Even if you’re the head coach of a Division I volleyball program, you find out about conference realignment news the same way as everyone else — through social media.
That’s how veteran Oregon head coach Matt Ulmer and first-year Washington head coach Leslie Gabriel learned that their programs would join the Big Ten next year.
“Twitter is where you learn everything,” Ulmer said. “At least in my experience, you don’t know until it’s done.”
The news for both coaches of the programs leaving the Pac-12 was a surprise that dropped on Friday — just four days before they opened up fall practice. However, they aren’t concerned with all the logistics and details of the move for now.
Gabriel said she was glad to hear the official news from their athletic director and put all the speculation and uncertainty to rest. Since UCLA and USC announced they were leaving for the Big Ten a year ago, rumors flew around about whether the Pac-12 would add new schools or if any current members would also depart.
“For me, once you heard it, it was like, ‘OK, good. This is our direction now,’” she said. “We can put all those…
