Office FAX: (509) 527-5960
Home Telephone: (509) 522-6696
Email: sniderdc@whitman.edu
WALLA WALLA, Wash. -- When coach Dean Snider took the reins of women's volleyball at Whitman College in August of 1996, he inherited a program that had struggled for years. And with just one senior on the roster that fall, the Missionaries limped through another losing season.
The days of woe for Whitman volleyball did not last much longer, however. With Snider performing a quick resurrection, the Missionaries collected 15 victories in 1997 to set the stage for three straight winning seasons. In the fall of 1999, Whitman again won 15 matches overall en route to an 11-5 record in the highly competitive Northwest Conference.
Snider, a native of Winnipeg, Manitoba, came to Whitman after four seasons as the head volleyball coach at Western Washington University in Bellingham. He replaced Eddie Matthews, who resigned from Whitman in the spring of 1996 to take a temporary position with the U.S. women's national team as it prepared for the Summer Olympics in Atlanta. Following the Olympics, he accepted the head coaching position at Southern Georgia University.
Snider directed Western Washington's volleyball program while completing his master's degree in exercise science with a concentration in sports psychology.
Snider earned his bachelor's degree in communications and history at Trinity Western University, a small private college in Langley, British Columbia. While at Trinity Western, he lettered in each of his four seasons as e lettered in each of his four seasons as a setter on the men's volleyball team. He later coached the men's team for three seasons, leading his alma mater to a provincial title and a third-place finish in the Canadian national championships during the 1991-92 season.
Snider's combined won-loss record at Western Washington and Trinity Western was an impressive 121-64.
"Dean is a high-quality coach and person," Whitman dean of faculty Pat Keef said. "Whitman is extremely fortunate to have found him."
Snider's coaching philosophy stresses team play, consistency and discipline.
"Volleyball is one of the ultimate team games," he said. "You can have individual players who shine, but your team is only as good as the least of those individuals. You have to work very hard at team building and role playing."
One of the keys to strong team play is "individual consistency of response," Snider said. "Each player must respond consistently to the same situations, so that everyone can rely on everyone else to do their job."
Snider also likes to "run a fast game that can turn transition quite quickly, and I like to adjust the speed of a game at times, using that as a tactic."
He makes good use of his educational background in sports psychology.
"Even though sports psychology is not a cure-all, it is something that can help improve your stability and performance," he said. "Everyone works on the technical and tactical aspects of their game, but not everyone works on the mental aspects. In a game like volleyball, where the fewest mistakes often makes the difference between winning and losing, mental stability becomes very important."
In addition to his master's degree concentration in sports psychology, Snider received training in that field while earning his national coaching certification in Canada. "If you coach in Canada, you are trained in the mental aspects of sport. You are taught to teach your athletes mental toughness."
The performance enhancement techniques used in sports psychology can be used in all aspects of life, Snider said. "The business world in particular has taken notice."
Snider was raised in Langley, British Columbia, a suburb of Vancouver. He graduated from Langley Secondary School where he earned team Most Valuable Player honors during his junior and senior seasons.
At Trinity Western, Snider was captain and MVP during his senior season, leading his teammates to a second-place finish in the province. In his three years of coaching at Trinity Western, his squad captured the school's first-ever province title and nearly won a second championship. Snider earned province coach-of-the-year honors in 1991.
In addition to his coaching duties, Snider is an assistant professor in Whitman's Department of Sport Studies, Recreation and Athletics, where he also serves as department chair. He and his wife Darlene, a lecturer in the same department, have three young children -- Madison (9), Kennedy (6) and Bailey (4).