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COLUMBIA WEATHER

Spring Hill graduate takes over UT-Southern volleyball program




Janay Yancey, a former volleyball standout at Spring Hill who played collegiately at North Carolina State and Middle Tennessee State, has been tabbed to lead the University of Tennessee-Southern program. Yancey succeeds Jackson Lenoir atop the Firehawks. PULASKI CITIZEN

As driven as Janay Yancey is, her volleyball career has progressed in nudges as much as in steps.

The Columbia native, named earlier this spring as UT-Southern’s new coach, had her mind set on a different indoor sport before receiving some parental direction.

“Starting middle school, I was a pure basketball player,” the 35-year-old recently recalled. “I always wanted to play basketball. My sister was trying out for volleyball in sixth grade. I was in seventh grade, and my mom’s like, ‘why don’t you try out too; it’s in your blood’. I’m like, I’m going to just stick with basketball. And she’s like, ‘if you don’t try out, you’re grounded – and if you’re grounded, you can’t try out for basketball, either’.”

So began a volleyball playing career that saw Yancey help establish the program at Spring Hill High School before signing a scholarship with North Carolina State and concluding her collegiate eligibility at Middle Tennessee, followed by a coaching trek that has included stops at Hampton, Alabama State, Tuskegee, Mississippi Valley and Alcorn State.

In April, she was named to fill the role at UT-Southern vacated with the departure of Jackson Lenoir.

“I think it’s super exciting for her,” said Sarah Lamb, who coached Yancey at Spring Hill as the founding coach of the school’s volleyball program and is now principal at Summit. “I’ve kinda followed her along the way, watched from afar her success.

“In high school, she was a definite leader on our team – took those younger kids under her wing when they came in, spent a lot of time working with them. So I could definitely see this coming for her. She was a leader, had a lot of passion and drive for the sport. She was an outstanding athlete, probably the best to come through in my time there.”

Still, after a playing career that ended with Yancey among MTSU’s leaders for blocks and attack percentage, moving to the sidelines wasn’t a natural progression.

“This entire experience has been me following my faith,” she said. “I really thought I was going to work in the medical field, be a doctor of some sort. My last year (2013) of grad school at South Alabama, one of my friends called me and said there was a camp. I figured I’d do this camp, make a little money, experience some other coaches.

“Two days into the camp, I was offered the assistant coaching position at Hampton. A couple of coaches called me along the way and I turned them down. The second or third coach that contacted me said ‘you’re good, I see something in you; I think you’re eventually going to be a great coach’.”

That coach, Karen Weatherington, brought Yancey on board for the 2013 season. The duo led the Pirates to back-to-back Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference championships and NCAA Tournament appearances. Yancey spent the 2015 season as Hampton’s head coach after Weatherington accepted a similar position at Charlotte, where she’ll begin her ninth season this fall.

“It was the most amazing experience. I just trusted the process, what we were going to do there, and trusted God in ordering the steps before me,” Yancey said. “What really pulled me into coaching was the connection I had with my team, with each of my players.

“You get to see people blossom, see them open up and relax and be competitive and go through all this growth. I’ve seen a lot of growth from all my players, and I’m so blessed to be in the position I am, where I can closely watch them and see them take another step and trust the process and continue to move forward, even when it doesn’t work out in their favor. I also get to help teach them through that process, which I feel is important.”

After a year atop the Hampton program, Yancey joined the staff at Alabama State, where Hornets won the Southwestern Athletic Conference tournament in 2016 and made the program’s third NCAA Tournament appearance. From there, she spent three seasons as coach at NCAA Division II Tuskegee, a year as coach at Mississippi Valley and the last two as an assistant at Alcorn.

Pursuing her career in her backyard isn’t an option Yancey takes lightly.

“The pull to come home, be around my family and be a part of something that’s going to be great (is important),” she said. “UT-Southern already had a rich tradition, from Martin Methodist College. Changing over and coming under the UT system, it seemed like a great opportunity to be a part of something and start something. 

“During my (playing) career, I got the opportunity to be part of something great as far as MTSU goes. They really put MTSU volleyball on the map. I feel like I have the opportunity to do that here at UT-Southern, and I want to do that.