Back when Debbie Humphreys
began her coaching career at Stephen F. Austin all of us had to actually pay
attention to which area code we were calling each time we picked up the phone.
Today’s players have no concept of this, but we had “in area” calls, “long
distance” calls and all those phone numbers with area code 800 that were
considered “toll free”. No matter where
you were located, you could call a business or some form of organization that
was out of your area with no additional long distance rates if they had an
“800” area code.
Debbie Humphreys has coached
from the portable phone era to the call waiting period of home phone usage to
the flip phone and now smart phone era. One number keeps getting dialed:
1-800-LEGACY. Humphreys really didn’t
need her 800th win to cement her place in NCAA Volleyball coaching
history. That cement has long dried and
championship upon championship built over the top of it. Coming into 2023, SFA has appeared in the
NCAA Tournament in three of the last five calendar years. In one of those other two years, the ‘Jacks
hosted an NIVC round and the other year was the nastiness known as the “COVID
Year”.
A very long time ago –
actually the first year of the blogs existence in 2009– I wrote this as
Humphreys approached 500 wins:
“So, quick and
dirty math... 23 wins per year for 10 more years puts her at just over 700
career wins. Projecting 23 wins across fifteen more seasons elevates the
projected total to around 830. And, if health and desire permit...what if
Humphreys coached 20 more seasons at SFA? I know...that's getting way out
there...but if the past indicates the future the projected total would rise to
over 940 wins. Amazing to just think about, huh?”
You can read the entire post here. It’s quite long and contains my
reflections about being around the club for the better part of a decade. So, if “reflections” was what I called it in
2009, then what is it now? So much time has elapsed. So much additional time. So many more wins, players, years, joys.
That quote from 2009 predicted
830 wins by the end of 2024. I can
hardly believe I wrote that and yet – here we are. The “830” number may turn out to be quite
accurate. We’ll know when we get to the
end of next season, but where I missed was the implication that possibly that
would be the end. Sitting here now, I
can’t fathom that Humphreys is truly near the end. Even my wild card thought in that post had
her coaching through 2029, a concept that now seems entirely within reach, if
not highly probable. Of course, as with
everything, there is still that caveat of health and desire permitting, but
both of those areas seem positive with Humphreys going into her 36th
season at the helm of our club.
I wrote a shorter article when
both Humphreys and long time rival Brenda Gray of Sam Houston State were both
approaching 700 career wins. That one is posted here and dates back to August 28, 2019.
Life must have been particularly busy in 2015 as I didn’t formally write
about career win 600.
The list of accomplishments is
so long that really just reminding myself of how much I’ve been blessed to see
and letting you know of where Humphreys ranks on all-time lists seems like the
best use of both my personal and professional thoughts.
When Humphreys gets win 812, I
will have worked for the team for HALF of her career wins. That sounds absurd to me given that I feel
like I’ve been around this team for so long.
Well, 18 seasons is a long time, but, of course, easy math tells us
that’s just half of the Humphreys’ era.
When I graduated from Baylor
as an undergraduate, Humphreys had 55 career wins. When I finished grad school at SMU, she was
on the verge of 200. The season I began
coming to games as a faculty member she began that year with 270. When I got the job as public address
announcer while we were playing in Johnson Coliseum, she was sitting at
406. When the blog first appeared in
this space, her tally was 484. When we
began doing radio for select road matches in 2015, Humphreys had amassed 596
wins. When SFA got their ESPN contract
and I began working the televised matches from Nacogdoches, she was at 616.
When I got to travel to my
first NCAA Volleyball Tournament as a member of the media, Humphreys total at
the end of that year was 694. When I was
blessed to call an NCAA Tournament match on the radio in the very building in
which I graduated from Baylor she had 725 wins.
Last year, when I made the circle back to do it again, she ended 2022
with 793. Now, today, against Boise
State in Flagstaff, Arizona she coached in her 800th career victory.
Debbie Humphreys is 20th
on the all-time victories list for NCAA Division 1 Volleyball coaches. She is fourth among all active Division 1
coaches. The only active coaches with
more wins than Humphreys are Mary Wise (Florida), Chris Poole (Florida State)
and John Cook (Nebraska). If you’ve spent even a meager time around the
college volleyball ranks you will recognize all of those names as pillars in
the sport.
Of the 20 coaches that have
amassed 800 career wins, eight of them have made it to 900 and Cook would
seemingly join them. Only five coaches
have 1000+ wins at the Division 1 level.
My quote from 2009 made it sound like 940 would be a real long
shot. It doesn’t seem quite like that
now. My original prediction of 2029
being about the time where that could happen is still a reasonable pace. The only difference is that in 2009 that was
20 years out. Now, it’s only five and I
certainly could see Humphreys doing this for five or more years. Only she really knows how long she wants
and/or will be able to coach. But for
now, there seems to be little slowing down and the mind and energy is still
certainly there.
I get to witness on a season
by season basis her level of desire to teach, to coach and to win. From where I sit, her competency, desire, competitiveness,
and passion are still running really high.
The chase for 900 – even 1000 – will be amazing to witness.
For now, congratulations Coach
Humphreys on 800 career wins. A mighty
accomplishment indeed!
Finally, as if the quote from
October 25, 2009, above wasn’t enough, look at how I ended that article
fourteen years ago (the “eight” is now “twenty”, by the way):
“Some
perspective...only eight coaches in the HISTORY of college volleyball have won
over 800 matches. I hope I am there....on the mic... to see it happen.”
Yep, I was on the mic and there
to see it happen.
Thanks, Coach. Sometimes wishes do come true.
