Q & A WITH MARISSA COTHRAN:

When it was learned over the summer that Erikka Gulbranson was stepping down as Vanguard University women’s volleyball coach, Lions Athletic Director Bob Wilson approached then-assistant Marissa Cothran about becoming interim head coach.

Cothran, a two-time All-Golden State Athletic Conference setter at Vanguard who helped Newport Harbor High and Golden West College win state championships as a player, said she would prefer that he open the job to all comers.

“I didn’t want to have the stigma that goes with being an interim coach and the competitive side of me wanted the best coach for my alma mater,” Cothran said. “If I were going to get the job, I wanted to be interviewed and go through the process and I wanted this to be the real deal. If there was somebody better, I wanted them to bring them in to take this program to a different level.”

Cothran, 26, who began her coaching career as an assistant boys’ coach at Newport Harbor as a high school senior, appears to be the real deal, who may indeed take Vanguard to another level. A former two-year assistant at Vanguard, she has helped the Lions to a 6-1 start, 1-1 in the Golden State Athletic Conference, entering tonight’s conference date at Point Loma Nazarene. The Lions were ranked No. 13 in the NAIA last week (the latest poll comes out today), highest in the program’s history.

She took some time recently to talk about her new role with the Lions.

Question: Being so young, were you surprised to get this job?

Answer: This had kind of been my dream, ever since I started playing here. We had a really good transition in the way that it happened with Erikka having a desire to move on and do something different and me, as co-head coach last year, taking over. It was a really smooth transition. It was hard for our girls at first, but it has ended up being a really great thing and the players have responded really well.

Q: When did you realize you wanted to eventually be a coach?

A: I had coached for Dan [Glenn, the longtime Newport Harbor High coach for whom she helped win a CIF Southern Section and CIF State title] for a couple of years [with the Sailors’ boys’ and girls’ programs] and I think my gifts are teaching and mentoring and coaching. I’ve always loved coaching.

When I finished my teaching credential, I started teaching and I couldn’t let a kid go. I couldn’t let a student not succeed. I said, ‘I don’t know if I can do this, because you have 20, sometimes 35 students, and I can’t let one of them go.’ I took so much home with me.

Then, I started coaching a lot more and it just kind of happened. The best part of my job is mentoring and I feel like I do that more than I coach volleyball sometimes. It’s teaching these student-athletes how to live life. Once they get out of here, it’s a totally different world. There’s so much more to life than volleyball. It has been really cool, it has been challenging and it has been great.

Q: Can you talk about your coaching influences?

A: I’ve had quite a few. Gary Nakamura is one. He taught me how to win. He was my 16s coach at Orange County Volleyball Club.

Dan Glenn was phenomenal. He taught me that all the little things matter. And I loved him because there was no one who was more special than anyone else. Everyone was treated fairly and the same. Even the best player was treated the same as the worst player.

And, obviously, Charlie [Brande, longtime Director of the Orange County Volleyball Club and the women’s coach at UC Irvine]. Growing up in the OCVBC, where I played since I was 12, I learned discipline and how to work hard. I’ll be forever grateful for that.

Those are the three who have inspired me to be where I’m at today.

Q: What steps can you take to help Vanguard climb the ladder in a rugged Golden State Athletic Conference, in which the top six ranked teams in the NAIA now compete.

A: We moved up to No. 13 [from No. 21 in the poll released Sept. 8], and this program has never been ranked that high. I think we’re at this point because I made all my girls stay around here over the summer to train and work out. That has really helped us. I also met weekly with our three leaders to talk about their leadership role and what I expect of them as leaders. We’re really trying to fine-tune what we have and, obviously, recruiting is a big part of that.

Like I tell our players, it’s one game at a time, not even one match at a time. It’s also one practice at a time. It’s a battle every night in this conference. How we react to that pressure is going to be interesting. It’s going to be interesting for me, too, being in a place to regulate this team.

Q: What are your long-term career goals?

A: People always ask if I would ever leave here and the truth is, I don’t think I ever would. I have the greatest staff and I don’t know if I could ever leave. If you go to the NCAA, volleyball is your whole life and there’s more to my life than volleyball. I love being around people and I love being around these girls and a lot of times in the NCAA, it’s all volleyball and that’s your life. Maybe I’ll change my mind, but for right now, I love being here.

Q: Do you believe the success of USA Volleyball at the Beijing Olympics can create a volleyball boom?

A: I do. It was just unbelievable watching [the Olympics]. I’m so proud, because we’ve never been in that place where we had three gold medals [men’s indoor, as well as men’s and women’s beach volleyball] and a silver [women’s indoor]. The cool part was, Nicole Davis, who is the libero on the USA women’s team came in and practiced with us a couple times last year.

I think the way Misty [May-Treanor, a former Newport Harbor High star] and Kerri Walsh [partners on the gold-medal-winning women’s beach volleyball team] are being publicized, I think they are pretty good role models for volleyball.

I think volleyball will experience a boom and be more respected.

BARRY FAULKNER may be reached at (714) 966-4615 or at [email protected].