
“He teaches us a lot of things about our game that a lot of girls didn’t know before,” she said. “We are all still learning and he teaches us well.”
Francescatto, a biology major, said that Finley’s decision to come to VCU played a major role in her decision to transfer here, but added that she thinks it’s a solid academic university.
Lopez Pereira, the team captain, said she is pleased with Finley as the coach.
“Oh it’s great. It’s what I wanted,” she said, referring to Finley and his coaching style. “It’s what I was asking for my first three years and I got it. I’m having a blast this year.”
Finley replaced former head coach Perri Hankins, who in three seasons with the Rams posted a 13-31 record in the CAA. Finley said being able to compete in the CAA is essential to VCU succeeding this year.
After three conference games already completed, however, Finley finds himself without a win. Despite this setback, he believes his team still has a chance to do well.
“The thing is, we have four or five teams in our conference that are very strong and they are all very even,” he said Sept. 7, after a match against the College of William and Mary. “For anybody to go through the conference undefeated, I don’t think that will happen.”