Barry Faulkner
Though he has become one of the most respected volleyball coaches
in the state, perhaps even the nation, playing is still the thing for Dan
Glenn.
"The best thing for me as a coach is that I still play," said Glenn,
entering his 15th season as boys and girls coach at Newport Harbor High.
"I still meet with my friends in the mornings to play at the Huntington
Beach Pier and I still play in the men's league at the Balboa Bay Club.
As a player, I've been able to grow as the sport grows. It helps me
figure things out and see how different people are doing different
things."
Whatever adjustments Glenn brings from the court to the bench, seem to
have little effect on the sameness that is the Sailors' success.
His girls teams have won five CIF Southern Section titles, four CIF
state championships and one national crown, while his boys teams have two
section titles. He also has coached five section and one state
runners-up, including a title-match appearance by his only Edison High
boys team in 1986.
His prominent Harbor girls alumni include national prep players of the
year Misty May, Jenny Evans (now Jenny Griffith) and April Ross, as well
as notables such as Melissa Schutz, Jennifer Carey, Maureen McLaren,
Sienna Curci and Tara Kroesch.
A football, basketball and volleyball player at Huntington Beach High
(Class of 1977), Glenn said he fell in love with volleyball playing with
his buddies.
"I learned the game playing in Mike D'Alessandro's back yard," said
Glenn. D'Alessandro is one of several friends who now read as a virtual
who's who of Orange County coaching.
D'Alessandro (Golden West College men) Rocky Ciarelli (Huntington
Beach High boys and girls), Albert Gasparian (GWC women) and Tom
Pestolesi (Irvine Valley men and women) also came out of the coaching
culture jar that germinated behind D'Alessandro's Huntington Beach home.
Glenn, who still competes alongside this coaching honor roll, still
counts them as his closest friends. And, whenever they get together,
volleyball usually filters into the conversation.
"It's funny, because all our styles are a little different," Glenn
said. "But we all influence each other."
Glenn also credits local coaching guru Charlie Brande as a major
influence, while crediting Newport Harbor colleagues like Jeff Brinkley
(football), Bill Barnett (water polo), Larry Hirst (basketball) and Mike
Bargas (football/weightlifting) for helping add to the methods he uses to
maximize team peformance.
