Join us in this episode of the 35,000 Feet podcast as we talk to Ryan McGuyre, the head coach of women’s volleyball at Baylor University. Listen as he tells not only his story of finding and falling in love with volleyball but also of his incredible experiences while playing and traveling with teams all over the world! Also stay tuned for what he thinks is coming next for the Baylor team and his advice to any and every athlete.

In this episode, we discuss:

• Ryan’s story of becoming head coach of women’s volleyball at Baylor University (0:48)

• Why Ryan has been drawn to coaching since he was young (5:15)

• One of Ryan’s most memorable travel adventures as a coach (9:08)

• Ryan’s favorite destination traveling with athletics (13:05)

• What traveling to foreign countries has taught Ryan about being bold and friendly (15:30)

• What the future looks like for Ryan and the Baylor team (16:48)

• Ryan’s advice to future athletes (21:06)

We dive into a conversation with Ryan talking about their season this past year, some exciting upcoming things in the works. They were in the final four at the last tournament and Coach Ryan McGuyre was named the 2019 AVCA and VolleyballMag.com National Coach of the Year. Listen to the podcast above to hear everything covered in this episode. Below are some of our favorite highlights with Coach McGuyre.

How Ryan Became Coach McGuyre

Kylie: How did you get started in volleyball and how did you end up at Baylor of all places?

Ryan McGuyre: Oh man. A lot of information involved in that. I got involved with volleyball... I actually enjoyed basketball and was very, very active in juniors tennis. So as a young elementary kid I was playing a lot of tennis, and tennis all through junior high and I love that sport.

For whatever reason, my high school, and they have a great tradition of a tennis program, but my freshman year of high school they decided to cut the program. And so for that spring, I decided to stay in shape for basketball, I'd just go out for volleyball. I did not start volleyball until ninth grade. Recruiting now, they're all starting like age 10 and 11 and 12 and junior high. But for whatever reason, for just one year at Christian high school where I attended, they did not have a tennis team my freshman year. I decided to go out for volleyball and had a married couple, great coaches the Herons, and just began to fall in love with the sport my freshman year and stuck with it.

Kylie: Wow. What a cool journey. So you started out in other sports and then essentially found yourself in volleyball as a player.

Ryan McGuyre: Yeah, so I had a lot of success at the high school level with their team. I was never the best player on the team. Maybe got a little bit better my senior year, so I got stronger, got taller later in high school. Coaching was something I knew I wanted to do from a very, very young age. And so going into high school I had broken my leg and could not go out for any of the fall sports.

I had a great mentor, Bob Winger, in junior high. I was the quarterback of the football team and point guard on the basketball team and had a rough year. Best friend died in a car accident, lost both grandparents and this coach had lost his father at the time and so we bonded and he let me come back as just a young ninth grader and be the offensive coordinator for this junior high football team.

And I loved it and I thought for the rest of my life I was going to be coaching junior high flag football. I've arrived, and that was great. I never had a sister. I still thought girls had the cooties at the time. As I continued through college, there was an opportunity to coach the boy’s program at the high school, at my Alma mater. I loved it and I just... I didn't study well. I just planned practices all through my college classes and couldn't wait to get in to coach the JV boys and then eventually the varsity program.

So uniquely the athletic director at the time after a couple of years said if I wanted to keep coaching the boy’s varsity program that I would need to help out on the women's side of the program, which had been struggling, and our boys had been doing good and I was upset.

I very reluctantly said yes, but I was frustrated that I had to give up football for women's JV volleyball. And I remember when I came into the first practice, I had no idea what was going on and I made so many mistakes that year and couldn't figure out why all these girls and athletes were crying and what I even said to trigger it all. And it's been quite a journey since then. Fortunately, I had a great, great team this past year to get to the final four at Baylor and some of the special national championship teams and some other universities along the way. So I'm thankful for that moment now, but at the time I didn't see it that way.

Kylie: I think there's so much opportunity to really shape and mold students, student-athletes at a time in their life when there's so much, so many different directions they can take. I know from my time playing basketball in university, it was really a critical time for me to learn about myself. I'm still really connected with my coaches and they've been almost like life mentors for me. So it's really cool that you've been on both sides of that. And I think, yeah, great job. And that leads actually in perfectly to, I have pulled up here that you were the American Volleyball Coaches Association coach of the year, which is really exciting. And just want to say congrats on that as well.

