“Listen to your head, listen to your heart.”
Jeffery Rotondo, the head coach of women’s volleyball at Rider University, sits down with us in this episode of the 35,000 feet podcast going over his past season with his team, His start in coaching, some memorable travel experiences, and where he plans to head off to next!
In this episode, we discuss:
How this past season went for Rider University Women’s Volleyball team (0:10)
How Coach Rotondo got into coaching (2:51)
Jeffery’s favorite travel experience (10:15)
One thing that no one knows about Jeffery (12:40)
Jeffery’s advice to athletes wanting to play in college (15:04)
Jeffery’s next adventure (16:10)
A Glimpse of The Past Season for Rider University Volleyball Team
Morgan: Hi, guys. Welcome back. It's Morgan. Today I'm sitting down with Coach Jeff. Thanks so much for joining us.
Jeffery: Thank you. I'm looking forward to it as well.
Morgan: Well, awesome. And I guess I just want to start out by asking you, if you could tell us about some of the highs and lows of your season.
Jeffery: Yeah, absolutely. So highs, I think there were a lot. It was my first year with the program, so we came into it, and we were blind coming into it because we didn't have a chance to work with them in the spring. So we were excited at any opportunity to work with them and see them compete. It started out down at Georgetown, and we competed really well in their tournament. Continued onto UMES and Radford where we performed really well. But one of the other moments, I guess the one that really stood out would be our home game against Niagara, which was one of these just nail biters. All the sets were really close, but the one that really sticks out was we pulled out the second set, 39 to 37, and it was with two DSs getting stuck in, because of substitution patterns.
Morgan: Oh, wow.
Jeffery: So we had a five, four DS and a five, I want to say, six DS going around. So they were our outside's at that point. So we found a way to beat that, I guess, adversity right there, which was cool. And I just remember how many times we went through the rotations with them just clocking around. And every time they got front row, the big smile on their face. And you could just see the pressure wasn't getting to them. It was awesome to see. So I would guess that was probably a pretty cool highlight to see them, us pull that out. And then win the entire match in four.
Morgan: No, I love that. I liked that you brought up that the harder games were the ones that you remembered, because I feel like a lot of teams, people think that it's the games that you just go out and demolish the team. But I feel like the games that are the most rewarding are the ones that are the hardest.
Jeffery: Yeah, for sure. I mean, those are the ones that get your heart rate up. So you remember them, and you see the passion and the emotion afterwards. And I remember going into the locker room between sets two and three, after we pulled that out and the energy in there was, it was obnoxious. It was fun. So had that gone the other way where we lose that 39, 37, even though we were in substitution, dismay there, it could have changed the energy and who knows if we had won that match, because Niagara was playing really solid to that point. And then we followed it up with, or that was the second day. And before that, we had beaten Canisius. So that weekend, we were able to have our revenge on two matches. It got away from us earlier in the year. So that was a good weekend for us.
Morgan: Oh, I love that. No, thank you so much for sharing that with us. That's fun to get your insights of the season.
Jeffery: Sure. Yeah, no problem.
Coach Jeffery Rotondo’s Start In His Career
Morgan: Yeah. And so I'm curious, Jeffery, how did you get to be a coach? What's your story there?
Jeffery: Yeah, that's going to take a little bit. So it's been an interesting journey for sure. I played for a long time. I started playing when I was 17, and then fell in love with the game and ended up coaching at my high school where we didn't have a program at my high school. We got it started. So when I was a senior going into my senior year, we went to school board meetings to get our program started. They gave us a club team and then eventually came back and coached boys high school for a few years, took some time off around 2000. Didn't coach or do anything for a little bit. Me and my wife were trying to start a family. We did lose our first child. So that was an eye-opener for me.
So we buckled down and started a family. And then eventually had two healthy, awesome children. And 2008, I got hired to be head coach at a local high school, Lansdale Catholic High School, a very good program in our area in Pennsylvania, and was there for three years. And then was an assistant coach at a division two school in Northeast Philadelphia, at Holy Family for a few years. And then along the way during all this, I was helping to run family business, which we also purchased my father out of the business, so he could retire. And it was in marketing and advertising and direct mail media, and branding and advertising.
Morgan: Yeah.
