Wittenberg Assistant Volleyball Coach Brittany Baume Earns Coaches Association Thirty Under 30 Award

Brittany Baume '02

Springfield, Ohio — Once upon a time, Brittany Baume, Wittenberg class of 2002, thought her future was in the medical profession. Less than a decade later, Baume has been recognized as one of the top young volleyball coaches in America with a Thirty Under 30 Award from the American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA).

The award winners were announced in the February/March edition of the AVCA's magazine Coaching Volleyball. Baume was one of four NCAA Division III coaches to merit inclusion on the list, and she was one of 15 assistant coaches honored after she was nominated by Tiger Head Coach Paco Labrador.

After getting a taste of coaching while still an undergraduate at Wittenberg, Baume realized her passion was in teaching young people life skills through collegiate athletics.

"The summer between my junior and senior year at Wittenberg while teaching and coaching at a boarding school in London, England, I realized the people who had impacted my life (both positively and negatively) the most were my teachers/professors and coaches," she said. "In August, I came back to Wittenberg and informed my biology professors that I no longer wanted to go to medical school. I wanted to pursue a career where I could positively impact student-athletes' lives and pass on my passion for the sciences and athletics, particularly volleyball."

It was a decision that ultimately worked out well for her alma mater. After teaching and coaching in Japan and then at nearby Urbana University, Baume, the 1999 North Coast Athletic Conference (NCAC) Newcomer and Player of the Year and Great Lakes Region Freshman of the Year as a freshman at Wittenberg, returned to her hometown in 2005 to serve as the Tigers' assistant volleyball and women's basketball coach. She joined her mother, Brenda, the university's athletics facilities coordinator, on staff.

"The thing that makes Brittany a truly special coach is not just her excellent teaching and training style or her tireless work ethic, it's the intangibles, like how much she cares about each player, the extra mile she will go for her co-workers, the attention to detail in the office and her profound love of volleyball," Labrador said. "She faced quite a few challenges over the last few years and had to be more than just a coach to many Wittenberg volleyball and basketball players. She faces challenges with strength, poise and compassion."

A three-year team captain, Baume played through numerous injuries to become one of 12 student-athletes in program history to surpass the 1,000-kill plateau, rank 11th in school history with a .255 career attack percentage, and help the Tigers to a 113-41 overall record between 1999 and 2002. Wittenberg also posted a perfect 32-0 record in NCAC regular season play and won four straight NCAC Tournaments during that span.

With Baume as a coach, Wittenberg has had even more success. The Tigers have a staggering 140-17 overall record over the last four years, including an NCAC regular season mark is 53-1 (the conference switched to a 16-game schedule in 2006). As a Wittenberg coach and player, Baume has been a part of seven NCAC regular season titles, seven NCAC Tournament crowns, eight NCAA Division III Tournament appearances and three national semifinal finishes.

Brittany Baume provides counsel to Tiger Head Coach Paco Labrador during a 2008 match.

Baume also worked closely with legendary women's basketball head coach Pam Evans Smith from 2005-07. When cancer claimed the life of the NCAC women's basketball coach with the most wins and conference titles in history in June 2007, Baume stepped in to keep a hurting team together while a search took place for a new coach.

"With Pam's passing, the women's basketball team took an enormous emotional hit," said Wittenberg Director of Athletics and Recreation Garnett Purnell. "Feelings of despair and sorrow and a momentary loss of life's direction were issues facing the team members left behind. That void could not have been filled by any other person. The roles of mother figure, adviser, confidant, friend and coach that the team had with Pam were quickly picked up by Brittany and were a significant factor in the team's resurgence."

Baume lists having Smith as a role model as one of her career highlights. "I came to her camps when I was a little girl and looked to her as a female role model as a student-athlete while at Wittenberg," she said. "What a privilege it was to work for such an inspirational coach!"

Now Baume is the one acting as a role model, although she will be doing it someplace new at the conclusion of the 2008-09 school year. Engaged to Matt Schmidt, the head women's basketball coach at Armstrong Atlantic State University in Savannah, Ga., Baume plans to move south after they wed in May. She knows the "addictive" nature of coaching will draw her to the sidelines again soon.

"There are not many jobs where you experience such euphoric highs and inconsolable lows, all within a single match or a single practice," she said. "The highs for me come in various ways - from the goose bumps I get on my arms every time "Eye of the Tiger" is played during warm-ups to the adrenaline rush throughout my body during Paco's pre-match speech as I anxiously await an NCAA Tournament match to witnessing an athlete have an 'ah-ha' moment when learning a new technical skill.

"The lows usually are centered around the team not performing up to our level of expectations and not reaching our ultimate team goal. As a coach, it hurts to have players end their careers who have sacrificed for four years and still come up short of their ultimate goal. As a coach, you are constantly reflective and try to think outside the box so next year's team will not have to feel the low of not obtaining their ultimate goal."

Baume, who hopes to eventually become a head coach and athletics administrator at an NCAA Division III school in the future because she "strongly supports the Division III philosophy, ensuring that student-athletes have a balanced college experience," said she was flattered to be nominated for the AVCA honor.

"This honor is a testimony to the quality of the student-athletes and coaches I have been surrounded by the last four years," Baume said. "Thanks to their hard work, determination and sacrifices, we have had success on the court as well as in the classroom. I am thankful for the opportunity to 'Pass It On' and make an impact on student-athletes' lives."

Written By: Ryan Maurer
Photos By: Erin Pence (head shot) and Brad Tucker (action shot)

024-09