Itâs hard enough coaching a menâs volleyball team through a pandemic, but for Stanford’s John Kosty, thereâs an added layer of complexity.
That’s because Stanford is dropping the sport after the 2021 season.Â
âWeâre trying not to have a finale,â Kosty said. âWeâre working hard to try and change that, but as it stands right now, this is our final season, whatever we get out of it.”
Stanford announced July 8 that it would drop 11 of 36 varsity sports after 2021, including men’s and women’s fencing, field hockey, wrestling, lightweight rowing, menâs rowing, co-ed and womenâs sailing, squash, and synchronized swimming.
Former Stanford players and fans of the program have done their best to change Stanford’s mind and have raised more than enough money to fund the men’s volleyball program, but for now nothing’s changed.
âFrom the administration side, they are moving forward with their decision,” Kosty told us, “but we always feel that thereâs always hope when Stanford student-athletes and alumni put their heads together and are resourceful and try and find new ways to reinvest our resources into positive change.”
Stanford men’s volleyball supporters have a Facebook page, a Change.org petition, and a GoFundMe account.
âAll 11 sports have come together and the alumni bases have really come together. We have over 200 alums from our program and I would say that over 95% of them have donated to the cause,” Kosty said.Â
âWeâre Olympic sports. Weâre used to the battle. Itâs a battle that we would love to figure out how to be reinstated somehow, some way. Stanford menâs volleyball understands where weâre at, and the place of menâs volleyball, and part of the legacy of menâs volleyball in this country, and we want to stay a part of it.Â
âThe true drive is that we feel that we belong, the sport is growing, and growing at a rate weâve never seen before, on all levels, and we want to be a part of that.”
Kosty has a record of 214-170 (.557) as he heads into his 15th season as the head coach. He was an assistant to Ruben Nieves when Stanford won it all in 1997. Stanford last won the NCAA men’s national championship in 2010, Kosty’s fourth year as head coach. Last season, the Cardinal stood 6-11 overall, 2-4 in the MPSF, when the season shut down March 13.
This spring’s Stanford team is obviously dealing with a great deal of pressure.
âTheyâre handling it really well,” Kosty said. “Theyâre looking at it as we have some hope in getting reinstated and they feel they have a solid team and a great team culture. No instruction is too big to overcome and theyâre ready to battle it out on the court as soon as Santa Clara county allows us to do that.”
Incredibly, Kosty said neither he nor his team has been together on campus since that time in March. Santa Clara countyâs COVID status is currently in the most restrictive purple tier, at 99% ICU capacity as of January 7. As a result, the team has not yet been able to meet.
âWe are one of the rare cases in the country in that we were not able to come back ever,” Kosty lamented. “The fall sports got a short stint before their seasons were canceled, but we never got that short stint. So I have not seen our guys in person since last March of 2020.”
Accordingly, Stanford has been unable to train as a team.
âWe are not allowed to do anything physical with them because thereâs nobody there to supervise them whoâs CPR trained, etc. And I get it, but we have not been able to train our guys since March,” Kosty said.
âGuys who committed to Stanford volleyball still havenât had a Stanford experience yet. Thereâs a lot of things to look forward to. Weâre preparing them to get onto campus and COVID protocols and be ready to start training when Santa Clara county allows us to do that.”
When he does get with the Cardinal, he’ll be coaching a group he thinks can do well this spring.Â
While Stanford lost three seniors, 6-foot-6 setter Paul Bischoff, 6-9 middle Stephen Moye, and 6-7 outside Eric Beatty, the returning roster appears deep.
âWeâve got a great balance of senior leadership and returning freshmen, who are freshmen again, and a group of six newcomers,” Kosty said. “We have a great mix of youthfulness along with experience. Weâre excited to get them into the gym whenever thatâs going to happen.”
It starts with two seniors in 6-7 opposite Jaylen Jasper and 6-8 middle Kyler Presho. Jasper led the team last spring with 234 kills (4.11/set) and had 33 blocks and 12 aces. Presho had 97 kills, hit .356, and led with 55 blocks (1.02/set), seven solo.
The other two seniors are 6-4 outside JP Reilly and 6-6 Leo Henken. The roster has just one junior in 6-4 opposite/setter Hunter Dickey, who transferred from Orange Coast College.
There are seven sophomores, including 5-0 libero Justin Lui, a product of Pickering, Ontario, who trained with the Canadian national team last fall. He led Stanford with 134 digs (2.33/set) last spring, and also had 179 assists.
“Weâre looking for his leadership from that position,” Kosty said. “Heâs been getting a lot of touches, so heâs well ahead of schedule coming back for us.”
Stanford has plenty of youth waiting for court time. Other sophomores include Will Rottman, a 6-6 outside from Santa Barbara who was second on the team with 155 kills (2.67/set), and Nathan Lietzke, a 6-6 setter from Austin, Texas, who had 201 assists after starting most of the second half of the shortened season.
âHe did a really nice job,” Kosty said. “Heâs physically and mentally prepared to lead the team this year from the setting position.”
Stanfordâs recruiting class received honorable mention in the VolleyballMag.com NCAA men’s ranking of incoming classes. That includes Ethan Hill, a 6-7 middle from San Clemente who transferred from UCLA.Â
Kosty is in a difficult spot politically, having to deal with Stanfordâs athletic administration while hoping to save the menâs volleyball program. He declined most interviews in 2020.
â2021 is a new season, a new year. Weâve established our ‘Save Stanford volleyball’ campaign. Weâre now establishing our 2021 schedule and season, and the scary thing is that weâre still scheduling. Some guys are scheduling for this month still,” he said.Â
Non-conference matches are especially difficult to schedule because of differing COVID protocols.
âItâs kind of in layers. The true answer is that my understanding is that all volleyball conferences are conference only,” Kosty said. “It happened in layers, which means that everybodyâs seasons slowly got shortened. We all made our normal schedules, but as we got late into December, we saw that weâre not going to be able to start until late January or February.”
Compared to the women, there aren’t nearly as many men’s programs and the guidelines are different from conference to conference.
âThe MPSF chose 18 matches, I think the Big West is trying to do 15 matches, playing each team three times,” Kosty said. “I think across the country theyâre trying to do that.
âSince Stanford is starting so late, weâre not going to be able to get our 18 matches in, but weâre going to try to get as close as possible to that. And weâre very understanding of the fact that our players havenât played together since March of last year. And so we need to return to play protocol and ramp them up slowly.â
What’s more, four Stanford teams — both volleyballs and both basketballs — will share court time.
“Weâll see how thatâs all going to work out,” Kosty said. “Weâre excited, and I think all coaches are getting excited about the season, just to get back into the season and start doing what we love to do.â
