Volleyball coach serves excellence
From Jan. 5, 2011 to what is now 10 years later, the university and community can recog- nize the excellence TA- MUK Volleyball Coach Tanya Allen has brought to the sport and Javelina athletes.
Starting off as what’s seemed to be just a run of the mill hire for a team on the decline, Coach Allen was not looked to for interviews or any press conferences.
This was attributed to the fact that until Allen’s arrival, the Lady Hogs only posted four winning seasons in the past 23 years with coach- es lasting an average six seasons at a time.
Now in 2021, 10 years later, her performance as a coach exceeds any volleyball coach to step foot on this university. She stands on the edge of a mountain on her own as her 160-plus victories is nearly 100 games better than any previous coach’s record. Upon her arrival, the new coach looked to build a program run on greatness.
“I had to change the talent level,” Allen said. “I also had to change the culture. A lot of the team culture was based around being average and having fun. We tried to change that to being great and having fun.”
Immediately, Allen set a standard that the team would work to be cham- pions. Stephanie Johns, a player turned gradu- ate assistant, noticed a change immediately.
“Year-by-year, we got more players who had the same mentality because [Tanya] didn’t accept anything other than that mentality, [the culture] started to change,” Johns said.
This might be an understatement.
Not only did the culture change, but Allen in her 10-year tenure has coached the university’s first ever First-Team All-American, Madison Brabham, and winning season after winning season, and posting new season highs in wins consistently this past decade.
These accomplish-ments make this pro- gram the most consis- tent winners on campus and in the Lone Star Conference. Brabham holds high regards for her coach and so do many others who have had the privilege of being coached not only by a coach who expects greatness each and every minute on the court, but a coach who took the time to make sure she had a positive impact on the lives of her players.
Since she has become coach, dozens of players have earned degrees from TAMUK.
“The most rewarding thing about coaching in general,” Allen said, “is the impact you can have. I feel like I’ve impact- ed some lives, [but] it’s not just me. The players have the most to do with it and [assistant coach] Joe [Morales] has been around this whole time as well. Seeing the impact we’ve had, the growth some of these athletes have had, it’s amazing. They’re one way when they get here and by the time they graduate, they’re strong and powerful and confi- dent women. It’s amaz- ing to see.”
After a quiet entrance into the scene as the new coach, Allen has quite lit- erally exploded into an all-time winning coach, and that includes all of the athletic programs at the university. She’s no doubt a legend who has nothing but time to add to the team and no doubt, her greatness.
