Coach sets table for Canada’s rise
Hoag played during national men’s volleyball’s ’80s heydays
It had been 30 years between visits to Rexall Place for Glenn Hoag, now head coach of Canada’s men’s volleyball team, but a key player back in the day, when Canada emerged as an elite power at the 1983 Universiade, winning the silver medal in bittersweet fashion.
Hoag and longtime University of Alberta men’s coach Terry Danyluk both were key performers in ’83, when Canada faced Cuba in the gold medal final of the FISU Games in front of about 13,500 fans at what now is called Rexall Place. To this day, that’s the largest crowd to watch Canada play a volleyball match in this country.
Hoag, assisted by Danyluk, leads 11th-ranked Canada into a two-match set against the 14th-ranked Volleyroos of Australia at 7 p.m. Friday and Saturday in FIVB (Federation Internationale de Volleyball) World League play, which is why the longtime friends were back at the scene of their prime Thursday.
As things unfolded, back in ’83, a few weeks after the Universiade loss, Canada beat Cuba at the Olympic qualifying tournament to punch their ticket to the 1984 Summer Games in Los Angeles, where they finished fourth, Canada’s best Olympic result.
Last Friday in Vancouver, that ’83 Universiade team was inducted into the Canadian Volleyball Hall of Fame, jogging some mixed memories for both Olympians. Danyluk and Hoag have often talked over the years about the ones they let slip away.
“Oh, yes,” Hoag said. “It was 1-1 and we were winning 14-7 (in the third game). I don’t know — we screwed up. We made a couple of substitutions and things didn’t go our way. The Cubans came back and beat us 3-1. We had the game. We had the match.”
But, suddenly, the Cubans snatched the momentum, overcame that 14-7 deficit, won the third game and, ultimately, the match.
Both men, in significant ways, are trying to lift Canada back to world prominence in their sport, with a view to qualifying for the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro. The men’s team has not competed in an Olympics since 1992 at Barcelona, Spain.
Since that brief, shining ’80s moment in Canadian volleyball, Danyluk has coached the Golden Bears to six Canadian Interuniversity Sport titles.
For his part, Hoag has carved out a successful career as a top professional volleyball coach in France and, currently, Turkey. So respected is Hoag in Canadian volleyball that in 2009 he signed an eight-year contract extension as the national men’s team head coach, anchoring him in that position through two Olympic cycles.
During Hoag’s tenure, the team is gaining traction. Over the last two years, Canada has jumped from 18th in the world rankings to 11th.
Hoag has assembled a pool of about 40 carded (Sport Canada-funded) athletes who train at the national training centre in Gatineau, Que., vie for spots on the roster for World League play, and play pro volleyball internationally.
“We’re slowly climbing back,” Hoag said. “About eight years ago, when I took over the program, I had been working with the French national team (as an assistant coach).
“We’re slowly climbing back.”
GLENN HOAG
“I got to scout and prepare to play against Canada, so I kind of knew what our weaknesses and strengths were. When I came back, I had an idea of how we could approach it to do it our way. Because in the past, we always tried to imitate other (powers) like Italy.
“It didn’t work (because) it’s not our culture.”
Hoag, who had also coached at the Universite de Sherbrooke, has fashioned a blended, made-in-Canada approach. He recruits talent from the college and university system, and has the new players spend at least a year at the centre in Gatineau, where they learn the Canadian training regimen and style of play. The national team players also play overseas, which is essential to stay competitively sharp.
Hoag keeps in touch with the international competitive environment by coaching the Arkas club in Izmir, Turkey, in addition to the FIVB World League matches. In Turkey, he also coaches Canadian stalwarts Gavin Schmitt of Saskatoon and Gord Perrin of Creston, B.C., for example.
“We established a system-based approach,” Hoag said. “These are (our) references and we train to play within these references, offensively, defensively and stuff like that.
“It took time, obviously. We’re not really a volleyball country. We don’t have the club system, like Europe, where they start really young and play pro. It’s a bit like our hockey system they have over there for volleyball.
“That’s been going pretty good. We’re now thinking 2020 and 2024 to fill positions and make sure we have continuity within the program.”
There have been benchmark victories for Canada in recent years, incremental improvements, as opposed to the spectacular ’83 breakthrough.
“Beating Serbia at the world championships was a big step forward in 2010,” Hoag said, “and then entering the World League in 2011 and beating Brazil, which was probably the best team at that point.”
Last season, Canada beat eventual champion Russia in the preliminary portion of the World League final. Canada finished fifth overall.
The qualification period for the 2016 Olympics starts September 2015, so this is a preparation year for Hoag and the men’s team. Hoag is anxious to see how his team competes at the world championship in Poland in September to gauge where Canada stacks up against other Olympic hopefuls.
There is much work yet to do, but the objective is in sight. Is the resurgence of the men’s national team on the right track?
“Yes, I’m hoping,” Danyluk said. “It has been long overdue and Glenn Hoag has been doing an amazing job building up the base of players.
“He’s got a really good group of mature, veteran players right now, and he’s got a core of younger guys who are knocking at the door to come in.
“He’s done a really good job of developing that program back to where it was.”
Fitting, then, that the pathway to the next Olympic berth runs through Edmonton.