Chris Voelz, one of 8 women being inducted into the Minnesota Sports Hall of Fame, has strong connections to Gopher Volleyball. Yesterday’s Patrick Ruesse column about Voelz, who fought hard to promote women’s sports during her tenure as U of M Women’s Athletic Director from 1988 to 2002, notes many of Voelz’s accomplishments, including:
- The building of The Jean Freeman Aquatics Center;
- The conversion of an obsolete hockey arena into THE PAV;
- The building of Ridder Hockey Arena;
- The building of Cowles Softball Stadium.
- The creation of Women’s Varsity Hockey; And
- Firing Gopher Volleyball coach Steph Schleuder (because Voelz thought BIG), and wanted to hire Mike Hebert away from Illinois, which turned the Gophers into a volleyball powerhouse, making it possible, later, to hire Coach McCutcheon.
Voelz certainly deserves to be in the MN Sports HOF, and Ruesse is the best sports writer in the Twin Cities. (“Sports” might be an unnecessary qualifier.) But there is a bit of hyperbole in this list.
- The Aquatics Center was under construction before Voelz became Women’s Athletic Director, and it was later named for my friend Jean Freeman after Jean’s untimely death — after Voelz had left the U. (I knew Jean when she swam for the Gophers and I was playing Water Polo; and later when Jean was the Women’s Swim Coach and I was the Men’s and Women’s Polo Coach in the Aquatics Center. Jean was a wonderful person; very deserving of having the Aquatics Center named after her.):
- THE PAV, which seats 5,700, has been a wonderful home for Gopher Volleyball, Gopher Gymnastics, and Gopher Wrestling. 5,700 is occasionally inadequate to satisfy everyone wanting a ticket for Volleyball or Wrestling — but that’s okay. But Voelz also insisted that the Gopher Women’s Basketball Team play there – until a broken pipe forced a team led by Lindsey Whalen and Janel McCarville into Williams Arena — where they drew 11,000. So much for Voelz thinking big.
- The building of His & Hers Hockey Arenas was the second stupidest facilities decision ever made by the Gopher Athletic Dept. (Number 1: TCF Stadium)
- The Gophers already had a strong Women’s Club Hockey program, and there was this Title IX thing, so going varsity was not exactly a stroke of genius.
But this is a volleyball blog, so let’s talk volleyball. Mike Hebert had been successful at Illinois, and he had greater success with the Gophs; greater than he’d had at Illinois, and greater than Schleuder had had with the Gophers. But Voelz did not fire Schleuder so she could hire Hebert, and MN was not able to hire McCutcheon because of Hebert’s success. This is revisionist history.
Voelz fired Schleuder because Schleuder publicly criticized Voelz for lying to her regarding the raise Voelz had promised her. (And then Voelz was able to lure Hebert (a man) away from Illinois, for more money than she had been willing to pay Schleuder (a woman); — not exactly a feminist triumph. Voelz didn’t get along with her male, AD, boss, but she didn’t get along with her female coaches either.
And Coach McCutcheon, who could have had almost any job he wanted, might not have taken the Gopher job if the Gophers were a bad team in a bad conference. But he took the Gopher job because the Gophers were decent, they play in the strongest conference in the country, and McCutcheon is married to and raising kids with a Bachman Girl. (An outstanding volleyball player in her own right.) I don’t know if being one of many heirs to a florist empire makes Mrs. McCutcheon rich, but it definitely means free baby-sitting and a ton of familial support. Collegiate volleyball coaches don’t get rich coaching anywhere, not even at Nebraska or Stanford, and coaching in the home-town of his wife’s family was a decision unrelated to Voelz replacing a pretty good woman coach with an even better man coach.
TAYLOR LANDFAIR on TAYLOR LANDFAIR
This amazing athlete was the #1 overall rated recruit in the class of 2020, and while, in the Covid-Spring of ’21 Season, she experienced the normal ups & downs expected of any freshman, she also crushed “shock & awe” kills, and dominated enough sets that I suggested she might eventually surpass Steph Samedy and Samantha Seliger-Swenson as the GOAT of Gopher Volleyball.
But Landfair pulled herself from the first match of last fall’s season, came back a month later to play sparingly, then left again and spent the rest of the season leading cheers from the bench. When no real explanation was ever provided, there was plenty of speculation by readers of this blog. It was her back, it was a mental health problem, an attitude problem.
Now, the Official Gopher website has posted an essay, “TRUST THE PROCESS,” written by Landfair, explaining what happened. You can read the entire essay at https://gophersports.com/news/2022/3/22/volleyball. But if you’re pressed for time, here are the “Cliff Notes:”
It was an abdominal problem, a strain that developed during the first match of the season, turning into a tear when she tried to return to action to soon. The experience of missing a season was hard on her mental health. But she is now 100% healthy; her attitude is very positive, having “bonded” with the Gopher bench, especially freshmen Natalie Glenn and Lauren Crowl; and her “red-shirt was approved, so she has 4 more years of eligibility!