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Email: papinecs@whitman.edu
WALLA WALLA, Wash. – Carolyn Papineau, a veteran coach with experience in the college, high school and club ranks, is the new women’s volleyball coach at Whitman College.
Papineau, who played volleyball at both the University of Washington and University of Puget Sound, replaces Dean Snider as the coach at Whitman. Snider left the coaching ranks at the end of last season when he was named the new director of athletics at Whitman.
"Carolyn brings high levels of playing and coaching experience to our program," Snider said. "I am very pleased that Carolyn has joined our coaching staff, and I am confident in her ability to move our volleyball program forward. She will serve Whitman athletics and the college as a whole exceedingly well."
Papineau, who played her prep volleyball at Capital High School in Boise, Idaho, spent her first college season as a starter at the University of Puget Sound. She then transferred to the University of Washington, where she played as a junior and senior. She made the Husky squad as a walk-on and eventually earned a full-ride athletic scholarship for her senior season, when she served as a co-captain and right-side hitter.
Papineau, who finished her bachelor’s degree in international studies in 1986, has completed the coursework for a master’s degree in nutrition at Bastyr University in Bothell, Wash. Her coursework focused on athletic nutrition.
Papineau’s most recent coaching experience was with the Washington Volleyball Academy, one of the top club programs in the Seattle area. She coached the under-14 age-group team in each of the past three years.
For the past two years, Papineau also worked as head coach of USA Volleyball’s High Performance Program in the Puget Sound area. That program brings top junior players together each summer for several days of intense training and competition.
Her coaching background also includes four seasons (2002-05) at Ingraham High School in north Seattle, two seasons as the assistant volleyball coach at Fort Lewis University in Durango, Colo., and two seasons as the co-head coach at Redmond (Wash.) High School.
"I’m excited about the challenge of coming back to coach at the college level," Papineau said. "Whitman is one of the top schools in the country, and it will be great working with student athletes who excel in both athletics and academics. Dean Snider has done an excellent job getting this program established, and the core group of players returning this fall is very strong."
Coaching at Whitman will be similar in some respects to coaching at the Washington Volleyball Academy, Papineau said. "The academy is a wonderful place to work," she says. "The players are very bright, talented and motivated, and their families are very supportive. The atmosphere at the academy and my coaching experience there are a nice springboard to coaching at Whitman. I’ll be working with the same type of high quality athletes and families at Whitman."
Papineau looks forward to utilizing her many contacts in the club sport ranks as she begins the recruiting process. "Whitman is exactly the type of school that is a great fit for many of the intelligent, talented young players who excel with the club teams," she said.
As a coach, Papineau builds her programs around such priorities as ongoing skill perfection, competition and hard work.
"Fine-tuning basic skills is essential at the college level," she said. "Players are faster and stronger in college, and the tactics are more complicated, but the game is still structured around the same basic skills and movement patterns. We’ll be working hard to ensure we’re able to successfully execute, no matter the environment, those basic skills at a high level."
Papineau prizes competitiveness -- during workouts as well as in matches. "My basic philosophy is based on competing each and every day," she said. "We want to have fierce competition taking place in our daily workouts. We want our players to push one another to get better every day, which in turn drives overall team improvement."
"I really like to put confident, mindful and fiery competitors on the floor who are also skilled at communicating with one another," she added. "Players need to know their roles, and they need to show some leadership in filling those roles."
When a team has prepared properly, the opposition is of less concern, Papineau said. "We shouldn’t have to put the focus on the opposing team during matches if we’re prepared to execute our game under pressure at a consistently high level," she said. "We need to focus on doing our job and taking care of our side of the court. If we do this well enough, we’re going to be successful."
Papineau makes her Whitman coaching debut when the Missionaries play Friday, Aug. 31, and Saturday, Sept. 1, in an NCAA Div. III touranment in Las Vegas, Nev. Whitman's home openers are set for Friday and Saturday, Sept. 14-15, against Northwest Conference opponents George Fox University and Pacific University.