Terry Pettit
Terry Pettit is a retired American volleyball coach at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln from 1977 to 1999, where he led his Nebraska Cornhuskers volleyball team to the school's first NCAA National Championship in 1995 by defeating Texas in the final. He also led the team to 21 conference championships (Big Eight & Big 12) in his 23 seasons as head coach and established one of the most decorated programs in the sport of volleyball.
Early life
Terry Pettit is a published poet who earned an MFA in creative writing, after earning a B.S. in English from Manchester University in Indiana. He attended graduate school in theology and worked as a reporter for the Church of the Brethren before teaching English at Louisburg College, in Louisburg, North Carolina.
At Nebraska
Terry Pettit was Nebraska's second coach from 1977 to 1999 helping to build the Nebraska Cornhuskers volleyball program into a national power. Terry Pettit led the Huskers to their first NCAA Women's Volleyball Championship in 1995, 2 NCAA National Runner-Up finishes in 1986 and 1989, 6 NCAA national semifinal (Final Four) appearances in 1986, 1989, 1990, 1995, 1996, and 1998, earned 19 consecutive NCAA Tournament appearances from 1982-1999, and won the Big 8/Big 12 every year except 1977 and 1997, guiding the Huskers to a 694-148 record in his 23 years, averaging a 30-6 record each season as coach. Terry Pettit became the Big 8/Big 12 Coach of the Year in 1985, 1986, 1987, 1989, 1990, 1994, 1995, 1996, and 1998 and the AVCA National Coach of the Year in 1986, and 1994. Pettit was the recipient of the USA Volleyball All-Time Great Coach Award in 2004. Under his tutelage, he led one of his players Allison Weston to the prestigious AVCA National Player of the Year honor in 1995. Nebraska also led the nation in both AVCA All-American and Academic All-American selections during his tenure.[1]
Legacy
Pettit built one of the most tradition rich volleyball programs in NCAA history. This is evidenced by up to this day, the Nebraska Cornhuskers volleyball team has had consecutive sellouts at the Nebraska Coliseum for years, and an NCAA record 17,209 Husker fans watched Nebraska defeat Stanford at the Qwest Center in Omaha, Nebraska for the NCAA title in 2006. In December 2008 Pettit authored, "Talent and the Secret Life of Teams," a collection of essays, columns, and creative writing on leadership and team-building based on his career as the head volleyball coach at the University of Nebraska and director of leadership academies at Creighton University, the University of Denver and Colorado State University. In December 2013 Pettit authored a second book, "A Fresh Season - Insights Into Coaching, Leadership and Volleyball."