University Chronicle Extras:
Movies
|
Student Resources
|
Vote 04
|
Career
|
Scholarships
|
GradZone
News
Briefly
Calendar of Events
Commentary
Opinions
Sports
Diversions
World News
Classifieds
Login
Letter Submission
Search
Archive
Publishing Policy
Mail Subscriptions
St. Cloud State University
College Publisher
Home
>
Sports
The end of a successful road
By Ben Dunsmoor
Published:
Thursday, October 3, 2002
Media Credit: charles martin
Coach Dianne Glowatzke is in her 26th and final year as SCSU head volleyball coach. Glowatzke has a 631-466 all-time record, with four appearances in the NCAA tournament. The Huskies have a 3-10 record, but hope to get above .500 for the season.
Teacher, competitor and coach are all words that describe SCSU head volleyball coach Dianne Glowatzke.
She is the second volleyball coach St. Cloud has seen, and over that time she has added some great records, victories and national tournament appearances to her r�sum�. After 26 years of coaching the Huskies, however, she has decided that this will be her final season.
What’s the one thing that Glowatzke will remember most from her career at SCSU? The more than 500 wins she has accumulated, which ranks her as one of the top ten active winningest Division II coaches, and the winningest coach in any sport at SCSU.
Not even close.
Glowatzke says the students, the love of the game and teaching are the best part of her job, and the numbers aren’t at all important.
“I like to teach, and the contact with the students,” Glowatzke said. “I’ve always liked that aspect of it. I’ve been one of the fortunate people that have always gone to school. I’ve never considered this a job where I was going to a job that I didn’t like, and I know to many people like that.”
“I’m not a numbers person, I don’t keep track. Like I’ve said to people, if you stay in a sport as long as I have, you’re going to accumulate the wins. I’ve never liked all-conference teams, or any kind of all-star team, because I think in team sports you play as a team and I don’t like singling out for records or numbers. I’m just not a numbers person, so that really doesn’t mean anything to me.”
She has shown that type of humility and care for all her players throughout her years as SCSU’s volleyball coach.
“She guided us all making us better people,” said junior hitter Cara Bartolic. “More responsible, more active and also better athletes. I’ve learned a lot from her. I think we all have and she’s taught us a lot of great things about life, as well as volleyball.”
However, when Glowatzke is coaching, she is all business and it shows in the players on the court.
“She is very intense,” Bartolic said. “She really carries a lot of intensity and a lot of energy into every practice and game, so that carries into how we play.”
“She hates to lose,” said sophomore setter Megan Hardy and hitter Lindsay Ashburn. “And she has helped us to hate to lose, too.”
Before coming to St. Cloud, Glowatzke was selected to an elite group of volleyball officials on the state and regional level to make a trip out to the University of California at Los Angles (UCLA) and receive their national rating as volleyball officials. While taking her test at UCLA to become a referee, she had to officiate a UCLA volleyball match at Poly Pavillion, which was important to her.
“That to me was a big thrill,” Glowatzke recounts. “Johnny Wooden and UCLA basketball had been so big and I had watched games, so that was really exciting.”
After becoming an official, she had to officiate some big matches and stand firm on calls. She also faced some pretty intense coaches. That is where her intensity and passion for the game grew immensely.
In 1977 a position as a volleyball/softball coach opened up at SCSU. Glowatzke, who had also played softball as a child, applied for the job. She took over for eighth-year coach Gladys Ziemer, who started the volleyball program at SCSU that 1977 season. And the rest, as they say, is history.
After 26 years as head coach, Dianne Glowatzke’s influence will still be present on the Husky program for the upcoming years.
“I’m sure we’ll probably have a little bit of her attitude in the back of our heads,” Bartolic said.
“She is doing as much as she can right now just to help us have a really firm base for whoever comes in here next year,” Hardy said.
With all of her coaching accolades, including 1995 North Region coach of the year, 1985 NCC coach of the year and leading four Husky teams to NCAA Division II postseason appearances in the past 14 years, coach Dianne Glowatzke cares about her players the most.
“I feel the focus should be on the players,” Glowatzke said. “The coaches just do their job.”
And what a job she’s done.