Jeffery: So it was fun for a lot of years. And then all of a sudden it just started to not be fun. Clients and I guess, you can never do enough for your clients type thing. And I was coming home late one night around, I got home, I think around eight from the office. And my wife was taking my then, I want to say, five-year-old daughter upstairs to bed. And I kissed her good night and said to my wife, I'll be right up. I just want to drop some stuff off. And then I heard my daughter say to my wife, why does daddy always come home from work sad? And that tug at me.
So I didn't like hearing that, and I didn't want her seeing that. So it wasn't even something I realized that was happening, that I was coming home in this miserable state.
So again, I was making a lot of money, but I think that was the catalyst. I heard that and I said, you know what? I've been coaching at this program for a couple months now with Lansdale Catholic. And I said, when I went back into the gym in 2008, I hadn't coached for eight years. I didn't need to prepare anything. It just felt natural.
Morgan: Yeah.
Jeffery: So I said, you know what? I'm going to try and find a way to pursue this. So took an assistants position at Holy Family University where was still running the business and got an opportunity in 2013 to go and be part of the staff at Central Florida, with Todd Dagenais and Nicki Holmes and Michelle Chapman. Great opportunity. Knew them from doing a lot of stuff with high-performance. And I hung up the phone with Nicki, Nicki Holmes, who called me and said, I'm looking for a volunteer. Do you know anybody? And I hung up the phone and I was on vacation with my wife and kids, and I said, that was Nicki.
And he's looking for a volunteer, but he didn't ask me. I said, what do you think if I threw my name into the hat? And she said, well, a good staff? I said, yeah, it's a great staff, one of the best in the country. So what can you learn from them? I said, absolutely I can learn from them. She said, go for it. So it meant leaving the family for six months to go and coach at UCF. So we did that, and I was able to do that because right around the end of 2012 is when I decided to get bought out of the company.
So I was on a two-year buyout. I was receiving my salary and benefits, which afforded me the opportunity to go to UCF and not get paid.
Morgan: Wow. Yeah.
Jeffery: Yeah. I know it's a long story. I'm really sorry.
Morgan: No, no. Keep going. This is awesome.
Jeffery: Yeah. So I got back after that season. It was great. It was everything I hoped it would be.
Todd was fantastic with taking me under, and Nicki has become one of my best friends in the industry, and not only in the industry, but best friend. We talk a lot and he's a great mentor. Michelle is one of the greatest people you'll ever meet. And so it was a great opportunity to learn and see how they ran a program that was striving to get to the top 25. And Todd has got it there.
Morgan: Wow.
Jeffery: So I got back and interviewed at U Delaware for their assistance position. They decided to go with a director of ops from Pitt, who'd got that job over me. And the same day I was waiting to hear from Pitt, the ADA at Holy Family had called me and asked me if I would be interested, because she was asking the previous coach, I think, to resign or there was a mutual resignation or something like that.
Morgan: Yeah.
Jeffery: So I said, well, let me hear from Delaware. And if not, then I'll give you a call back. So long story short, was there for five years and everything happens for a reason. So some stuff happened at University of Delaware that would've led to me not being a part of that staff. The whole staff just turned over the next year.
Morgan: Wow.
Jeffery: So everything happens for a reason. We were there for five years, we treated it. We basically just created a model. If I was running a division one program, what would it look like? And we just brought it to a division two model.
Morgan: Wow.
Jeffery: And we were able to have a lot of success with it and we made it. We finally won conference.
Morgan: Yeah.
Jeffery: Our first recruiting class came in the following year, like 2015. We won conference in '19 and made it to the sweet 16 division two tournament. So we were able to take a small little school in Northeast Philadelphia and put us on the map volleyball wise, and then the opportunity at Rider came. So it came full circle, and that's how the journey has culminated at me being a Rider. And I love every minute of me being at Rider. I just love the school, love the university, the administration. And I love the girls. It's been a joy to be a part of.
Morgan: Oh, no. Thank you for sharing that story.
Jeffery: Sure.
Morgan: It's so cool seeing how you were able to change your life path so quickly, and do something that makes you happy, kind of what we were talking about earlier, before the call.
Jeffery: Yeah.
Morgan: Yeah, that's so amazing.
Jeffery: Yeah. It was great. Trust me, there were some challenging months and challenging times throughout that when you start to look at your... The buyout lasted until about 2014, but then the next couple of years, we were running pretty lean there, just trying to make it work. And hoping that something was going to pay off and sure enough, like I said earlier, you take a leap of faith and hope the net's going to appear and it did. So we're grateful for that.
