Russ Rose
Template:Volleyball coach infobox Russ Rose is an American volleyball coach at Penn State University (1979-present). His coaching record is 859-154, an .848 winning percentage that ranks second nationally among active coaches. His squads have secured 30 or more wins in a season 19 times and 36 or more victories six times. In 1986, Rose married Lori Barberich, a former three-time All-American at Penn State. They are the parents of four sons, Jonathan, Nicholas, Christopher and Michael.
College
Rose graduated from George Williams College in 1975. He was a member of the school’s team that won the 1974 National Association for Intercollegiate Athletics(NAIA) national championship. He was the captain of the 1975 team that finished third in NAIA competition.
After graduation, Rose remained at George Williams for two years as a part-time coach, helping the women’s team win two state titles and place sixth in national competition. He also assisted the men’s team that won the national championship in 1977.
In 1978, he completed his master’s degree at Nebraska, where he was the defensive coach for the Cornhusker women. While writing his thesis on volleyball statistics, he led the second team to a two-year varsity mark of 52-5.
Penn State University
At Penn State, Rose's teams have never posted less than 22 wins in a season, he earned his 800th career victory at Penn State on September 3, 2004, with a win over Rutgers (only the sixth Division I coach to reach the milestone). He has collected nine Big Ten titles in 15 years and has firmly entrenched the Nittany Lions among the elite programs in the nation.
Many athletes have thrived under Rose’s tutelage as witnessed by the 24 different All-Americans (earning 45 selections in all) and 24 first team All-Big Ten players (earning 43 selections in all) he has coached. In 1999, Lauren Cacciamani was named Big Ten Player of the Year, the Big Ten Female Athlete of the Year and the Honda Award winner. Bonnie Bremner and Katie Schumacher joined Cacciamani as All-Big Ten selections in 1999. Bremner won back-to-back Big Ten Player of the Year honors in 1997 and 1998. Amanda Rome and Carrie Schonveld were recognized with honorable mention All-Big Ten status, while Mishka Levy was named to the conference’s All-Freshman squad. Penn State also placed six players on the Academic All-Big Ten Team in 1999, as Bremner, Cacciamani, Kalna Miller, Schonveld, Rome and Dawn Ippolito were honored.
Prior to entering the Big Ten Conference in 1991, Rose's Lady Lions experienced unprecedented success in the Atlantic 10 Conference, winning eight straight championships. In seven seasons of round-robin play, the Nittany Lions never lost a conference match, reeling off 49 consecutive wins.
1990
Unbeaten in 42 regular-season matches, the Nittany Lions swept Purdue and Big Ten champion Wisconsin in the first two rounds of the NCAA Tournament. Of the team’s 44 wins, 40 were sweeps, a school and national record. Penn State, 12-0 against NCAA Tournament teams, lost to Nebraska in four games in the Mideast Region championship match in Lincoln, Nebraska. Penn State finished sixth in the final 1990 Tachikara Coaches Poll, the program’s highest final ranking ever at the time.
1993
Rose's Nittany Lions surged into their third year of Big Ten play and won their second consecutive conference title. At the NCAA Tournament, the team strung together four victories and earned the right to play for the National Championship against Long Beach State.
1994
Rose coached the Nittany Lions to a second straight NCAA national semifinal appearance and picked up his 500th career win early in the season. Placing second in the Big Ten with a 17-3 conference mark, the Nittany Lions posted a 31-4 ledger on the year and ended the regular-season ranked No. 5, at the time their highest regular-season finish ever. Season highlights included beating national runner-up and perennial powerhouse UCLA at the Volleyball Monthly Invitational and No. 1-ranked and undefeated Nebraska in Nebraska at the NCAA Mideast Regional final to advance to their second straight national semifinal.
1995
Rose's squad posted a 27-8 record and a No. 8 final national ranking. This was his sixth-straight appearance in the NCAA “Sweet 16” and a third-place finish in the Big Ten.
1996
The Lions started out 15-0, before finishing the regular season with a 29-2 mark and a share of the Big Ten title, Rose’s third in six seasons in the conference. The squad that took the court in the NCAA tournament was comprised of one senior, one junior, one sophomore and three freshman.
1997
Rose's Nittany Lions finished as runners-up to Stanford in the NCAA National Championship game after defeating the Florida 3-0 in the semi-finals. Penn State, favored to win, made their third Final Four appearance in five years.
1998
After posting a runner-up finish in 1997, the Lions made it back to the NCAA Championship match. The team cruised through the regular season with a 30-0 mark with 28 of those coming in three games. Penn State also became only the second school to close out the Big Ten schedule with a perfect 20-0 mark.
After winning its fifth Big Ten title, Penn State hosted the NCAA First and Second Rounds and the Central Regional. They swept past Bucknell, Clemson, Louisville and Brigham Young to earn a spot in the school’s fourth national semifinal. Once they reached NCAA Final Four in Madison, Wisconsin, the season ended much like 1997. Penn State defeated Nebraska 3-1 to advance to the national championship match. And once again, the Lions had to rally from a 0-2 deficit to force a fifth game only to come up short against Long Beach State for the NCAA title.
1999
Rose lead Penn State to its second-consecutive 20-0 record in Big Ten play (and fourth straight conference title), becoming the first team in conference history to pull off the feat and winning the NCAA national title. In addition, the 1999 Nittany Lions extended their current NCAA record home-match winning streak to 80 straight (extended to 87 in 2000), eclipsing the previous standard of 58 set by Florida from 1990-94. The Lions streak was finally put to a halt at 87 matches with a loss versus Minnesota on Sept. 29, 2000. Penn State had last dropped a match at Rec Hall on Nov. 24, 1994, when they suffered a 3-2 setback to Illinois, a span of over five seasons.
