Dan Fisher grew up in Santa Barbara, Calif., where residents play beach volleyball like Pittsburgh kids play Wiffle ball or Little League.
“It is mainstream there,” he said.
But it wasn’t on the beach where he learned the collegiate game of volleyball that has lifted him to the top of his profession as coach of the Pitt women’s team. It was in his backyard at home.
“My (older) brother (Brian) started playing, and I was in the fifth grade and he needed someone to pepper with in the backyard. He was my first coach,” Fisher said.
The sport first grabbed him when the 1984 Olympics came to Los Angeles, and it hasn’t let go. Fisher, 48, played in college, graduating from Pacific in 1999 before embarking on a pro career that took him to Spain, Belgium and Switzerland.
“Good enough to play pro, not quite good enough to make the Olympics,” he said.
Coaching was his calling, and he held various jobs for several years, including leading Concordia to the 2012 NAIA championship. In 2013, he was hired at Pitt, a program that hadn’t been to the NCAA Tournament since 2004 and had one victory in 45 previous tries against top-10 opponents.
Less than a decade later, Pitt is one of the queens of the sport, with six ACC championships (three in a row), four Elite 8 qualifiers and participation in the past three Final Fours, albeit without a national championship.
That particular quest — with Pitt as the No. 1 overall seed in the NCAA Tournament — continues at 3:30 p.m. Thursday in a Sweet 16 matchup against Oregon at Petersen Events Center. Kentucky and Missouri play at 1 p.m., with the winners meeting Saturday for a Final Four berth.
Pitt was tested by Oregon on Aug. 30 — its second match of the season — winning 3-0 (25-12, 27-25, 25-23). Now, the Panthers (31-1) are four victories from winning that elusive title.
“Exciting time of year, tough time of year,” Fisher said. “Girls are in finals at the same time. But this is what we’ve been training all year for.”
While nationwide interest in the sport is growing with increased media and television exposure — ESPN2 cameras are setting up inside The Pete — Fisher’s program is thriving. The evidence can be found in the win/loss record but also right outside Petersen Events Center where Victory Heights is under construction and will include a 3,500-seat arena for volleyball, gymnastics and wrestling. Plus, something that really matters: the volleyball team’s exclusive training area.
“It will help recruiting. It will help fan experience,” Fisher said. “There are a lot of really great pro teams in Pittsburgh. To be able to have fans have that level of experience is important. Having our own practice facility that we can always use it anytime is going to be huge.”
Fisher, three-time ACC Coach of the Year, has built his program the way most of the top collegiate teams do it: with the requisite superior athletes. Seven were named East Coast All-Region and All-ACC.
But there’s also a camaraderie that ties everyone together.
Asked what he seeks in a recruit, Fisher had the template memorized
“The whole package is what I’m looking for, a big jump, a big arm,” he said. “Someone who’s a great competitor, a great teammate, a good student. The kind of girls we get really, really value the team and our time together and really enjoy being in the gym. They’re here because they want to train hard and be great.
“Team culture always has been really important to me. We talk about it and sell it to our recruits. That is something that’s a priority. Everyone who recruits says, ‘We’re a family,’ but we try to really be that.
“We have girls from all over the world. We are each other’s support group when they’re away from their home. We try to live that.”
That feeling of togetherness tends to lessen the pressure of being a No. 1 seed and getting back to the Final Four and finally winning it all.
“We’re going into it (saying) we’re going to hold our high standard,” senior libero/defensive specialist Emmy Klika said, “and if we’re holding our standard playing the way we train, hopefully, that ends up in a win.
“There are always nerves, but it’s more that I’m excited to be in these big moments again. The experience from the past three years helps, just knowing how it feels to be on the court in the Sweet 16. For every game, there are always nerves but in a good way.”
Sophomore outside hitter Torrey Stafford said an “underdog mentality” keeps everyone humble.
“We try to go into every game as underdogs,” she said. “You can never get too confident.”
Said Fisher: “We don’t know if we’ll win, but we know that we can. We know we’re good enough.”
Jerry DiPaola is a TribLive reporter covering Pitt athletics since 2011. A Pittsburgh native, he joined the Trib in 1993, first as a copy editor and page designer in the sports department and later as the Pittsburgh Steelers reporter from 1994-2004. He can be reached at jdipaola@triblive.com.
