Photos courtesy of Michigan Tech University Top: Former Michigan Tech assistant coach Cindy Pindral helps with a team huddle led by then-head coach Matt Jennings during a match at the SDC Gym in Houghton. Pindral was recently named head coach of the Huskies

By DAVER KARNOSKY

dkarnosky@mininggazette.com

HOUGHTON — With the Matt Jennings era of Michigan Tech Huskies volleyball at an end, the current student athletes did not have to wait long to find out what direction the school was going, as Michigan Tech brought back former Jennings’ assistant Cindy Pindral.

For Pindral, the opportunity to coach at Michigan Tech again was something she did not expect to have again.

“It’s awesome,” she said. “It’s, I want to say, a dream come true. It was not really on my radar, maybe last year, but you know, life happens in funny ways. As it became more and more apparent that there was going to be a shift happening, it got more exciting for me, and I took a pretty good hard look at what my career goals are going to be.

“I’ve been working on campus for the last two years. I stayed working on campus throughout my whole time up here, but I found that sports are really my calling, and I’m sure my coworkers were probably sick of hearing the Olympics in the background in the corner of my screen, and all that stuff. So I just can’t stay away from sports.”

The chance to be a head coach for the Huskies was also something that really excited her. She also feels that she has made connections on campus over the last couple of years that should prove helpful as a new head coach.

“I’m really happy to be in more of a pivotal role this time,” she said. “I think the time away was really good for me. I learned more than I ever thought I ever needed to know about academic administration. But, I think it’s going to be very helpful to know how a university runs. It’s going to help me with recruiting. It’s going to help me with better relationships with professors on campus, maybe a bit more buy-in from the campus community in general. I’ve made a ton of colleagues that are really valuable, and met a lot of grad students, and non-athletes as well, college students. So, I think it’s all going to be very beneficial.”

Despite being away from Michigan Tech volleyball for a couple of seasons, Pindral actually knows most of the roster. She had a hand in recruiting every player on the roster other than the freshmen.

“I’m super excited to dive in with this team,” she said. “I recruited almost all of them. There’s really only one class that I didn’t have a hand in. Because you recruit two-ish years prior to them actually arriving on campus, so (it’s) really just the freshman class currently (who) is the only one that I don’t know at all. Even the transfers, I recruited them out of high school. They went on to their first school, but it was awesome to see them come back. I’m just really excited to be here.”

That the university showed her such trust is also really meaningful to Pindral.

“I’m really thankful that (Athletic Director) Suzanne (Sanregret) and Matt both have the confidence in me to come back and do this,” said Pindral. “I really did truly enjoy my time the first stint with the team, but some family situations came up. I needed to be home with my young son, and not on the road as much. It was super valuable to have that time to allow him to grow up a little bit more. Now he’s a bit more independent.”

Pindral has been involved locally in club volleyball in the Copper Country, and she has been really encouraged by what she has seen.

“I think, volleyball-wise, we’ve really seen in the last five years in this area the growth and the interest,” she said. “I mean volleyball is booming nationwide, for sure. But, really, around here, the enrollment in the local tryouts is honestly more than our capacity is able to handle. It’s an awesome sign that girls are interested. Everyone wants to be athletic. Everyone is really interested in volleyball specifically. It’s such a dynamic sport and people just really like it. I think I was able to bring maybe some new energy to the club.

“And we’ve really seen it boom with, all of a sudden, coaches are coming out of the woodwork, and they’re like, ‘Hey, I have this experience. I really want to be involved.’ So, it’s been awesome meeting new people that have a background in volleyball, (but) maybe they just haven’t tapped into it in a few years.”

With her pulse on the club scene, Pindral has been in contact with Hancock coach Brian Lamppa, and that connection has given the two a chance to help enhance the recruiting process for local athletes.

“He and I have knocked heads a few times, because he has an extensive background with collegiate coaching, and he works for one of the recruiting agencies right now,” she said. “So, we’re trying to create a pathway so it’s easier for local athletes to understand what it takes to be recruited, especially athletes that might come from a really big family that don’t have the resources to travel to maybe Appleton to play high level club or something like that.

Pindral said that current assistant coach Mallory Nickelson will be returning next season, which she sees as a bonus.

“She’s going to stick around this season, and then we’ll go from there,” Pindral said. “I want her to be able to explore opportunities as much as she wants, or stick around as much as she wants. It’s totally her career path.

“She has a great relationship already with the girls, and she seems like she gets it, so it’ll be nice to have her as a buffer with communication, of course, but, specifically, with volleyball, she was a libero. She was a setter. So, she’s going to help me with implementing some of the ball control, technical pieces and the training that she had in club.”

Pindral describes her style as technical.

“I’m a very technical coach, and I’m big into procedures, manuals, stuff like that,” she said. “So, we’re literally going to have the opportunity to define our system and put it on paper. We met with the team a little bit, and I’m excited. I think the girls are excited to have kind of the first say in defining our systems, and what it means when we say we’re blocking a certain way, or we’re playing a certain type of defense. (They can help) literally write the script, and be, ‘This is our system. This is how we do things.'”

While she knows most the team from the recruiting process, Pindral admits she will be busy this coming spring as she tries to sort out how to fix areas of the Huskies’ game that did not work as well the last two years.

“It’s going to take me this spring, I think, to realize what the range is specifically in defense,” she said. “I’ve seen Amelia (Albers) play, (but I) haven’t actually been in the gym with her. Amelia’s been the libero for the last couple years, but what actually is her range? Should we be giving her a little bit more cross? Should we take away a little bit more cross, and kind of isolate her? As an example, we’re going to have to find all that out, and I’m excited to get in the gym with them, test their limits a little bit, and see what we’re capable of doing, so that we can tailor a good defense around it.”

Offensively, Pindral is really excited about the trio of sophomores Rachel Zurek and Tricia Kennedy, and freshman Paige Wagner.

“Middles are my favorite group to train, but middles are something that I really value in terms they may not get the ball very often, they may not get too many touches, but you definitely know if your team doesn’t have a good middle,” Pindral said. “They are so crucial in everything you do that it’s exciting that we do have a very strong group of middles returning.”