“Engaging your community is just as important as winning a game.”
Tom Hilbert, the head coach of women’s volleyball at Colorado State University sits down with us in this episode of the 35,000 Feet podcast and gives us insight into his journey as a volleyball coach. During our interview, Tom shares with us how he’s built a winning culture on and off the court, how he got into the game of volleyball, and some of his favorite places he traveled to!
In this episode, we discuss:
How this past season went for Colorado State Volleyball (0:26)
How Coach Hilbert got into coaching (2:54)
Tom’s advice to athletes wanting to play in college (8:02)
Tom’s favorite travel experience (10:00)
One thing that no one knows about Tom (13:27)
Tom’s next adventure (14:13)
Recap of Colorado State’s 2019 Women’s Volleyball Season
Shianne: You just completed your 23rd season with the team, which is so amazing. And you've actually kind of turned this program into a winning program. You've always gone to the NCAA tournament. Can you kind of tell us how your last season went?
Coach Tom Hilbert: Well, I thought it was a fantastic year, and it was a peak year in that we had five seniors. And three of those seniors had been starting since their freshman year. So, you always look at your career, or I do anyway, in terms of eras, where certain groups of players move through. And this particular group that moved through, they were not only good volleyball players, but they were just great, high-character people. Really, one of the most amazing things about them was they were the best academically that we've ever had. Not only in volleyball here at Colorado State but of any team.
I mean, they finished with a combined average GPA of 3.7, almost a 3.8.
Shianne: Wow.
Coach Tom Hilbert: So, that is an incredible class of players. And you just don't see that very often. And they were really special.
Shianne: Yeah. Can you kind of tell us more about how you've created that culture of how they're awesome on and off the court? I mean, that's really awesome.
Coach Tom Hilbert: Well, I believe that your job as a coach, especially in a sport like volleyball where you're trying to grow it, we're always trying to add value to Colorado State University and Colorado State athletics. And you do that by engaging your community. That's just as important as winning a game. And as it turns out, if you do that well over a long period of time, you develop a big fan base, which is another signature part of our program, is that we are always in the top 10 in attendance in the United States. And our home match environments are really fun, and on the other hand, that helps us win games. And so, that's really been an important part of this program, is we get our players out in the community. We get them out in the University community. We really want them to be good citizens of Fort Collins, and they become little mini-celebrities.
Shianne: Yeah, that's so awesome. I think that that home-court advantage definitely plays a big part, but also just having that fan base. That's always so fun when you're really connected to the community that you're playing with.
How Coach Tom Hilbert Started Coaching
Shianne: How did you get into volleyball?
Coach Tom Hilbert: Well, when I grew up in the '70s and '80s, boys' high school volleyball was actually a sport in the state of Oklahoma. And I got involved in the club run by a gentleman named Jess Cooper, who was a great leader in volleyball in the state of Oklahoma, and got associated with a lot of really good male players around the state. And so, I graduated high school. We had a couple of good years in high school, and then I played club, went to Nationals, which really turned positively about the sport. And I had played other sports, but this one was just different. I seemed to take to it and I was better at it. So, I was a center, and I went to the University of Oklahoma. And at the time, the University of Oklahoma did not have a men's club volleyball team. And so, I went into the rec sports department and said I'd like to start one.
So, I started the University of Oklahoma men's volleyball club, and through the course of doing that got to know the women's coach at the University of Oklahoma. I started a girls' volleyball club at Oklahoma, and I believe may have been the first one ever. So, I just sort of networked and got to know people. And then in 1984, I was about ready to graduate from college. It was one semester away, and the University of Oklahoma men's coach lost his assistant and we were three weeks til the season started. So, we both agreed that I would come in and be an interim assistant for that season, and then he'd open the position up at the end of the season. So, I did that and enjoyed it, really helped him to promote the volleyball program at Oklahoma and try to get people to come to matches. And he liked what I was doing, so he said, "Stay on and keep working with me."
So, I was interviewing for other jobs that all would have paid more than being an assistant volleyball coach. But I just decided to do it, because it was a passion of mine. I told my dad, I'm going to do this for three or four years just because it's maybe my only chance to ever do something like this. Well, now I've been doing it for 31/32 years.
Well, I was head coach for 30... actually more than that. I've been a head coach for 31 years, and I've been coaching for about 36 years.
Shianne: Wow, and I would say you're pretty good at it. I mean, you're in the Hall of Fame, you're always winning the Coach of the Year for the Mountain West, you won it last year. I would say you're doing a pretty good job.
Coach Tom Hilbert: Well, we've had a lot of success, and winning gets you a lot of accolades. And I don't look at my career in that way. To me, people ask about things like streaks and that kind of stuff. And I'm like, look, I just do it one year at a time. And streaks and records and stuff like that, those are things that I think should be examined when you're finished. And I'm not finished.
Developing and Shapin Team Culture
Shianne: What would you say kind of just helped shape your culture? I know you kind of talked more about having the hometown. But also, what else do you instill in your players when they're on the court to help them in the practice?
