In her 20 years as the Utah head volleyball coach, Beth Launiere has worked with both great coaches and great players, but while serving as an assistant coach for the U.S. Women’s National Team at the 2009 FIVB World Grand Prix this summer, she had the opportunity to work with the best.
“It was an amazing opportunity to work with the athletes and coaching staff,” Launiere said.
Launiere coached under Hugh McCutcheon, who was an assistant coach at BYU from 1995-2001, a span during which BYU won two national championships. McCutcheon later became head coach of the U.S. Men’s National Team and led them to both the championships at the 2008 Volleyball World League and the gold medal in the 2008 Beijing Summer Olympics.
Launiere enjoyed the change of pace of being an assistant coach from the usual stress of running a program.
“It was good to be an assistant,” Launiere said. “It was nice to have a different role.”
Rounding out the coaching staff was Karch Kiraly, a 2001 inductee into the Volleyball Hall of Fame.
Launiere appreciated the opportunity to be a part of volleyball on the world level.
“It was all volleyball all the time,” Launiere said. “We were always talking about the nuances of volleyball and breaking down things. The match management at that level is really intense and it was neat to be a part of that.”
After posting a 1-2 record in Pool A to start the tournament, which included a loss to eventual tournament champion Brazil, the team moved on to Pool D, which was hosted by Chinese Taipei.
The team went 1-2 in Pool D, after which Launiere left the team to begin preseason camp with the Utes, while the team continued to Thailand and once again went 1-2 to conclude the tournament.
The team failed to qualify for the final round of play and finished the tournament eighth out of 12 teams that participated. The low finish continued the United States’ drought at this event. After winning the event in 2001 and finishing third in both 2003 and 2004, the United States has failed to win a medal in the past five years of competition.
Launiere said she believes her national coaching stint will also serve to benefit the Utes, saying she looks forward to bringing back her international volleyball experience to the Utah volleyball program.
Tyler CobbHead coach Beth Launiere spent 10 days this summer as an assistant coach for the U.S. women?s team.