Family, then volleyball, in that order
The morning after his team won its sixth consecutive provincial championship — and ninth of the past 11 years — Hamilton’s most successful coach came downstairs for breakfast with his family. Time for a Sunday morning chat with his wife and two teenage daughters about things other than volleyball. Even though the team was hosting the nationals in less than a week and that was undoubtedly on his mind.
But shortly after his plate was clean, Dave Preston excused himself.
“And he was at the computer all day watching film,” his wife Gloria says.
Monday brought more of the same. At the office by 9 a.m. and not turning out the lights until after midnight. Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday were similar.
So yeah, you can point to preparation as the root of the 50-yearold’s success in building a collegiate dynasty that may never be matched around here. Or a drive for perfection. Or passion for the sport. Or a bit of workaholism, this time of year anyway.
But ask anyone around him what makes the three-time Canadian coach of the year and fivetime Ontario coach of the year (including this season) great at what he does, and they don’t talk about any of that stuff. They don’t mention his strategy or his intensity or his experience. Not initially, anyway. They don’t talk about championships or beating top U.S. teams or graduating players to the pros, either.
They all simply talk about Dave Preston, the family man.
It might sound a bit cliché, but ask his players why their boss is a great coach and they universally begin talking about him as a father figure who cares passionately about their well-being beyond the court. Which, they say, makes them ready to run through a wall and across a bed of burning coals for him.
“He cares so much about how you are,” says fifth-year outside hitter Brandon Koppers.
“Dave’s No. 1 rule when recruiting is you recruit a person more than a player,” says OUA West player of the year Andrew Richards.
“He can look like a really intense guy but there’s nobody who cares about this program and the players more than him,” adds setter David Doty.
So when he demands excellence from them or runs gruelling practices or pushes them harder than they expected, well, no problem. Richards says there are days people outside the circle would be shocked at how hard he works them. But every player in maroon has bought what Preston is selling.
Then there’s his actual family. It was back in 2008 that Mac had broken through and won its
first Ontario championship since 1992. Preston’s first title since arriving at the school six years before. This title earned his side a berth in the nationals at Laval. Where the Marauders were painfully knocked out in a quarterfinals upset.
“It was a long walk back to the hotel,” Gloria says. “It was very quiet. There’s nothing to say.”
So she reached into her purse, pulled out her wallet and extracted a small photo of their then-toddlers. Then handed it to him, believing it might be the only thing that would make him feel better.
“He smiled,” she says. “It put things back in perspective.”
All that said, she acknowledges that while they’re at the top of his priority list, volleyball isn’t all that far behind. Especially his search for the national title that has thus far eluded him. The past five years have seen the Marauders finish second twice and third three times.
As head coach or assistant, he’s won numerous medals at international events from the Pan Am Games to the NORCECA (North American and Caribbean) championships. Yet Gloria, who’s a physiotherapist and was the team therapist for a decade, says previous losses at the nationals have gnawed at him for months.
“The only thing that gets him over it is his family,” she says.
So if that’s what comforts him, is that elusive national title — Mac’s latest pursuit of that crown begins Friday at 6 p.m. against the University of Montreal at Burridge Gym — what drives him?
“I think so,” says his 14-yearold daughter Grace. “I do. I honestly do.”
She then looks at her mom to see if she agrees. She does.
OK, so what happens if he finally wins one? Or for the optimists, when he wins one? “Nothing,” Gloria says. Nothing? Really?
“He’ll say, ‘You know what? We’re going to be even better next year.’”