2001
Even with its 22-8 season, Penn State advanced to the NCAA Tournament and garnered 20 wins in a season for the 26th straight year. Seven Lions earned Academic All-Big Ten recognition during the 2001 campaign.
2002
Rose led a young squad with a freshman setter to a second place finish in the conference and the school’s 22nd consecutive NCAA Tournament. Freshman Sam Tortorello earned Penn State’s second ever Big Ten Freshman of the Year accolade and junior Cara Smith picked up second team All-America honors after leading the nation in hitting percentage for most of the season.
2003
The squad picked up its seventh Big Ten title with a team that was picked to finish second in the conference pre-season poll. Penn State finished 17-3 in league play to earn its 23rd consecutive NCAA berth. Rose was honored with his sixth Big Ten Coach of the Year accolade. Penn State advanced to the NCAA Regional Final match at Florida, falling to the Gators in three games.
2004
Picked to finish second in the Big Ten prior to the season, Rose’s squad ended the non-conference portion of their schedule with an unblemished 9-0 record that included a come-from-behind five-game victory at eventual-National Champion Stanford. A three-game win at Michigan gave Rose and the Nittany Lions their eighth Big Ten title in 14 years and advanced them to their 24th consecutive NCAA Tournament, where they fell to UCLA at the NCAA Regional Semifinal in Seattle, Washington.
2005
The streak continued as the Rose's Nittany Lions claimed their third consecutive Big Ten title with an unblemished 20-0 league record, only the sixth time since 1985 that the champion has been perfect. In addition to dropping only three individual games during the conference season, Penn State swept all four major honors. Rose also earned his seventh Big Ten Coach of the Year award
International
Throughout his career, Rose has been called upon to share his expertise with the coaches and players who represent the United States in international competition. An instructor in the USVBA coaches certification program, Rose has served as a national referee and evaluator and state director for volleyball for the Special Olympics. Rose was a member of the NCAA Division I Volleyball Committee for six years and the NCAA representative to the United States Volleyball Association Rules Committee.
An active clinician, Rose has continued to do clinics on the island as well as in the United States. Players are not the only ones to benefit from Rose’s tutelage. Over 20 individuals within the current college coaching fraternity have gained instruction from Rose.
1981
Rose coached the U.S. women’s silver medal team in the 1981 Maccabiah Games.
1982
He won the bronze medal as an assistant coach of the women’s team in the 1982 National Sports Festival.
1983
He won the bronze medal as the East women’s head coach at the 1983 National Sports Festival.
1985
Rose served as head coach of the U.S. men’s team, which won the bronze medal at the 1985 Maccabiah Games.
1989
Rose was an assistant coach with the United States men’s national team for an exhibition series with Canada and the Soviet Union. His work on the international scene was to have continued in July of that year, but personal commitments and time constraints prevented him from accepting the position as head coach of the U.S. women’s team to the Maccabiah Games.
1990
Rose worked with members of the men’s national and developmental teams during training camp in San Diego.
1993
He assisted in the U.S. men’s matches with Canada and the women’s team against China.
1998-2000
Rose assisted with the U.S. men as they prepared for the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney, Australia.
2002
In the summer, Rose assisted the U.S. men’s team on a 13-day tour of Italy where the athletes competed against the world’s top teams, including Brazil, Italy, Yugoslavia, Russia and Holland.
2005
USA Volleyball named Rose one of their All-Time Great Coaches, making him the first Big Ten coach to ever receive the honor and putting him in the company of the best volleyball coaches in history, including previous Olympic coaches as well as many of their peers.
Professional
Rose coached professional men’s volleyball in Puerto Rico in 1976.
Awards and Honors
- 2005 - Big Ten Coach of the Year, All-Time Great Coach Award (USA Volleyball)
- 2003 - Big Ten Coach of the Year, Rose also celebrated 25 years of coaching at Penn State. He was honored with a bench outside of the post office sponsored by the Penn State Booster Club and surprised with a gathering of more than 40 former players and members of the program, who offered their thoughts and insights on Rose and his career.
- 2000 - United States Olympic Committee Coach of the Year
- 1999 - National Coach of the Year (Volleyball Monthly)
- 1998 - Big Ten Coach of the Year
- 1997 - AVCA Coach of the Year, Big Ten Co-Coach of the Year
- 1996 - NCAA District II Coach of the Year, Big Ten Coach of the Year
- 1994 - NCAA Mideast Region Coach of the Year
- 1993 - National Coach of the Year (Volleyball Monthly), NCAA Mideast Region and the Big Ten Coach of the Year.
- 1992 - Big Ten Coach of the Year, NCAA Mideast Region Coach of the Year
- 1991 - Big Ten Coach of the Year
- 1990 - AVCA Coach of the Year, National Coach of the Year (Volleyball Monthly), NCAA Mideast Region and the Atlantic 10 Coach of the Year.
- 1989 - Atlantic 10 Coach of the Year
- 1988 - Atlantic 10 Coach of the Year
- 1987 - Atlantic 10 Coach of the Year
- 1985 - Atlantic 10 Coach of the Year
- 1984 - Atlantic 10 Coach of the Year
Bibliography
- The Volleyball Coaching Bible (Human Kinetics Copyright 2002) ISBN#: 0736039678
- Volleyball Drills for Champions Book (Human Kinetics Copyright 1999) HK-0-88011-778-8