The newness of Erin Virtue’s tenure
as Michigan’s new head volleyball coach is
obvious.
Just walk into her office in Weiden-
bach Hall where a new name adorns the
door. And that’s pretty much all that hangs
on the walls. Blank walls, void of memo-
ries, but with plenty of room to make new
ones.
Blank walls, save for one thing. One
golden thing: her Olympic gold medal.
That medal highlights Virtue’s pin-
nacle. She’s summited the mountaintop
that no other current Michigan head coach
— and few coaches in the world — have ac-
complished.
Virtue summited that mountaintop
in the 2020 Olympics, winning the gold
medal as an assistant coach for the US
Volleyball Team.
“There’s a pinnacle in anything that
you do,” Virtue told the Daily. “For some,
an actress maybe a Golden Globe, and for
some maybe a Super Bowl championship,
but for us it was (that) we were the best vol-
leyball team in the world. Winning a gold
medal was just a surreal experience.”
That pinnacle can only last so long.
But the lessons and experiences it impart-
ed last forever, and that’s what she brings
to Michigan.
Now Virtue readies to take anoth-
er team to a new peak. She aims to carry
the memories she made, the lessons she
learned and the world-class experience
she has to return the Michigan volleyball
team to the heights it once accomplished
as its new head coach. Heights she is ex-
tremely familiar with.
Erin Virtue holds a blue, maize, and
white striped volleyball with a block M on
it under her arm while she looks to the
court to her right. She is wearing a light
heather grey shirt with black yoga pants
and grey shoes.
Virtue is no stranger to Ann Arbor,
and more importantly, she is no stranger
to finding success at Michigan. She served
as the offensive and recruiting coordinator
during the golden age of Michigan volley-
ball. From 2011 through 2015, she helped
lead the team to four NCAA tournament
appearances, two Sweet 16s and one Final
Four appearance — the lone appearance in
program history. Off the court, all five of
Virtue’s recruiting classes were ranked in
the nation’s top 20.
“The group of athletes we had here
in 2012, which was one of the best seasons
Michigan volleyball has had, was a special
group,” Virtue said. “Not only who the
individuals were about but who the team
was as a collective, and a group that de-
veloped and believed in one another. I’m
so excited to build that into this group we
have here.”
Building the team, its players and
culture is one of Virtue’s first goals. The
Big Ten is one of the most challenging
conferences in the country, and the Wol-
verines haven’t been at the top of the con-
ference in some time. But Virtue, in her
first head coaching venture, wants to be
the person to change that.
Virtue has been involved in vol-
leyball at nearly every level. She played
at Illinois from 2001 to 2004, where she
was the team’s setter. After a short stint
training with the US National Team, she
joined the coaching ranks at Loyola Chi-
cago in 2006. She then coached setters
and liberos at Cincinnati from 2007 to
2010 before coming to Michigan. Then,
she took her talents to the National Team,
where she served as the offensive coordi-
nator and the director of the USA National
Team Development Program.
All of these experiences led Virtue
back to the Wolverines, and she is more
than prepared for the journey ahead.
But before Virtue had the opportu-
nity to become a head coach, she had to
build up her leadership skills.
She first took a leadership role when
she had a season-ending injury her senior
year at Illinois. On the sideline, she found
ways to support her teammates. This time
spent on the sidelines, carving out a new
role for herself, is what sparked her initial
interest in coaching.
“As I grew into the coach mindset,
for me it was just about supporting peo-
ple,” Virtue said. “That was a big deal.
They say everything happens for a reason,
and I didn’t believe them at that time. No
one wants to get injured. But certainly
that perspective helps me support athletes
who are injured at this time because I’ve
been in different roles.
“I’ve been the starter. I’ve been
the captain. I’ve been the injured player.
I’ve been the bench warmer. I’ve been
in all those roles as an athlete so it helps
in making sure we understand the roles
of all women on our team is a big part of
coaching. So I’m grateful for the kind of
full spectrum that I went on as an athlete.”
That experience at all levels pre-
pared her for where she is now. With a
tall task ahead — rebuilding the culture
and bringing Michigan back to relevance
— Virtue isn’t shying away from any of it.
