Long Beach State interim men’s volleyball head coach Andy Read lives a double life. One revolves around volleyball nets and scoreboards; the other is a world of lab coats and goggles.
Coaching volleyball with college athletes and teaching physical science to high school students are one in the same for the longtime 49er assistant.
“Really good coaches are good teachers, and really good teachers are good coaches,” Read said.
Read insists very few of his students at Westminster High School are aware that he was an assistant at LBSU. And only those playing on the Lions’ volleyball team know about his new gig replacing Alan Knipe, who will take a three-year leave of absence to lead the U.S. men’s national team.
“It’s like I have two separate lives,” he said.
If repetition is critical in getting high school students to develop a skill set, in Read’s eyes, volleyball is no different.
“I want to work on getting our guys to play as hard as we can for an entire point again, and again and again,” Read said.
As an adolescent who lost both parents at an early age, Read leaned on sports to find guidance and an outlet to help fill the empty void.
“High school football had an impact on my life,” he said. “It straightened me out when I could have gone in a wrong direction.”
The time he spent playing for Brethren Christian High School inspired Read to make the transition into coaching high school volleyball. In fact, Read was head coach of the boy’s volleyball team at Marina High School (Huntington Beach, Calif.) from 1988-89, where Knipe was under his guidance.
“I love athletics and impacting a young person’s life,” Read said.
Despite taking the job on an interim basis, Read said he wants to produce a contending team that will help put butts in the bleachers at the Walter Pyramid. The 49ers went 14-14 (11-11 Mountain Pacific Sports Federation) in 2009, but returns seniors Dean Bittner, a 2009 All-American and Dan Alexander, who received All-America honors in 2008, for the 2010 season.
Bittner, who has played for Read on youth and junior national teams, said that his new coach’s experience with USA Volleyball ensures that the 49er men’s program is in safe hands during Knipe’s absence.
“Andy knows this game is ever-changing and getting faster by the day,” Bittner said. “He is ready with the latest techniques and advice for this team.”
Despite Read’s coaching ties with MPSF rivals Pepperdine (assistant from 1990-92) and UC Irvine (head coach from 1992-96), the star opposite hitter makes it clear where his new coach’s loyalty lies.
“Having him as an assistant coach was like having a ball of fire ready to light you up and make you play better,” Bittner said. “He bleeds black and gold just like the rest of us.”
Losing a coach of Knipe’s stature is akin to say, Memphis men’s basketball losing the services of John Calipari. Naysayers might assume the program will see a drop-off in success with a new name in charge.
Read does not see it that way.
“This team comes back with almost the same group,” he said. “We also have some outstanding underclassmen. We think we’re going to make a run at it.”
Perhaps, this teacher of the game just might have the lesson plan to help LBSU achieve valedictorian status in the MPSF.