MANHATTAN, Kan. – Kansas State Athletics Director Gene Taylor introduced Jason Mansfield as the ninth head volleyball coach in school history on Wednesday. A transcript of the press conference is below.
GENE TAYLOR, ATHLETICS DIRECTOR
Opening statement…
“Well, first of all, thank you for being here. Obviously, we’re very excited to be able to introduce you to our new volleyball coach. Before I do, I've got some thank yous. There were a few folks that were part of this process. Jill Shields, our Deputy (AD), Julie Owen, Kenny Lannou and Rob Heil were part of the group that helped us through this. I will tell you there was a lot of interest in this position. As we talked to really, really good candidates throughout the country, their interest in K-State was based on a lot of a lot of things. Obviously, the history of the program, our reputation as an athletic department, the other things that are going on in our athletic department, the success of our programs, and clearly the new facility was certainly something that drew a lot of interest in this position. We were very, very fortunate to have some really, really good candidates. Turnkey was the search firm. Katy Staudt was somebody that helped us a great deal to really pound the pavement. This process went very quickly, but the timing of it was at the end of volleyball season, and a lot of candidates were in postseason.
“We're very, very fortunate today to introduce you to our new head volleyball coach, Jason Mansfield. Jason comes to us as a longtime assistant at the University of Washington. He had a lot of success. He’s probably on the top assistant coaches in the country in terms of some of the athletes that he's coached over the years. Obviously he spent a lot of time at Stanford and has been to multiple Final Fours, a couple of national championships. So his reputation as a volleyball coach with a lot of connections and a longtime assistant, he's ready for this position, and he discussed that quite a bit during the course of the interviews. As a matter of fact, we had a little stumble with him because of the weather. He was scheduled to come out in person, then we had that storm that blew through here. So, we had to do it by Zoom. We had a Zoom call with him, and then he had to do a second Zoom. One of the pieces, Jason Brummett FaceTiming as he walked him through the facility. So, this is the first time he's been to Manhattan, Kansas. Obviously, we're excited to eventually get his family here. He's got two young kids. He's got a daughter, Rylee, and a son, Dylan, and his wife is Kim. They’re obviously not here, but eventually they'll make it out, and I know they're very excited. They just had a 19-hour drive to Disneyland over Christmas. He was able to get a lot of work done
“So, without further ado, I can't tell you how excited we are to have Jason here and for me to introduce you to our new head volleyball coach, Jason Mansfield.”
JASON MANSFIELD, HEAD VOLLEYBALL COACH
Opening Statement…
“Hello, everyone. First, I want to start off by doing some thank yous. Thank you to President (Richard) Linton, Jill Shields and Gene Taylor for believing in me and taking a chance on me. For my parents, their support and guidance all these years. My wife and kids, Rylee and Dylan, for coming on this adventure with me. My mentor John Dunning, in my humble opinion, the best ever to do it in this sport. I was so fortunate to coach with him for 15 years. Lastly, to all my former players that I've been coaching for 27 years, they have always been my why. They have shaped me into the coach that I am today. So, I want to thank them.
“I'm very excited to be here. I came here to build a program that lasts, a program with high character, great connection to each other and the community, and lastly, a passion to compete. The more I talked with Gene and Jill, the more I saw that so much is in place here - great academics; great facilities, especially the new Morgan Family Volleyball Center; the Big 12 Conference, which I think is improving more and more every year; and the community of Manhattan that is second to none and how passionate they are about this university, and I can't wait to get started with these student-athletes. I've connected with all of them, as well as incoming recruits. They are so excited for the new possibilities, and that means everything to me. So, I'm excited to get started.”
How his career as an assistant has prepared him to be a head coach…
“I was really fortunate, like I said, to coach at Stanford for 15 years with John Dunning. From there, I went to Illinois and got a chance to coach with Kevin Hambly for a season, and then Chris Tamas for season. Then I got a chance to go to Washington and coach with Keegan Cook and Leslie Gabriel. So just a very unique period of time in my life where I coached at the same place for 15 years and left there. I felt like I needed to grow as a coach. Then I was with four different head coaches in four years. So, the amount of growth I had during that time was phenomenal. The last five seasons, it's the best staff have ever been a part of the three of us together. I loved it. We grew together and I think it helped me prepare for this situation and what kind of staff I want, what kind of culture I want. So, I feel like I'm the most prepared I've ever been.”
On the Big 12 Conference in terms of volleyball success…
“Like I said, it's a growing conference. There's a lot of great programs, great coaches in this conference with Texas being at the top. We lost in the first round at TCU this year, so I got a chance to see how good that program was and a first-time head coach there. The conference is really good. I know there's going to be some changes in the next couple of years, but we're just trying to be the best that we can be at K-State and hopefully add to that conference. But, I'm really excited about the new opportunity. I know that the Big 12 speaks for itself as far as the amount of support they have for all the programs and all the sports, so that was definitely a very attractive piece to this.”
On the potential ceiling of the K-State Volleyball program…
“First and foremost, I want to thank Coach (Suzie) Fritz and Coach (Jeff) Grove for the last 20 years here and all they've poured into this program, and maybe most importantly the student-athletes they've recruited here and the athletes that are here right now and the ones that are coming in. They're really excited to get started, like I said, and it starts with them. So, what's the ceiling? I want to be as good as we can be. I'm very competitive. I want to win every match that we play. I want to win every point that we play. We're going to train really hard, and we're going to figure out the best way to do that. I think the goal is always to try to make the NCAA Tournament, and then anything can happen from there. So, our goal is to get started, get connected, figured out how to play the game at a high level, and then we're going to compete every match that we play.”
On his first priority after arriving in town…
“Well, I got in late last night, so sleep was the main priority. Everything is so new, and I'm just excited to see it all. I met wonderful people, obviously on the Zooms, but today as well. So, I'm just excited to continue to connect with more people.”
On his recruiting philosophy…
“I want people that are passionate about the game, passionate about learning and growing. That's the biggest piece. I have a passion for the game, and obviously wanting to learn and grow myself. I think those are the best players to recruit, players that love the game, they're unselfish and have high character as well. So that'll be the goal.”
Kenny Lannou
Executive Associate Athletics Director for Communication / PR