A living legend

Thursday, February 13, 1997

M. VOLLEYBALL:

Head coach’s dynasty includes 16 NCAA championshipsBy Vytas
Mazeika

Daily Bruin Contributor

It is rare that one gets a chance to meet a legend.

Al Scates, the UCLA men’s volleyball head coach since 1970, is a
legend in his sport in much the same way that John Wooden is a
legend of college basketball. Both have directed their programs to
a success that will never be duplicated.

In his 27th year coaching the Bruins, Scates has built a dynasty
which has totaled 16 NCAA championships ­ including three in
the last four years.

"He is definitely a legend in volleyball," UCLA assistant coach
Brian Rofer said.

Scates’ accomplishments and records are staggering. He has
compiled a record of 899-140 (.865). This includes three undefeated
seasons (1979, 1982, 1984).

Under his leadership, the UCLA men’s volleyball team holds 26
NCAA records ­ including most victories, most consecutive
victories (48) and most consecutive home court victories (83).

"I am aware of what we’ve done," Scates said. "It is not a big
deal because in L.A. there is so much going on all the time that it
is just another successful program."

But Scates is not just another successful coach, he is a living
legend.

Scates attended junior college in Santa Monica. His goal was to
play both football and basketball, but mainly basketball.

Then one day after football practice his coach invited all of
the players to try out for the volleyball team. Scates did, but
since he had never played and most of the other players had
previous experience playing on the beach, Scates never stood a
chance of making the team.

"I got cut off that team in about five minutes," Scates said.
"But I hung around to watch the people who knew how to play. I
enjoyed watching people that knew how to play. So I decided to
learn how to play."

A determined Scates went to the beach at 7:30 in the morning
just to get on the court. He did not have the talent nor the
experience to play with the good players, so he had to get there
extremely early.

By the time he transferred to UCLA in 1959, Scates had improved
enough to join the volleyball team. He was also a 6-foot-3-inch
center for the Santa Monica College basketball team, but Wooden did
not express interest in recruiting him. Actually, no one did.

But that was alright with Scates, who eventually became the
captain for the volleyball team in1961.

Then in 1963 Scates received a call from then-head coach Glen
Egstrom. Egstrom was quitting and told Scates that he would
recommend him to the athletic director (Wilbur Johns) for the job
of head coach.

"I said no," Scates said. "And then I remember I was driving
somewhere with my wife down Hawthorne Boulevard on the way to Palos
Verdes, and I just pulled over. I called Glen. I said ‘Set it up. I
think I’m going to take it.’

"I came the next day. I walked in … and (Johns) wasn’t paying
attention to me. And I said ‘I can’t accept any money for taking
the job because I want to maintain my amateur status and play in
the ’64 Olympics.’

"So at that point Wilbur Johns stood up and said
‘Congratulations son, you’re hired,’" Scates said. "And that is how
I got the job and I have been here since."

Yet when Scates was hired in ’63, men’s volleyball was not an
NCAA sport.

Colonel Degroot, Scates’ coach at Santa Monica, urged Scates to
start an intercollegiate league. Degroot was sure that by being
part of UCLA, Scates would be able to entice schools like USC to
form a conference.

Today’s Mountain Pacific Sports Federation (MPSF) started with
only six teams and was originally named, by Scates, the Southern
California Volleyball Association (SCVA).

Scates was the conference commissioner for the conference’s
first four years while continuing to coach at UCLA. Then in 1965,
when Pauley Pavilion was built, a major step towards making
volleyball an NCAA sport was taken. Scates arranged a blockbuster
event at the new arena, one that helped sell volleyball as a sport
on its way up.

First, the American men vs. Japan. Second, a women’s match
featuring the United States vs. the Japanese gold-medal team, and
finally, UCLA vs. USC, all arranged by Scates, a member of the
national team at the time.

The triple header drew almost 6,000 paying customers ­ a
record at the time.

"Our athletic director, J.D. Morgan (who replaced Johns in
1963), was in attendance that night," Scates said. "He told me that
night that he would see to it that volleyball became an NCAA sport.
And he did. It took him five years, but he worked hard for it.

"So by 1970 it became an NCAA sport. Largely because J.D. Morgan
was behind it. At that time he was the most powerful athletic
director in the country. He negotiated all the NCAA basketball
contracts with the networks, which was where all the money was
coming from to support the NCAA. So when he wanted it, he got
it."

Like Morgan, Scates also seems to get whatever he wants, whether
he gets it from his players or from his elementary school
students.

Scates works as both the UCLA coach and as a teacher in the
Beverly Hills School District.

"The reason I teach is for the money … and because I enjoy
it," Scates explained.

Scates doesn’t mind the added responsibility of teaching. He
plans on teaching for two more years (until he is 60), at which
point he plans to devote himself full-time to coaching ­ with
a little golf on the side.

In order to be the winningest coach in volleyball history,
Scates needed knowledge of the technical aspect of the game. He
gained this intimate knowledge of the game from emulating the
better players on the beach.

"First of all, I traveled all over the world playing
volleyball," he said. "If I saw something I liked being run by the
Russian team I would just steal it … so through observation I
tried to incorporate the things that would work for us in our
program.

"Basically it has gotten to the point where everybody is running
the same offense and defense. Just whoever does it best wins."

The fact that Scates is just one victory shy of 900 is a
testament to Scates’ coaching over the past 27 years. With a
nonchalant attitude and a never-ending devotion to teaching the
details of the game, Scates has had an impact on all of his
players.

"He’s a master technician," former UCLA player Carl Henkel
(class of 1991) said. "What Scates brings is expertise in the
technical parts of the game ­ in the blocking, offensive
schemes, defensive schemes. He just brings a wealth of experience
and he shares it with you daily."

During his formative years there were no real mentors for Scates
from whom to learn the intricacies of the game. The one time the
national team coach tried to help him, he ended up ruining Scates’
serve for a few weeks.

So Scates coaches in his own way.

"I don’t know what other coaches do," Scates said. "I just know
what I do. We don’t have a lot of rules in our program. People are
expected to behave like adults. When you expect them to do so they
generally do. That’s what I found through the years."

No rules, just expectations.

"He treats everyone like an adult and expects nothing less but
your job," player of the year candidate Paul Nihipali said.

"He’s always treated everybody like men since the day they
walked into the program," Henkel said. "Which means you have to
bring the responsibility of a man. It is a great situation. He
makes men out of boys."

Maybe Scates does know something that the other coaches don’t.
He instills responsibility upon the many young adults who enter
this prestigious program. And in the end that added responsibility
the players take on can translate into national championships of
the team.

Despite all that he’s done, Scates’ future with UCLA is very
foggy. Last year, the U.S. national team came very close to taking
the legendary figure away from UCLA. An offer was on the table
which would have given Scates three times the money that he earns
coaching the Bruins.

"Up to that offer I thought that I had the best job coaching
men’s volleyball right here," Scates said. "We had this discussion
several times, but this is the first time that they came up with
the big numbers."

Scates rejected that offer, but maybe in another four years the
national team will make an offer that he can’t refuse.

"I never did it for money from the beginning," Scates said. "I
just did it because I like it."

How many people in sports can claim to be part of it all just
for the love of the game. Scates is one of the few ­
volleyball legend for all time.

JUSTIN WARREN/Daily Bruin

Al Scates, UCLA’s men’s volleyball head coach for the last 27
years, is aiming for his 900th career win in tonight’s game against
Pepperdine.