Winning is Young’s Business

In a town not necessarily known for its optimism there resides a coach who expects to be a champion.

From day one University of Texas at Brownsville and Texas Southmost College volleyball coach Marcus Young has demanded excellence from his team and the Scorpions (33-7) have responded like champions.

“You have to set the expectations high as a coach,” Young said. “We focus on winning; I’ve made that a priority in this program. Everybody has to have the same goal every time we step on the court and that is to win.”

Consider the message received. In Young’s first season at the helm, the No. 18 Scorpions have a winning percentage of .825 despite playing a schedule that consisted of four nationally ranked NAIA teams, four NCAA Division III schools, six Div. II schools and two Div. I schools (Houston Baptist twice and Texas Pan-American).

UTB-TSC absolutely dominated both the Red River Athletic Conference with a perfect 6-0 regular season record and NAIA Region VI in which the Scorpions have been the top ranked team since Sept. 3.

Most recently the Scorpions flexed their muscles by rolling through both the RRAC Tournament on Nov.10 and the NAIA Region VI Tournament on Nov. 17 without losing a single game en route to collecting a couple of more pieces of hardware.

“I think that we have improved over the course of the season,” Young said. “I think that playing Div. I teams has challenged us to play better.”

As UTB-TSC departs today for the NAIA Women’s National Championship in Columbia, Missouri don’t count on Young to allow the Scorpions to be content with just a strong showing. He believes that they have a shot at making a serious run through the tournament.

“Anytime you enter a tournament you have to have the attitude that you’re going to win,” Young said. “I think we will have a height advantage over some of the teams and as far as running the system, we’re hard to beat.”

Young believes that UTB-TSC has a good shot at advancing past their four-team pool into the final 10-team group where anything can happen.

Either way, he has laid a winning foundation and with the bulk of the team scheduled to return next season along with Young himself, the Scorpions are set up to be a NAIA volleyball power for years to come. Besides, as Young’s first season has proved, he would not accept anything less.

“It’s been a lot of fun and pretty amazing how the team has come together,” Young said. “The school, community, everybody has been behind us the whole way.”