To cut off a chain of five straight losing seasons and establish a sustaining volleyball program, the University of Massachusetts Boston Department of Athletics chose widely-renowned Terry Condon as a new Head Coach of the women’s volleyball team on Tuesday, February 1.
A former U.S. national team member and also an already proven coach who led DivisionⅠTexas A&M University in 1981 to a ninth finish in the nation, Condon is so distinguished that a Google search of “Terry, Condon volleyball” hit 1090 matches within 0.07 seconds.
In the 2005 season from the next September through the end of October, or longer if UMB clinches a playoff berth, Condon will try to lift the Beacons up from 5-17 overall record in 2004 which her predecessor Ken Goon (13-57, 1-20 in Little East Conference) left in the final season of his three-year tenure.
“I’m very excited about [the appointment]. I know the team in the past hasn’t been doing very well, so I can only go up.” Condon said, “I have met the girls a few times. And they are very excited, too. They are willing to work hard and trying to change things. The main thing is that I don’t like losing. My goal is to win the [LEC] eventually. Maybe not this year because we are so far behind right now. But the following year, I expect to see a large improvement.”
Condon said she was also surprised at her coming back to a coaching job which she has been out of almost for two decades. After having led California State Bakersfield and Texas A&M University for a total of eight years until 1985, Condon stepped into administration where she has stayed for twelve years at UCLA and Northeastern University. Naturally enough, a position first assigned to her at UMB in last summer was the Director of Student Athlete Support Services, not a coach, which hardly satisfied Condon.
“I had been in administration quite a while. And I got out of that a little while, because I got really burned out,” Condon commented. “When I got back into administration last summer, then I was watching the [Beacons], I thought I wanted to [coach a team again]. So when an opportunity became available, and I was offered a job, I said ‘Sure. I will do it.’
“I have more enthusiasm now. In administration, I have been watching coaches doing different things like how to handle players. I think I could be a better coach than I was back then.”
Condon started her remarkable volleyball career in the 1970’s. In her collegiate career, the inductee of the UCLA Athletic Hall of Fame helped the Bruins grabbing two national titles in 1974 and 1975 along with a runner-up finish in the ’76 season until when her team had piled up an 89-12 record at a .881 winning percentage. Condon was even a key member of the USA Volleyball National team throughout the ’70s, including at the 1970 World Championship in Varna, Bulgaria. After finished a playing career, Condon was an immediate success as a boss on a bench as she left a 180-101 total record with Texas A&M University during six seasons there.
Unlike the savor of top-ladder volleyball scene Condon has always tasted, this will be her first experience to coach a division three team which, instead of 1800 in Texas, averaged only 69 audiences per game, and whose players don’t have as much time to sacrifice for the sport as semipro student-athletes in DivisionⅠ, due to their other commitments on and off campus such as part-time jobs and class works.
However, Condon is optimistic about rebuilding the Beacons, despite their last-place finish in 2004. “I’m trying to get these kids to be a team right now, really a team. They are going to do stuffs together, to have dinner together and to be more as a team. And eventually, we’re going to win. That’s a given. I would make sure of that.”
Condon, collaborating with a remaining assistant coach Gina Torres, has eyes for developing the program through fundraising and community service, such as serving meals at shelters and inviting kids around Dorchester and Quincy to the campus for a one-day free volleyball clinic. The Head Coach also hopes it help the players to be closer to each other.The Beacons will have five weeks after the spring break. If you are interested, call Condon at 617-287-7832 or send an email to