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Spiking Into History

By E.J. Crawford

Deitre Collins is part of a few exclusive clubs — one as a former player on the NCAA's 25th Anniversary volleyball team as a player and another as a current coach who is a black woman.

Despite little fanfare from the media, Deitre Collins has become one of the most celebrated figures in the Ivy League. The head coach of the defending Ivy League champion Cornell women’s volleyball team, Collins is one of three players to win the Honda Award, given annually to the nation’s best volleyball player, twice during her playing days (1983-84). The other two-time winners are UCLA’s Natalie Williams in 1991-92 and Stanford’s Logan Tom in 2001-02.

Collins was also named the recipient of the Broderick Cup in 1983, beating out Jackie Joyner (later Jackie Joyner-Kersee) for the honor. The Broderick Cup is given to the Outstanding Collegiate Female Athlete of the Year, and past winners include Olympic volleyball star Misty May, soccer icon Mia Hamm, basketball standouts Cheryl Miller, Nancy Lieberman and Rebecca Lobo, and Columbia gold medal-winning swimmer Cristina Teuscher.

But Collins holds another, less celebrated, distinction. She is one of the very few black women coaching in Division I-A.

In January the Ivy League caught up with Collins to reminisce about her past successes, and to discuss what the future holds for black, female coaches and the double standard that exists between male and female coaches in collegiate athletics.

Ivy: This has been a big year for you. You were one of only six athletes named to the 25th Anniversary Volleyball Team by the NCAA, and Cornell won its first outright Ivy title since 1993. Has it all sunk in yet?

DC: And I got engaged [in 2005], so it’s just been a dream, especially with the 25th Anniversary thing. You kind of forget about being a player when you start coaching and then you’re reminded that you used to be a player.

And then, of course, meeting our goals as a team. That’s the present, that’s what I do now, so of course that was exciting.

Ivy: What was it like to see your name listed as one of the six best volleyball players in the last 25 years, joining a group that includes Olympians Logan Tom and Kerri Walsh?

DC: It’s amazing, the fact that it was voted on and people remembered my name. I guess they needed a representative from 25 years ago, so that was me (laughing).

It’s extremely humbling; I don’t know what to say. There are some extraordinary people playing, so how do you distinguish one out of the other or six out of 20?

Ivy: How does the 25th Anniversary Team compare to some of your past honors, such as the two Honda Awards and the Broderick Cup?

DC: I think it’s the same. It’s the same recognition of being, quote-unquote, outstanding among a large group of people. So, to 25 years later to be recognized for the same thing I was recognized before, it’s surreal. To hear them talk about me or to read a bio about me, it feels like they’re talking about someone else. It’s just a really nice honor.

Ivy: The 2005 season marked your second at Cornell and your 10th as a head coach (including eight at UNLV). Given the disappointment of the 2004 season (the Big Red lost to Yale in five games in a play-in tournament for the NCAAs) and Cornell’s drought of outright Ivy volleyball titles, was this your most fulfilling season as a head coach?

DC: It’s just been fulfilling being at Cornell, period. When I made the decision to come here it was based on the administration, but also based on wanting to work with a group of girls that are willing to work for something.

It’s easy to coach people that are happy to play the game and whatever happens happens. But this group was extremely focused and that’s right up my alley. So it’s just been rewarding because they got what they wanted, and I had a hand in that.

Ivy: You were a three-time All-American and a two-time National Player of the Year at the University of Hawaii. Do Ithaca, N.Y. and Honolulu have anything in common?

DC: To play volleyball at the University of Hawaii is amazing because the state loves the sport. The popularity of it is special, so it’s difficult to compare the two. [At Cornell] we’re trying to get people to learn the game and appreciate the game, so it’s just very different.

Ivy: In a 2003-04 survey, the Institute for Diversity and Ethics in Sport found that just 1.6 percent of those coaching women’s Division I athletic teams were African-American females (the same study found that 14.8 percent of student-athletes participating in Division I athletics were black).

According to the NCAA’s 2003-04 Study on Race Demographics, only 5.2 percent (44 of 846) of NCAA volleyball coaches are black women, as opposed to 49.6 percent for white women (420), 35.9 percent for white men (304) and 3.2 percent (27) for black men.

Do these discrepancies surprise you? Disturb you?

DC: I’m surprised there are 50 percent white women, because it seems like there are a lot more men than that. In a way, I’m surprised that we exceed the average with five percent, though that’s still not a very big percentage at all. It’s a sport not considered to be very African-American based, so in a way I’m surprised that we are even there.

(Pausing, she adds), It’s interesting because at the very top level, say the Olympic team, there has always been a large number [of black women] on the team. But for most teams there are usually one or two per team, if you even have one or two. So what seems like a lot, if you compare it to basketball, where the majority of the team is African-American, really is not. Very few African-Americans get to play on a team with another one, so it’s not that large.

Ivy: Do you see a change in hiring practices by universities, particularly at the Division I level?

DC: I think it’s always based on succeeding as an athlete. The ones that coached [also] played somewhere. Unlike men, who can get into coaching without having played the sport and still move up the ladder, you have to be recognized as an African-American woman to get in and move up.

At five percent of head coaches we are getting chances, but you have to have done something to get there.

Ivy: Describe your experiences interviewing for collegiate coaching positions. Did you ever feel like race was an issue?

DC: If it was I didn’t know. If anything, maybe I got brought in to fill the void as a minority and a female, so it’s sort of killing two birds with one stone. I think you get interviewed but you’re not always sure how seriously you’re going to be taken.

I think I’ve been fortunate that I’ve had a lot of jobs offered to me and I’ve been able to continue on despite whatever else is involved. I don’t think it’s ever worked against me, but in America today you still can’t help but sit down and notice that this is a black female on the other side, not just another volleyball coach.

Ivy: If 2005 was a pretty good year, what do you think is in store for Deitre Collins in 2006?

DC: You know, my team is so awesome and we didn’t like how the season ended [with three straight losses, including two in Ivy play after opening the season 12-0], so just like in 2004 they immediately want to know what they can do to get ready for next year.

We still have goals and we have a big nucleus of our team coming back [including 2005 Ivy Player of the Year Elizabeth Bishop], so we have high expectations for next year.

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