No Love is lost despite resignation

Coach steps down from position to focus on duties as associate athletic director

By JOSEPH BOO
Staff Writer

Saying she wanted to concentrate on her administrative duties, USC's women's volleyball coach Lisa Love announced Wednesday that she is resigning from her head coaching duties.

"I made this difficult decision so I could focus on a specific career decision," Love said. "I've been a college head coach for 17 years, so leaving the coaching ranks is a very hard thing for me to do."

Love, also the associate athletics director and head of women's sports at USC, will stay in the athletic department and assume her administrative duties full-time.

A successor for Love has not yet been named, but USC Athletic Director Mike Garrett announced that USC would conduct a national search for coaching candidates.

"I had two awesome jobs for a woman in college athletics at USC: volleyball and administration," Love said. "I felt this was a necessary step, with my long-term aspirations in administration."

Love broke the news to her players before spring practice Wednesday, which completely surprised the team.

"No one knew it was coming," middle blocker Jasmina Marinkovic said. "We were shocked. I could not believe it. I cried immediately. We all cried. It was very sad."

Love said the news was hard for her to give as well.

"The players were very, very quiet," Love said. "It was a very difficult meeting for me."

Love coached the USC women's volleyball team for 10 years and compiled a 205-93 (.688) record. She was the Pacific 10 Conference co-Coach of the Year in 1997.

In her final season as head coach, USC received an NCAA regional berth for the fifth consecutive year.

Before she came to USC, Love coached the University of Texas-Arlington volleyball team for seven years, where she went 199-78. She won National Coach of the Year honors in 1988. Her career coaching record is 404-171.

"I usually don't make these kind of decisions until after the volleyball season," Love said. "It was something I started thinking about only recently."

Love assumed the role of associate athletics director in 1991. Besides overseeing the women's athletic programs, she supervises the women's basketball and tennis teams and both the men's and women's swim teams.

"I'm disappointed that we're losing Lisa as our women's volleyball coach, because her teams have always been the nation's best," Garrett said. "But I'm delighted we still have her in the USC Athletic Department and that she will devote all her energy to athletic administration."

Despite her resignation, Love said she was happy with how she left things with the team.

"I'm sure I left the program in good hands," Love said.

Copyright 1999 by the Daily Trojan. All rights reserved.
This article was published in Vol. 136, No. 40 (Thursday, March 25, 1999), beginning on page 20 and ending on page 18.