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

