The winningest volleyball coach at Virginia, Melissa Aldrich Shelton, has led the team to its only two NCAA Tournament appearances, 1998 and 1999, and a 23-8 record in 2006. Last season, Shelton led Virginia to a second-place ACC finish with 16 league victories, the most in program history. The Cavalier Daily talkedwith Shelton to discuss the highlights and challenges of her time with the Cavaliers.
Q: How long have you been coaching here and at other places?
A: This is my 13th season here, and I spent four seasons as an assistant coach at some Division I schools.
Q: What do you think is the most rewarding part of your job?
A: The most rewarding part of my job happens when everything comes together. Everyone's skills are working and it's all coming together, using our assets to their greatest potential. I think that's the most rewarding, but of course you have to mention the players graduating and moving on and being successful in their lives.
Q: How about the hardest part?
A: The hardest part is those days when you have bad practices and you feel like you've just wasted everybody's time. So much of what we do is dependent on what sort of attitude everyone brings to the gym. Trying to get everyone on the same page is probably the hardest aspect.
Q: Greatest achievement as a coach?
A: I really don't think I've had a greatest achievement moment yet. The years that we made the NCAA Tournament were really fun, especially the second year since we were complete underdogs. I thought that last season was one of the best seasons that Virginia has ever put together. We overcame a lot of obstacles last year and it was really rewarding, but I feel like we could've made the tournament a lot more years.
Q: What about your biggest weakness?
A: I think trying to let the girls all have a lot of freedom in what they say and do is one of my biggest weaknesses, because sometimes that really comes back to bite you. There's a fine line at U.Va., because you want everyone to be great student athletes, but at the same time athletes at most of the schools that you're competing against put a lot more emphasis on volleyball and not so much the well-rounded college experience. Sometimes I think that it's a weakness that I have but then I look at the well-rounded individuals that we have graduating and moving on in life and how happy and adjusted they are. It makes you realize that it's really not such a big deal.
Q: Are there any notable differences between your coaching style and others?
A: We let our players be people here and not just volleyball players. Also, there's a lot of screaming and yelling going on with some coaches, but we're not screamers here. We have conversations with the players, but very rarely do I raise my voice.I'm just not that type of person. We put a lot of time in as coaches to get everything done the right way. A lot of the time, people don't realize all the stuff that goes on behind the scenes and what we go through.
Q: How does Virginia compare to other schools in the conference?
A: There's a big academic difference, obviously. We can't just recruit anybody off the street. They have to have a really strong academic record from high school. We really want that, too, because otherwise they won't succeed here and it becomes more of an issue on our team. Trying to deal with the stress of a student athlete not performing is big. Also, we have a huge advantage with the atmosphere here. The Grounds are beautiful. Sometimes we struggle with travel because Charlottesville is a bit more remote than, for example, Atlanta, where Georgia Tech can jump on a direct flight to anywhere in the U.S. That's maybe a difference, but otherwise we have most of the same things as the other conference schools have.
--compiled by Ryan Franklin
Read More
Late hitting and pitching dominance lead Virginia to 12-2 Commonwealth Clash victory
By Ryan Weiner | 5 hours agoVirginia takes the first game of its final regular season series.
In second consecutive NCAA Tournament bid, Virginia slated for Columbia Regional
By Ben McNiff | 7 hours agoVirginia begins Regional play Friday at 3 p.m. versus North Florida, with coverage available on ESPN+.
Live tracker: the men’s basketball offseason
By Michael Liebermann , Emory Huffman and Xander Tilock | 8 hours agoA frenetic offseason likely awaits.
