Crimson and Gold Connection; Coach Jen Gomez

Welcome to Crimson and Gold Connection. My name is Dustin Treiber. And today we get to know Jim Gomez, who has hired the pit states new head volleyball coach in December 16th, 2015. Coach Gomez comes to Pittsburgh State after serving the past five seasons as head coach at NCAA division two member college state university Pueblo. Before that, she served five seasons as head coach of Oklahoma City University. Coach Gomez is originally from Dodge City, Kansas, and was the NJC AA All-American player at Garden City Community College as well as an NJC AA scholar athlete. Before twice earning Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference player of the year honors at CSU Pueblo, coach Jim Gomez, welcome. Thank you. Now, you have an impressive history in volleyball. Please tell us a little bit about your background and why did it eventually led you to Pittsburgh State University. You know, growing up in Dodge City, Kansas, it was always a dream of mine to be a college volleyball player. And luckily, my path kind of took me a lot of different places. Junior College at Garden City Community College and had a really great run there. And I eventually then was recruited and played at what was

University of Southern Colorado, now Colorado State University at Pueblo. And that's also where I got my starting coaching volleyball. As soon as I finished my playing career, my head coach said, hey, would you like to coach? And I didn't really, yeah, I didn't blink. I just said, yes, I want it. So I got to coach right away. And I think that's always something that when you think of their coaching paths, people have different ones. But mine really got to jump off right out of playing. And that was awesome. And spent four years there and learned. And then went to Angelo, state, and Texas. And I'm kind of just keep on circling. So I left Texas and got my first head coaching job at Oklahoma City University where I got to start a program. And you talk about being scared out of your wits. I didn't have an assistant coach. It was just me had to start a program from the ground up. And then after five years, I got to go back to my alma mater. And that was really awesome in that I got to be the head coach at my alma mater and try to fix something that had been a little rusty there. And I never thought I'd come back to Kansas. But here I am at Pittsburgh State. And I'm thrilled to be here. And on the completely opposite side of the

state too. Exactly. Not exactly an easy drive back home. No, no, but that's okay. Yeah. And you kind of have the same task here. It's kind of rebuilding phase again. Tell me about some of the challenges you have coming in here and starting up the restarting up the the pistate volleyball program. Yeah, you know, this program last year was two and 27. And and that in itself is a little daunting. But I think the opportunities here are just amazing. And the opportunities for growth and the opportunity for improvement. And of course, playing in the MIAA, it's one of the best conferences across the nation for division two. And when you look at our conference members and five of them are in the top 25 of the nation, you know, you've got your work cut out for you. And I love challenges. And I love that whole idea of trying to, you know, make it better. And so this was just the perfect opportunity for me. And and you do have an assistant coach this year instead of just by yourself, so it helps. Yes. And Bri actually is very familiar with the MIAA. She was a all-American player at Washburn. So we're thankful to have her here at Pittsburgh State. And she kind of has

a little insight to help me with the conference. And she's been a blessing. Very good. And tell me about some of the players we have this year, returning players and new players. I got a good group of women playing for you this year. Yeah, we have 23 on the roster, which is huge for a division two roster and with only two coaches. But we've got a lot of kids that are red shirting and growing. And we have four seniors, Maggie Heiberger, Lennon De Silva, Ashlyn Schwartz is our libero, and then Taylor Wright. And those four are really just wanting to go out and in their career on a good note. And that's something that we're really trying to do is send them out leaving the program better than what they found it. We've got some young kids that are doing some really neat things. Lauren Regier, she's a sophomore, Taylor Unkie. There's a couple of freshmen that are actually playing Raven Lawler out of Topeka and Lauren Dunne out of Lewisburg. So it's just been an interesting season so far. We just finished our preseason getting ready to start conference. So kind of starting to come together. We're starting to figure out where the pieces fit a little bit. Bringing in a new coach can be an adjustment for players. Are they adjusting

well to your? I think so. We had the spring for all the returners, the 13 or 13 returners. So they all did really well through the spring, adjusted to my schedule, my style of play, and have bought in. But taking a program and getting it back on track is no small feat. So we know we have a lot of room to grow and room to make up. But I think we're going to be okay. It's just we've got to stay with the process. Oh yeah. One thing I heard you speak about at another event we were at, you really want to add energy into this program. Tell me about how you're going to do that. Well, I'm a high intensity kind of person and anybody that watches us coach or me coach, I guess will know that. I feel like you have to step on the floor and have the same intensity throughout the game. I mean, you can't just sit here and watch this ebb and flow and then think, oh, well, we're going to pick it up when we're down. No, you have to step on the floor and you have to have a high level of intensity and maintain it throughout the game. And I think that's something that I'm bringing to this program is whether we're in practice or we're in the game. It's all the same

with me. And I step on there ready to go and I expect my players to step out there and just turn it on. And I think that's been a little bit of an adjustment. And I don't I'm not afraid to get after him. And I'm not afraid to, you know, let him know when they mess up. But at the same time, when they do some really great things, I'm their biggest cheerleader. Oh yeah. And having that volleyball background being a, you know, a star player yourself and that really helps, you know, you can, hey, I did this. I did this. Yeah. You can do it too. Exactly right. Come from experience. Right. Right. And I think, you know, just knowing that I'm on their side and, and I'm Bree and I both, we're here to help you and we're here to make you better. And I think that's just been part of our, our message that we've been preaching is, you know, there's nothing you can't do. You've got to get your mind over it and just decide, this is the goal we want. And this is where we're going. Looking back and you said you really hadn't thought about being a coach, you know, growing up and all of a sudden just kind of filling your laps. That correct? Well, I mean, I'd always known I was wanting to stay in volleyball or stay in athletics. But I wasn't sure that right when I graduated college, I didn't know that I was going to get offered a coaching position.

I thought I was going to have to really work my way into it and go be a GA somewhere. But it literally, he just walked into my, walked in and said, Jen, I want you to coach with me. And I thought, you know, okay, I'm in. So it was awesome. The team hasn't played yet here at Pittsburgh State University. We're about to start doing that to you excited about that. Oh, very. We start conferences weekend. We're on the road. And then finally, September 30th and October 1st, we get open up at home and we just want as many people as we can to get out there in the stands and see kind of the new face of Pittsburgh State volleyball. And, you know, we just really want to see the crowd come out and see the new style of play and hopefully cheer us on to a win. That's going to be exciting. So come out and support the lady guerrillas on the volleyball court over at the weed. It's going to be a lot of fun. Coach Jen Gomez, thank you so much for coming by. The new head volleyball coach for Pittsburgh State University. Thank you and good luck for the rest of the season. Awesome. Thanks, Dustin.