The coaching history in girls volleyball at Mother McAuley is pretty fascinating stuff.
For a while, it was kind of like a “Can you top this” contest.
Donna Smith started it with a 1977 team that went 32-0 and won the state title.
Then, Mary Anne (O’Neill) Malone raised the ante with three consecutive unbeaten state champions in 1980, 1981 and 1982.
Nancy (Wichgers) Pedersen followed Malone and posted an incredible nine state titles from 1983 through 2004.
All are legends at the school.
Will Jen DeJarld join them? Has she already? She’ll be aiming for her fourth state championship this weekend at CEFCU Arena. Reaching nine titles might be a stretch, but this will mark DeJarld’s third straight appearance at state. Pedersen made four straight from 1994 to 1997.
As soon as I mentioned the word legend, DeJarld started to laugh.
“Ha-ha … when I hear the word legend, the first word I think of is old,” DeJarld said. “It’s someone who has probably been doing something successfully for a very long time.
“When I was taking over from Nancy, I was kind of just living year to year, moment by moment. I was 35 years old, and I just wanted to perpetuate what was already established by Donna Smith, Anne O’Neill and Nancy Pedersen.”
I’d say she has held her own in maintaining McAuley’s reputation as a volleyball power. Others who know her even better than I do have even more glowing thoughts. I talked with a handful of them.
Former Joliet Catholic coach Christine Scheibe always looked forward to playing against DeJarld.
“First and foremost, she’s just a class act,” Scheibe said. “I always felt, walking into her gym, like we were welcome there. I always knew we were going to get a fair game and she was going to have her teams well-prepared.
“You know, she had big shoes to fill when she came in. To be able to be so successful the way she has been, you have to give her a lot of credit. She has definitely got a winning formula.”
Former player Meg Gardner was a freshman coach at McAuley when Pedersen handed the reins to DeJarld.
“I can speak for all of us as alumni that we were excited,” Gardner said. “We were thrilled such an important role in our community and school was going to the most deserving candidate. To see her just thrive and put her own spin on things in a different era is amazing.”
Loyalty? DeJarld gives it. She definitely gets it. Gardner stayed with her for 18 seasons before leaving this year to take an administrative position at Nazareth.
“Jen was so good to me,” Gardner said. “Even when I got calls from other schools, she would say, ‘You can’t leave.’ But I never wanted to leave. She has always been so good to her coaches and so good to her players.”
Current assistant coach Desiree Aramburu, who played for DeJarld in 2006 and 2007, really keyed in on what I think is DeJarld’s best trait.
“She pushes you to get to your best and she does it in the best way,” Aramburu said. “You want to get better. She teaches the mental part of the game and how to handle all of that. That’s a part that gets overlooked a lot.”
Junior outside hitter Sydney Buchanan gave testimony to that after rallying from a midseason slump to be McAuley’s hitting star in the sectional final against Marist.
Pedersen, meanwhile, was one of the first to congratulate the Mighty Macs and DeJarld on social media after Friday’s supersectional win over Normal West. She told me about a photo she saw recently of DeJarld in full coaching mode during a match.
“She had her hands out and you could just see the energy,” Pedersen said. “Often, when I look at what she has accomplished and what she’s doing, I love it.
“I think of when she played for me and when we worked together as coaches for so long. I felt very confident leaving. I was so happy to pass the torch to someone who I knew was very capable and had passion for what McAuley’s tradition means.”
Without a doubt, she has proved to be a keeper.
“Jen truly could be running a Division I program successfully,” Gardner said. “McAuley is so lucky.”