By Pat Harty

IOWA CITY, Iowa – Trying to rebuild a long-suffering Big Ten volleyball program has to rank among the most difficult challenges for a college coach in any sport.

The Big Ten is to women’s volleyball what the Southeastern Conference is to football and baseball and what the Atlantic Coast Conference is to men’s basketball.

Only Big Ten volleyball might the best of all.

Bond Shymansky knows that all too well as he enters his fourth season as the Iowa volleyball coach.

The Iowa City native has worked wonders since being hired to rebuild a program that had consistently finished at or near the bottom of the conference standings for the better part of two decades.

But it hasn’t been easy, partly because the Big Ten shows no mercy and often forces you to take baby steps.

Iowa took a significant step last season, finishing with its first winning record (19-13) since the 2000 squad went 15-13 overall.

But that was only good for ninth place in the conference standings and it fell short of making the NCAA Tournament.

”Being competitive at the top of our league, it doesn't need to be flawless, but mentally you need to be flawless,” Shymansk said at Iowa’s annual media day event on Friday. “You can't back down. There can't be moments where you say to yourself, ‘I don't think I can do this or I wonder if I can do this.’

“And removing that self-doubt is really the greatest challenge that a coach has. We see that in sports all the time. You see teams that aren't as talented beat the more talented team. You see teams make deep runs or championship runs at something that weren't ranked anything, and it happens, it happens because of belief. And so, we're really working on that part.”

Talent also helps to remove self-doubt and Shymansky has worked hard to improve in that area since being hired.

He has relied heavily on transfers to lift Iowa from the ashes and this season will be no exception with 6-foot-3 former Marquetee star Taylor Louis expected to play a key role an outside hitter.

Louis played two seasons at Marquette and led the team with 537 kills and 257 digs in 34 matches played.

“Taylor Louis has been awesome,” Shymanksy said. “She is physically very talented. She's very gifted as a hitter and a blocker. But where she's been most impactful I think is just as a person. Tons of energy, really funny, pretty witty. She's definitely sassy at times, and you just need some of that. She's got some spit and vinegar in her, and you need that when you're going to compete at the highest level. Love how our team has embraced her.

“We were talking as a staff yesterday, it's amazing to me how quickly that our team has embraced new players, and especially transfers, and I think it's just because we look around and say, it's not my place to hold them out and judge and not trust them because I was that player, too. I was new here once, too. Somebody else had to embrace me when I came in the door.”

In addition to her sass and her sense of humor, Louis give Iowa a special combination of size and athleticism.

Shymansky was the head coach at Marquette when he first became acquainted with Louis in the recruiting process.

Both have come a long way since then, and they both still have much loftier goals they hope to achieve.

“Taylor has been a real joy to coach, and definitely, we want to push her,” Shymansky said. “She has intentions to play professionally afterwards and to strive for an Olympic team, and I think she has the capability to do it. I'm just hoping not to mess it up for her.”

Iowa appealed to Louis for several reasons, with one of the biggest reasons being Shymansky’s presence.

The chance to play in the Big Ten and against some of the top teams in the country also convinced Louis to be a Hawkeye.

“With the pieces we have, we’re going to do really great things throughout conference season and throughout preseason,” Louis said Friday. “We’re just really excited to start.”

Shymanksy praised his team for being easy to coach and for its leadership. The players enjoy a good joke, sometimes at Shymansky’s expense, but they also know when to be serious.

“I've probably said less this preseason than any other preseason that I've been here in terms of our training day-to-day in practice, and that's because they're doing it, and they're showing the leadership inside of the group to really explain to each other how to get it done and to motivate each other for how to do it higher, harder, and faster,” Shymansky said. “That's been really a great rewarding part of the journey already for us as a coaching staff.”

The current roster has players from California, Iowa, Illinois, Minnesota, South Dakota, Ohio, and Georgia, which is the home state for senior Annika Olsen. She transferred to Iowa from Georgia Tech and has been a key piece to Shymansky’s rebuilding project.

“Bond has built this program with transfers,” Olsen said. “There have been a lot of us and I’m sure there will be a lot more in the future. It’s just knowing that when you come in as a transfer that there are other transfers there. They kind or work you through it and help you out and let you know how it goes and what you need to do to be successful.

“We all love our transfers. I think they all bring something new to the team and they have previous college experience, which is al cool. They can bring the good things from their old programs to us.”

Former City High standout Ashley Smith also has joined the team as a transfer. She playe her fiorst two seasons at Nebraska-Omaha where she amassed 396 digs.

“She's a great athlete, really outspoken person with a lot of fun character, and the phrase that we use with our group all the time is find your uniqueness and then exploit it to serve the team,” Shymansky said. “So Ashley has some really good uniquenesses that she's figuring out how to bring into the team, so we'll see if she evolves into a starting spot this year as a back row sub. I have no idea.”

Shymansky will need great athletes to stay afloat in the Big Ten, which has eight teams ranked in the top-25 preseason poll, including four in the top seven.

“As a coach you have to learn what the others around you are doing and how they're doing it when they're successful,” Shymanksy said. “I'm not too proud to mimic certain things that are happening, right. We have to have our own identity and believe in the way we're doing things, but I think there are some ways that needs to happen in any program in the Big Ten to be successful, and actually where it starts is within the department. We're really thankful that we have an athletic department that's really pushing our program forward rather than holding it back. They're doing everything that they can do or they need to do really for us to be successful.

“So yeah, when it comes to looking at physicality of players and things like that, we love our game atmosphere, we love our crowd and our fans. We were top 20 in attendance last year. That can keep growing. That will be tremendous. But bottom line is that it's still on us. When the ball goes into play that we just have to play better volleyball. But I think it's coming this year.”