Ryan McGuyre: Well thank you very, very much. I think as a 20-year-old coach, that's something that, man, would've just blown my mind and really aspire to it. This year it's special because I had such a special team. It really allows me to cherish the relationship with the athletes that we've had on the team this year. We had six very special seniors and I've just grown so much and so it's less about me and it's more about them. And we've tried to compete for something bigger than ourselves every year at Baylor. But I can think, "Hey, 2019, coach of the year," my mind swiftly goes to the athletes I coach. The award for that helps add some permanence to the relationships that we've had.

Coach McGuyre’s Most Memorable Travel Experiences + Baylor Women’s Volleyball Kenya Foreign Tour

Ryan McGuyre: I have hundreds of moments around travel and you spoke to it earlier, I think college is this age where you kind of define who you are and the relationships and how you handle stress and mature. And so I think for me travel is huge. Whenever I can get our teams to travel and experience different cultures, you really find out what you appreciate about home, maybe what you overemphasize, what you take for granted, and you learn, cause not everybody teaches and plays the game the same way.

So I've been very fortunate. I've played volleyball in China and Thailand, in Russia and Brazil, and I've taken volleyball teams to Costa Rica, Belize, Dominican Republic, Ireland, Scotland. And then this past year was special and I thought it really led to our team's success. We went to Kenya. So when I first arrived I took the team to Italy and it was a beautiful, beautiful country and a lot of great experiences, but it was more like a tourist trip.

The Kenya trip, we competed in volleyball, but we were really able to go into some areas too where we could see this incredible joy in these children that just loved on us even though they had nothing. Whether they were orphans or visited a home, or they're in conflict with the law, and some schools, and we brought them a ball and a Frisbee. And that was like the best thing they could ever get.

Again, our athletes really learned to just appreciate what we have and we want to express this love, and I think the children over there and Kenya understood like, man, everybody from America is a movie star and so to be there, it added to their self-worth, or just where they felt like these movie stars coming to love on them.

And for us at Baylor, family is about multiplying joy and also dividing the burden. So we got to increase our Baylor family with a lot of these children in Kenya and increase their joy and share and carry that burden. And just the perspective of different countries is great. I encourage everybody.

Coach McGuyre and Baylor Women’s Volleyball Upcoming Adventures

Ryan McGuyre: I think moving forward is the adventure is just the growth in the younger team. I mentioned that we graduated six seniors that really, that's the group that was all my recruits that first committed to Baylor when we weren't very good. And we had just started to turn things around. I've been here for five years. And so they came in on promises and on faith that they haven't seen fleshed out yet.

And so, a lot of them have great stories as well. Whether there have been injuries to overcome, so we have some young athletes doing that. And normally disappointment is not the end of a journey, but it's the start of an adventure.

For me, the adventures normally start with suffering. Getting fired from a job and moving cross country and at the time, I hated it. It was so devastating. What am I doing with my family, they were uprooted. Back of that as is a joy-filled memory because it's helped shape me and get me here. I love taking our athletes through that. In this game plan in life and suffering produces perseverance, perseverance character, and character hope.

If we learn to suffer well, we get to the point where we become stronger and we can persevere through things and when we've done it long enough, were not shaking. We have that character that can weather the storms. My hope is to get these girls where they're... It's not a wishy-washy, "Oh, I hope we win a national championship," but it's kind of the foregone conclusion that things are going to be okay. To take these athletes through that journey because they're all in different phases.

To me, that's a wonderful adventure and they each have their unique story. So some might be coming through injury, might be dealing through parents divorcing or something, a loss of loved one, just with their game trying to find their identity and not be tied into their kills and blocks and assists, but to realize that they're more than just who they are as a volleyball player.

Coach McGuyre’s Advice to Athletes

Ryan McGuyre: I'd have to say my faith and belief in Jesus Christ has been a big part and intertwined in my coaching philosophy. For me, when I trust, He succeeds. When I try, I fail. My advice would be to surround yourself with wise and encouraging people. Listen to the ones that love and know you best. I do believe there are a purpose and plan in this life and to trust the one that has created us, knows how we operate and has given us those gifts and talents. And so we can use those gifts and talents in alignment with His plan. I think that's when we find not only are we just more successful, but we find the most joy and satisfaction in what we're doing that starts to multiply towards others.

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Podcast made in partnership with Acanela Expeditions

Theme Song - I’ll Just Be Me by Gravity Castle