“I want to be uniquely myself,” Vir-
tue said. “I think it’s really easy to be in
comparison mode when you’re in a very
incredible league. For me, I think the
one thing that I want to make sure that I
always remember is all of the pathways that
got me here and the experience that I can
bring.
“Right now, I’m the only one in this
league that was part of an Olympic med-
al-winning team and part of an Olympic
medal-winning staff. I know what it takes.
I know the grind it takes to be great. … I’m
excited about the challenge ahead. But
again, I’m going to be as unique as I can to
every other competitor.”
Running the gamut as a player gave
Virtue the experience she needed to come
into her own as a coach. But she still has a
long road ahead of her.
Erin Virtue holds her right hand up
with her pointer finger pointed up and she
looks as though she is giving directions to
the team. She is wearing a light heather
grey shirt with black yoga pants and grey
shoes. She stands to the side of the court
and a blurry glimpse of a player wearing
a maize uniform can be seen in the fore-
ground to the right.
Former head coach Mark Rosen’s
firing in December was the final straw
signaling that there needed to be a swift
culture change. After a slew of down years,
Michigan’s performance on the court may
not be the only thing that needs fixing.
Virtue’s impact is clear and immediate,
already building deep, personal relation-
ships with her players. And her player’s
response is obvious.
“She just has a lot of knowledge,”
senior setter Scottee Johnson said. “Her
plans are very intentional, like she’s very
honest. And she wants to know us as peo-
ple and really tries to connect with us.”
This same coaching style was evi-
dent in her first stint with the Wolverines.
“Virtue is more than just a coach,”
former player Lexi Dannenmiller told The
Daily. “She just cares for us as individual
beings and as girls, she works to empower
us. She’s one of those coaches that she will
motivate you but in a way that also inspires
you. So she’s like, making you work hard.
She’s making you be your best. But in a
way that really just inspires and empowers
you.”
Virtue’s focus on building personal
relationships off the court is starting to
show up through success in practice. Her
ultimate goal is to bring Michigan back to
the dominance it once saw, one that she
had a hand in crafting. She knows that
won’t be an easy task. But she carries ex-
periences with her that few other coaches
have, and that makes her a good fit for the
job.
“I’ve always wanted to do hard
things in my career and in my athletic ven-
tures,” Virtue said. “So the opportunity
is really exciting. … (I will) hopefully take
this program and it’s built on a wonderful
foundation, but then just kind of get over
this hump and the Big Ten is an exciting
and challenging opportunity in front of me
and this program.”
Virtue is the centerpiece of this
new culture, but she wants to build the
program as a whole. That starts with sur-
rounding herself with like-minded coach-
es, and she has already started that process
by hiring associate head coach Dan Paw-
likowski. Similar to Virtue, Pawlikowski
has coached at all levels of volleyball, and
Virtue hopes that allure will attract the
right type of athletes to rebuild the pro-
gram.
“I want to bring in people who
want to really love this game and under-
stand how to develop volleyball players,
but I also want to bring in really, really
good people,” Virtue said. “… I want to
attract student athletes that want to try to
compete at the next level professionally
or internationally after they’re done with
Michigan. … You’re gonna see that not
only in the athletes that we bring in, but
also the staff that we want to have mentors
and leaders and people that embody what
it is we want to teach.”
Being a new coach in the Big Ten
will certainly be a challenge, but Virtue
knows that she isn’t like other coaches.
She knows that she is uniquely herself and
brings things to the table that no one else
does. Her vast coaching experience at the
forefront, Virtue really isn’t the newbie in
the league.
And Virtue isn’t shying away from
the challenge, and opportunity, in front
of her.
The gold medal might be the only
thing hanging on in her office now, but
Virtue hopes that won’t be the only piece
adorning the wall in a few years. But she
doesn’t just want those accolades in her
office. She wants banners in the rafters.
She wants her name — and her player’s
names — etched in Michigan volleyball
history.
With her unique coaching ability
and her unparalleled experience, she
wants to take Michigan to heights un-
known. And there’s nothing saying Virtue
can’t achieve just that.
With gold medal experience, Erin Virtue
aims to return Michigan to its former glory
2 — Women’s Month /
/ Wednesday, March 29, 2023
LILY ISRAEL
Daily Sports Editor
RILEY NIEBOER/Daily