Coach Tom Hilbert: Well, there are a lot of things. We try to develop and shape our culture through our players interacting, through that process. It's not just about what coaches tell them to do and how we ask them to behave. It becomes a situation where they talk about the standards they would like to have, you know? What do they want our team to be about? And we do these core value development exercises. We do it every, probably, two to three years, where they talk about, what are the values and what are the non-negotiable behaviors that we want to have as a volleyball team? And we talk a lot about leadership and developing trust, because that becomes really important. You know?
In sports. Developing trust does not occur on the court. It occurs in life and in interactions between people, and with support. And if you don't trust your teammate, you're not going to allow them to lead you. You're not going to allow them to hold you accountable. And so, developing trust is a big part of it, too.
Coach Tom Hilbert’s Advice for Prospective College Athletes
Shianne: If you're an athlete wanting to play for a team in a University or in a college setting, what would your advice be to them?
Tom: Well, first of all, my advice would be that college athletics, through the recruiting process, gets a certain amount of shininess to it. And people grow up in club volleyball and it's a very expensive thing and their parents are generally paying for them to do it and they're going to these big tournaments. And when they make that move into college volleyball, it becomes very difficult. It becomes a lot like a job, and it is a challenging, challenging experience. And it can be a very meaningful experience, but only if they accept the fact that it's difficult.
And what we see too often is players go through the recruiting process and they go to a place and they think, oh, this is going to be so wonderful. They're going to give me all this gear and we're going to do all these fun things and travel. And then they realize, it's a grind. I mean, it's very difficult. And they have to go to work every day. And it doesn't always go well. Not every day is a great day. And they have to be able to make it through that and understand that the difficulty of it is part of what makes it so great. And that's a hard thing to accept, because a lot of times they've never been asked to do anything that really challenges them and push them out of their comfort zone. And college athletic certainly does.
Coach Hilbert’s Favorite Travel Experiences & Foreign Tours
Shianne: Yeah. So, we are a travel company. So, I always love to ask, what are some of your most favorite travel memories that you have? I know you've kind of coached internationally a little bit, taking some teams. Can you kind of tell us about some of those experiences?
Tom: Yeah, well in general, I think that sport is something that connects us all throughout the world. And so, my favorite travel moments that I have experienced in my life have all had to do with volleyball. I've taken my team on a number of foreign tours, and I've also done some other tours. And it's always exciting to go see new places and eat the food and be part of the culture. It's really exciting when you get to interact with volleyball people in these other countries, right? And so, my favorite trip that I've ever taken would be back in 2005. I went on a trip where we took two teams, where we toured the rural areas outside of Buenos Aires, Argentina.
And Argentina is a great place. I've been to some other wonderful countries, too. But what was so great about this was we were... it was two American teams and two Argentinian teams, and we were on a tour. And in every stop, we went to these small towns, and they packed the gymnasiums with people. And it was a big deal, and they cheered, and they really cheered the Argentinian teams. And then, after the matches, we would go out and have dinner until one or two in the morning, with the players and the coaches from the Argentinian teams. And then we'd sleep in, get up, get on the bus, and go to the next place. And just the cultural elements involved in that, getting to know the Argentinians, seeing the countryside, seeing what the small towns are like, that, to me, was one of the most enjoyable things I've ever done in the sport. And it was really a connection between all of the players and all of the coaches, because we all shared this one thing. And I'll never forget that.
Shianne: What are some places you've been on your foreign tours?
Tom: Let's see. I can tell you. We've been to Italy a number of times, Croatia, Slovenia, the Czech Republic, Switzerland, Amsterdam, France, Germany. I think that covers it.
Shianne: Wow. It sounds like you've kind of been all over the place. That's awesome.
Tom: Yeah. And then, I've taken this team here at Colorado State. We've gone five times. So, and then sixth will be not this summer, but next summer. And those experiences for our players, they always point them out as one of the highlights of their college athletics career.
A Lesser Known Fact About Coach Hilbert
Shianne: What is one thing that no one knows about you that you can share with us?
Tom: Well, I would say that one thing no one knows about me I could share, I grew up in a household where everyone in my house, in my family, were musicians, except me. And so, I was exposed to music. And really, my dad and mom both were jazz musicians. I love jazz still. But I don't play an instrument, but I absolutely love music.
Coach Hilbert’s Next Adventure with His Team
Shianne: What is your next adventure? What are you most excited about this upcoming season?
Tom: Well, this upcoming season is a complete rebuild. And you lose five starters who have had the impact that these kids just did. We come back with a team that is talented, but not mature. And we have to teach them to be better volleyball players, and it's already started with us. And you have to work every day to try and take little baby steps in order to make people better. And that's an exciting thing to do, although there'll be growing pains through it. And I think the fans of Colorado State volleyball and the people in this community have a high expectation for us, and rightly so. But it's going to be very, very difficult to meet that expectation every single day because we're going to be very young.
Shianne: Yeah. And you have how many returning... or not returning, but new ones? You have eight new players coming in, you said?
Tom: Eight new players coming in. Yes. Five on scholarship.
Shianne: Yeah. Wow. So, yeah. That kind of is a whole new team, in a sense. Especially when you lose a lot of your veteran players as they graduate.
Follow Colorado State University Volleyball
Podcast made in partnership with Acanela Expeditions
Theme Song - I’ll Just Be Me by Gravity Castle