When Tim Nollan left USC to be Grand Canyon’s women’s volleyball coach in 2016, the school’s sports programs still were in the transitional phase from Division II to Division I.
He didn’t even have an office.
The building that would house his and other athletic offices was still a dirt lot on the sprawling West Phoenix campus.
Camden Gianni remembered how, during his freshman season with the GCU men’s volleyball team, the then-seniors would talk about how much the campus had changed during their time at the school. Now a redshirt junior, Gianni is telling incoming freshmen how much the campus has changed during his time at Grand Canyon.
Family and friends would give Allison Hansen quizzical looks and pepper her with questions when she told them she was going to Grand Canyon to play beach volleyball. They knew very little – or nothing at all – about the school, she said.
Three years later, the Grand Canyon beach team no longer is unknown. The same could be said for all of GCU’s volleyball teams and its athletic programs in general.
In less than a decade, Grand Canyon went from being an obscure little school in the desert to a prominent player on the Division I stage, particularly in volleyball. All three programs have experienced…
