Story originally printed in the La Crosse Tribune or online at www.lacrossetribune.com
Published - Thursday, September 25, 2008
Perkins, UW-L remain a perfect fit
Sheila Perkins’ volleyball coaching journey is not unlike the game itself, at least in some respects.
There have been a few bumps along the road, a few times when she thought she was set, then something unstoppable happened — almost like a spike — when the desire to move on couldn’t be blocked.
And, just like in a volleyball game, the momentum has carried Perkins through 14-plus seasons at UW-La Crosse faster than she ever imagined. It’s been a good ride, and one that is far from over.
Perkins, who recently picked up career victory No. 452, has her current team off to an 11-4 start, including 2-1 in WIAC play. Not bad, considering the Menoken, N.D., native started coaching at tiny Cottonwood (Minn.) High School in 1974, where girls sports were in their infancy. In fact, there wasn’t even a playoff system for prep volleyball at the time.
And — get this — if you were a volleyball, basketball and softball player, you never changed uniforms.
“Girls sports were just getting under way,” said Perkins, at the time a 21-year-old North Dakota State University grad who was starting her first job. “We had one set of uniforms for volleyball, basketball and track. Yes, they wore the same thing for all three sports. To be in on the start of a sport was exciting.”
Little did Perkins know that she would spend the better part of the next three decades teaching, and coaching sports — mainly volleyball — at the junior college, then four-year college level. Little did she know she would become a highly successful small-college volleyball coach whohas
influenced many, many young women’s lives.
That, Perkins said, is more rewarding than the 13 straight 20-plus win seasons she has had at UW-L, or the 11 NCAA Division III tournament appearances in her first 14 seasons with the Eagles.
“Just to see students meet their goals and be successful in both volleyball and in the academic world, that is the biggest motivation,” Perkins said. “To me, that is the biggest challenge. How can I support their academics and help them learn to stand on their own.”
Perkins admittedly has come a long way from her days at Cottonwood, where she said the kids learned about volleyball in physical education class, then began to refine their skills at the varsity level. She, in turn, attended as many clinics and workshops as possible to continue learning about the sport.
She still attends clinics and camps to learn about the game.
“I see her at the national convention and at other coaching clinics,” said UW-Whitewater coach Stacy Boudreau. “She is still trying to go out and make herself better. That is one reason why she is so successful. She is always learning, and teaching, different things.”
Her passion for volleyball almost wound up directed at another sport.
“Initially, basketball was my favorite sport,” Perkins said. “This (volleyball) is the sport that I was intrigued with the most. Volleyball is what I wanted to do (at the college level). I was just looking for the right opportunity.”
After Cottonwood, Perkins took a pit stop near her home, landing at Bismarck, N.D., where she took a part-time job as head volleyball coach at what is now the University of Mary. She coached for two years, then went on to earn a Master’s degree in education and health, physical education and recreation from Northern State University in Aberdeen, N.D.
“The kids (at the college level) were a little more mature and a little better skill level,” Perkins said of her desire to coach college volleyball. “And you could pick your own athletes.”
And, you could pick where you wanted to coach — to a degree.
Perkins first full-time teaching and coaching job was at Rainey River Community College in International Falls, Minn., often called the ice box of the nation for its frigid winter temps.
“It is a beautiful place, and the school was relatively new at the time,” Perkins said. “Recruiting was a challenge. The next closest town, Little Falls, was 40 miles away. A lot of our students transferred to Bemidji State, which is 110 miles away.”
Her family was 10 hours away, and the “wear and tear” of coaching three sports, plus teaching, was taking its toll. When a volleyball and softball coaching position, plus teaching, opened up at the University of Minnesota, Morris, she applied and got it.
It wasn’t an instant success story, as Minnesota-Morris went 6-26 in volleyball her first year.
“My first year as a head coach, it was brutal. The cupboard was pretty bare,” Perkins said. “We really didn’t have the athletes to be a lot better and there wasn’t a winning tradition there. It was a progression where you need to bring in student athletes who have been successful.”
Perkins was successful at Minnesota-Morris, posting three straight winning seasons, including a 28-11 mark in 1992, two years before she landed the UW-L job. She might have stayed at Minnesota-Morris a bit longer, but the school made a decision to go from non-scholarship Division III to scholarship Division II because the conference it played in was doing so.
The only problem was there was no increase in Minnesota-Morris’ budget, and no scholarships.
UW-L, she thought, would be wonderful opportunity to focus on one sport, as well as teach.
“This is just a hotbed of volleyball. To be honest, this was an easier job,” Perkins said. “Recruiting was easier. The admissions office works together with athletics to get folks together to come here. And coming into a place that has a winning tradition is very, very different. Everybody here expects to win.”
And she has.
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