Blackman Named to AVCA's Thirty Under 30

FORT COLLINS, Colo. – Tom Hilbert could see it coming.

Adrianna Blackman – Culbert when she starred for Colorado State's volleyball program – was an intuitive player and a student of the game. There was lineage, because her mother was a coach and teacher, too. But if she was going to excel as a coach, Hilbert knew she would need to change a bit of her personality.

His advice was not to expect every player she met to view the game as she did. Volleyball was her priority – her only one at times, it seemed. She was the first in the gym and the last to leave. She put in the extra work, devoting her time to becoming the best version of herself, and Hilbert told her not everybody takes the same approach.

Which is OK.

And she listened, even though becoming a coach was really not in her plans.

"Tom told me this when I was a player. Yep, you're going to end up being a coach, and I'd be, yeah, whatever, but you're going to have to learn this lesson early. Not many players look at the game the way you do, so it will help you a lot if you learn that lesson early on, or else you'll be banging your head against the wall," Blackman recalled. "There are a ton of ways you can be an elite athlete and be great at your sport and great as a student-athlete, so he opened up my eyes to not everyone is going to do it the way I did it, nor should they. That's the biggest lesson I've learned.

"For me, that was the biggest shift. As a player, I was hard-nosed, everything on the court was the most important thing. As a coach, I've learned and grown through my own experiences that it's so much more than what happens on the court."

Thursday, Blackman was named to the AVCA Thirty Under 30 list, a group of the top coaches in the sport across all collegiate levels who are younger than 30. She was thrust into coaching at the start, but she's embraced her passion for the profession and has now been recognized nationally.

She is the second coach on Hilbert's staff to have earned the honor, as assistant Emily Kohen was named to the list back in 2015 while at Oregon State. That same year, Blackman joined the rarest of Division I lists, recording a quadruple double on Oct. 17 against San Jose State with 10 kills, 20 assists, 13 digs and 11 blocks.

"It's really amazing, to be honest," she said of the AVCA honor. "We have so many elite coaches in our profession, and the fact they see me as being one of the up-and-coming coaches for this year is pretty special. There are a lot of really good, young coaches who have a passion for making girls' experiences the best they can be, and they do a lot of things really well. It's just an honor to be in the same category with them."

When she left Colorado State, she headed to South Carolina to be a graduate manager for the volleyball team and play beach volleyball for a season. Her goal at the time was to get her master's while training for a professional career overseas.

Then a coaching change occurred, and in an instant, she was an assistant coach for the volleyball team. At that point, her career path changed.

"When that happened, I was immediately, she'll be really good at this," Hilbert said. "I have this theory. I think the players who make good coaches are the ones who work really hard and are really cerebral about the game.

"What's been interesting about Dri is she has changed a lot. Her coaching persona is not her playing persona. I'm really proud of her for that. She had a great playing persona, but one of the things about coaching people have to understand and it knocks the feet out from a lot of coaches, people are looking for the ideal type of kid, and sometimes they want them to be like them."

That's not the Blackman any of the current players knows. While she was playing club for Dead Frog Far Out in Michigan, she was learning about coaching from Jack Maglessen and Joe Steenhuysen without really taking note. Moritz Moritz and RJ Abella expanded her view even more at South Carolina in her one season there, and at Northern Colorado for a season, Lyndsey Oates helped show her life balance is important and can be achieved by a coach.

Naturally, she learned from Hilbert as a player, and now for the past three seasons as an assistant. The result is a mentor who can teach and mold different personalities. Someone, Jacqi Van Liefde said, gets to know the person in order to get the most out of the player.

"Dri is one of the most amazing humans that I know. I think her personal character carries on into her coaching," Van Liefde said. "She connects with us on a personal level, which is the first part which makes our relationship so special and establishes this foundation of respect and trust. So, then on the court, she's just brilliant when it comes to volleyball. I think the fact she played herself at such a high level and at CSU, a program she cares so much about, all of that shows at once when she coaches us.

"She's really good at breaking things down that can tend to become second nature, mindless moves. We don't always think about what were doing, but she breaks it down and reminds us the pieces of it. She's great at explaining things in multiple ways. She may explain a drill or movement one way, and we'll try it and she'll realize it wasn't really making sense. So, she'll come up with a fun example of really making it click."

Hilbert has seen Blackman grow into the coach he knew she could become, one who could put aside her way of doing things as a player and come to appreciate the value of what everybody has to bring to the table. On a single roster, he said a coach will encounter a mix of players who were like her, but maybe a few "knuckleheads" who are extremely talented, as well as a group of grinders who prove invaluable. The key is to help them all mesh, which Blackman has done.

Her coaching path may have come about suddenly, but she will embrace her longevity in the building of relationships.

"I'm excited to have all the experiences I've had and the memories I've created," Blackman said. "It helps me to do the day-to-day tasks to create the best experiences for our girls."

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