South Coast Times

The University of Alabama is 'where legends are made.'

Those words are embedded within the DNA of the athletics program with a long history of success, spanning across a multitude of different sports.

That success isn't solely based on finding and recruiting the best athletes in the world, either.

It goes much, much deeper than that.

Alabama Volleyball Head Coach Rashinda Reed would tell you it's all about relationships. Those personal connections with other human beings can plant the seeds for greatness and ultimately become a reliable foundation for sustained success.

That's how she built her own personal dream team with Associate Head Coach Matt Scott and Assistant Coach Chelsi Carter.

"I think relationships are the most important piece in coaching. You know, we're working so intimately together. It's not just about the sport itself," said Coach Reed. "You have so many different players, and they all connect with different people in different ways. And for you to have a strong foundation, when you're really trying to build something, you need to have a relationship with all the people that you're working with."

"Honestly, I think that goes even beyond coaching. You need to have strong relationships, strong communication, and establish a level of trust in any sort of position. Not only did I have a strong relationship with both Chelsi and Scotty, but I knew their work ethic and core values aligned with mine. Together, I knew we could build something special here."

Seeds of friendship

The fact that the trio is even coaching together is a stars-aligning sort of situation.

Coach Carter actually played under Coach Scott while she was attending Samford University in 2013 and 2014. She then ran into Coach Reed at the tail-end of her playing career at The University of Alabama at Birmingham.

"Ambitious people gravitate towards ambitious people, and I think that's something we've done for years," Coach Carter said. "We've always kind of gravitated towards one another and built that longstanding relationship. I think trust is a huge thing, too. Like, for me, I feel like they have my back always and forever. Rashinda even helped me get my first coaching job."

The connection between Coach Reed and Coach Scott stems from their time as part of the American Volleyball Coaches Association. With UAB only being about six miles away from Samford, the two connected and became really close.

They went from bouncing volleyball ideas off of one another to Coach Reed literally introducing Coach Scott to his significant other. Volleyball coach, job recruiter, and matchmaker - Coach Reed did it all.

"Rashinda actually holds a very sensitive spot in my heart regardless of her being my new boss now," said Coach Scott. "She actually introduced me and my wife back in 2016."

Before the stars aligned at Alabama, the trio separated in pursuit of their own careers.

Coach Reed caught on as an assistant coach at the University of Illinois, where she helped take the Fighting Illini to four NCAA Tournament appearances, including a couple of Sweet 16 berths and a Final Four appearance in 2018.

After landing her first coaching job at South Dakota School of Mines and Technology, Coach Carter served as the assistant/interim head coach at Nicholls State before going on and coaching two Libero of the Year award winners in her three-year tenure at Western Carolina.

And the now happily married Coach Scott was the assistant coach and recruiting coordinator at the University of Connecticut. He helped take the Huskies to the Big East Championship and a Final Four appearance at the National Invitational Volleyball Championship.

Success clearly follows wherever the trio goes. But no one could have ever predicted their paths would cross once more in Alabama, of all places.

When the stars align

Everything came full circle once Coach Reed landed and accepted the head coaching job in Tuscaloosa.

"There were a lot of things that factored into my decision to come to Alabama," said Coach Reed. "The first thing was family. As you get older, you know, I wanted to get closer to my family, and this puts me two-and-a-half hours away from them. That was very important to me. It was also important to have a program that reflected some of the core values that made us so successful at Illinois: Do we have support? Do they have a vision of where they want the program to go? You want to always make sure you have a place where these ladies know they're completely supported."

"When I arrived, everyone here was just incredibly excited about the future of Alabama volleyball and the potential of the program. Just hearing those things and seeing how supportive they were put my mind at ease and solidified we were moving in the right direction. At the end of the day, it's all about these young women that are growing as adults."

Once Coach Reed accepted the job, it didn't take long for her to pick up the phone and call an old friend.

It wasn't a difficult decision for Coach Scott to make in joining his longtime friend at Alabama. Like Coach Reed, he had family in the area, and along with his wife, he wanted his one-year-old son to be raised closer to home.

"The one amazing thing about Rashinda is she doesn't want this just to be about her," Coach Scott said. "She wanted to make sure everyone that was going to be a part of her staff and part of this process of turning Alabama into a championship program was all onboard. She made that a very big point in every single chat we had. She'd ask me, 'Are you still okay with this?' And you know, I was probably like, 'Yes, yes, yes, yes' every single time."

For Coach Carter, things were fairly similar once she got she phone call.

"I think me and Rashinda were Facetiming, and I went and got the champagne," said Coach Carter. "I gave a cheers to my phone. I was 100 percent down. I'd follow Rashinda to the end of the world. It's easy to do that for someone you know would go to war for you. If you're a part of Rashinda's family, she'll fight for you. So I knew I was going to be taken care of. I knew she wasn't going to ask me to come into something that wasn't going to make us all successful. So I was like, 'Okay, let's do this. I'm ready. Let's hit the ground running and freaking sprint!'

Where legends are made

There was a reason why Coach Reed called up her friends to join her on this journey, and it runs deeper than the sport of volleyball.

It's all about the ability to build relationships. That genuine connection between human beings is key to the foundation when building a successful program. She was just as honored they said yes as much as they were for being asked.

"I'm honored they actually wanted to come with me. The relationships we built together were incredibly important - not just for me but for them as well. It means a lot that they chose to come here," said Coach Reed.

"They have some great qualities that are going to help us do some amazing things. Scotty connects with young women in a way that establishes trust quickly, where he can still be able to coach and mentor them. When he has to be tough, there's always an understanding that it's coming from a place of love.

"And Chelsi is so fiery and passionate. She has this drive inside of her that the girls just want to be around, you know? She talks about people gravitating towards me, but I don't think she understands a lot of people gravitate towards her. I just feel like all of these pieces are going to allow us to do some great things here. I'm excited for the future of Alabama."

As the stars aligned for this incredible reunion, they seem to be doing the same for the turnaround of the program. There's just something different about this new coaching staff. It's clear they aren't just looking to help mold good players, but they're more interested in creating longstanding relationships that go deeper than that.

It's a different feeling when you're playing for a team that feels more like family than anything else. That's how you mold good players into great ones. It's how you turn a program into a championship contender.

"We don't want to just coach you for four years. We want to be a part of your life for the rest of it," said Coach Scott. "I always think about it as four-for-life. I'm going to coach you for four years, and we're going to go through it. We're going to have the ups and downs of that because that's what competition does. But we genuinely want you to succeed in life, not just as a volleyball player. You might become a doctor or a dentist. Anything you want to pursue, we want to be a part of that journey with you."

As for Coach Carter, she's looking at things with a more futuristic perspective. The opportunity to have a hand in building the foundation for the program is something they can all look back on and be proud of.

"We're going to build something you'll be so proud of. You're going to want to come back every weekend when we play at home. You're going to want to go on the road and watch us play after you've graduated. You're going to want to come back and donate," Coach Carter said.

"When someone says Alabama volleyball, you're going to be like, 'Heck yeah! That was me. I helped build that.' This isn't going to be easy. We're ready to grind. We're going to have that championship mindset - just living, breathing, and eating it. A huge thing on Alabama's campus is that this is where legends are made. And you're dang right! This is where Alabama volleyball legends are made."