Morgan: Oh, no. That's amazing. And I can tell it's because of that passion and the love you have for doing something that you've wanted to do. I think that translates over to players and that spreads.
Jeffery: Yeah, I hope so. I hope they see it, and we do a lot of stuff to try and generate that and trust me, they create the passion for me, because the last thing you want to do is let them down. You want to try and be the best coach for them that you can. So that includes a lot of just researching and how do I get better? How do I not let them down and how I become a better coach this week, the next day, the next month, whatever it may be.
Coach Jeffery Rotondo’s Most Memorable Travel Experience
Morgan: Oh, yes. No, it's so true. And I feel like there's so many things that you get to learn with sports along with just lessons that you get from each other. And so, one of the questions I wanted to ask you, because I know there's a lot of travel that happens with sports. So what's sort of the most memorable travel experiences that you've had?
Jeffery: Sports-related would probably be with this team, I think the trip to Radford, because it was our first time getting on a flight with them, which is always exciting. And I just think the extra time together was just a lot of fun. We flew into Charlotte, we rented vans, and drove through Radford along the way. We try and have a food committee to put together some nice restaurants for us to eat at. So we were able to sit down and have good meals together. And I just think you learn a lot about each other when you're just sitting down, when there's no pressure of a match or anything like that, and just get an opportunity to get to know them. Another one would be the one to University of Maryland, Eastern Shore. Unfortunately, our [inaudible 00:11:22] wasn't able to go to that, that trip due to a death in the family.
Morgan: Oh, hard.
Jeffery: But unfortunately, she's a food junkie. She loves really good food. And of course we found like probably one of the best restaurants we ate at all year down there, it was right on the water. And she just remembers looking at the pics and being like, I can't believe you guys found that good of a restaurant. But I just think those are the memories. As much as it's weird to not build it around, oh, we won this cool match. I mean, we played great down at the Radford tournament. I always remember that, but I just remember the time spent together at meals, and even just hanging out in the hotel and stuff like that.
Morgan: Yeah. No, it's true. It becomes a team family, and I feel like that's what you remember.
Jeffery: Yeah. And then I guess personally would be Banff and Alberta, Canada. That's actually of all places, that's where me and my wife went for our honeymoon. So my wife does not enjoy the beach too much. So I know about 95% of honeymoons end up where you're on a beach somewhere and stuff like that, but we went the other path. We went to the Canadian Rockies in Banff, Alberta, Canada is probably one of the most beautiful trips I've ever been on. Absolutely breathtaking. And it was just a very relaxing time to be together. So it was really nice.
Morgan: Oh, that's amazing. Yeah. It's beautiful there. So that's a fun trip.
Jeffery: Absolutely beautiful. Yeah. Yeah.
Morgan: Oh, there's so many beautiful places in the world. And I love that along with traveling on your own, that sports get the opportunity to take you places too. So that's amazing.
Jeffery: Yeah. It is fun, and you get to do it with people that you care about, which makes it even better.
Something Noone Knows About Coach Jeffery Rotondo
Morgan: Exactly. Exactly. No, it's so true. So true. Well, perfect. And then this next question I wanted to ask you, it's a little bit different pace, but.
Jeffery: Yeah.
Morgan: Yeah. What is one thing that no one knows about you that you can share with us?
Jeffery: Oh, boy. Some people know it, I guess, but I guess they don't know the depth. I was just not a good kid when I was growing up. I would say the years from, gosh, 15 to 20, those adolescent years where you have it all figured out and you think... I was in a good amount of trouble, not dire trouble. I will just say that I'm very happy that the smartphone wasn't invented, all that stuff. Because pardon my language here, but the movie, all that kind of stuff where there's guys from that Jackass, like Johnny Knoxville and stuff like that.
Morgan: Yeah.
Jeffery: I'm sorry. But me and all my friends were basically that before we were smart enough to film it and make millions off of it. So yeah, there was a lot of stuff that I look at back on and I'm like, wow, that was really not good.
Morgan: Yeah.
Jeffery: That I did these things. So I was in a good amount of trouble as a 15 to 20-year-old. And I thankfully had a lot of people in my life who I think realized that this is just a kid acting out, and he's not actually a bad kid. Because otherwise, I could have ended up in an entirely different situation. Let's just put it that way. So yeah, I think that's something that people have heard, but maybe not in too much detail. And I try to avoid detail too much, but yeah.
