CHICAGO — After the NCAA changed the rule allowing volleyball teams to hire a third paid assistant coach, Chris Tamas didn’t have to look far for his new staff member.
The Illinois coach’s wife, Jen (Joines) Tamas, has been a volunteer coach since 2017 and was a natural fit to be elevated to full-time status. She was a four-time All-American at Pacific, played professionally for eight years and was the captain of the USA national team for four years. She had also served as a volunteer coach during Chris’s stints as an assistant coach at Nebraska and Cal Poly.
However, it wasn’t a shoo-in. He made her work for it a bit.
“I actually made her go through the interview process, just so you know. She passed the test tremendously,” Chris Tamas said Wednesday during the Big Ten volleyball media days. “She’s a tremendous coach, and she was a tremendous player. It’s one of those things where if I blindfold interviewed her, it would be her.”
Schools around the Big Ten took several approaches to the third assistant coach. Some added former players starting their coaching careers, while others elevated volunteer coaches or other off-court…