Morgan: Yeah.
Jeffery: I was a little bit of a pain in the butt from 15 to 20 for sure.
Morgan: Wow.
Jeffery: Sorry, mom. Sorry, dad.
Morgan: You're like, sorry, sorry.
Jeffery: Yeah. They know, but I'm apologizing again. So yeah.
Morgan: Oh, no. Well, thank you so much. No, I think it's so cool. And I think it's awesome that you've ended up where you're at now. You followed your life path and you've learned, and I think that's awesome.
Jeffery: Thanks. I appreciate that.
Morgan: Yeah, I know. I think that's awesome. So thank you. That'll be fun for your players to hear and listen to.
Jeffery: Oh, yeah. I'm sure they're going to love hearing that. They're going to start poking and prying. So what exactly kind of trouble did you to get it into? I'm like, moot, next question. So yeah. We'll have to tiptoe around that.
Morgan: Oh, yeah. No. Yes, for sure. Well, thank you for sharing that with us. That's fun to listen to.
Jeffery: Yeah. Absolutely.
Coach Jeffery Rotondo’s Advice to Future Athletes
Morgan: Well, perfect. And I guess my next question for you is if you're an athlete that's wanting to play for a team or university, what would your advice be to them?
Jeffery: Find the university and the program, and the team and the culture that feels good, and you're having your heart it in. And it's something we tell our recruits when we have them on calls or on visits or anything like that, just do your search, do your homework, pay attention to all the small details behind the scenes when you're on a visit. The interactions between players and coaches, the way that they talk about the coach behind the scenes, all that stuff matters. And eventually you're going to go on your visits and then you're going to narrow down your list.
And then I always tell athletes, athletes, it's going to feel right in two places. And for mom and dad, it's got to feel right in one more place. For the athlete, in your head, in your heart you have to feel like this is where I'm supposed to be. And then for mom and dad, you got to go and make sure it fits financially and all that kind of stuff if it's not a full ride or anything like that. So that would be my biggest advice. Just listen to your head, listen to your heart and you will make the right decision for sure.
Morgan: Oh, no. That is awesome. And that's great advice, I think for any future athlete listening to this, I think that's amazing. So thank you for sharing that, again.
Jeffery: Sure thing. No problem.
Coach Jeffery Rotondo’s Next Adventure
Morgan: Yeah. Well, what is your next adventure, Jeff?
Jeffery: Oh, gosh. Maybe trying to decorate my office since it's right now, just four bearing walls in my house, because of the quarantine, but no. We do have a trip planned, which we might have to put on hold to London for my daughter.
Morgan: Oh, wow.
Jeffery: So she wanted to go to London as a graduation present for graduating getting her associates. So I know it sounds crazy, she's 16. She's going to have her associate's degree in May.
Morgan: Oh, wow.
Jeffery: So then she's going off to start her last two years to get her bachelor's for pre-med this fall. So our plan was to go to England. We're still crossing our fingers, but every day that goes by, it looks like that might get postponed a little bit.
Morgan: Yeah.
Jeffery: So that would be our next big adventure, but other than that, it would be, I guess, just honestly, just trying to navigate through the next couple of months with the program and my family here, just trying to figure out ways to bond and have some fun together and come up with some other ideas on Zoom. So I know that sounds boring.
Morgan: No.
Jeffery: But the fact that we can't go anywhere right now, I think the next big adventure hopefully is England. And then, just really trying to bond here at home with my wife and kids, and then create some more energy and stuff to do with the team on Zoom and stuff like that.
Morgan: Oh, no. No, and that's great. Especially considering the circumstances going on. I think those sound like very awesome goals and things coming up next in your life. So thank you. Yeah. That's going to be so fun for you.
Jeffery: Yeah. Looking forward to it.
Morgan: Yeah. Well, thank you. Seriously thank you for letting us get a glimpse into your wonderful team. It was great talking to you.
Jeffery: Oh, it was my pleasure and I really appreciate you reaching out and giving me this opportunity to do this podcast. I was really looking forward to it and I've enjoyed it.
Morgan: Yes. Well, thank you so much and have a good season, and stay safe.
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Theme Song - I’ll Just Be Me by Gravity Castle