‘No one is stopping you’: How a bold prediction led Coppin State volleyball to its first division title

When Coppin State volleyball coach Tim Walsh made his pitch to Miajavon Coleman to include her in his Class of 2018 recruits, he made a bold prediction: the program would contend for a Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference title within three years.

Some players might have dismissed such bluster. But not Coleman.

“I believed him,” said Coleman, whose first name is pronounced Me-AHH-juh-von. “When I came in as a freshman in 2018, that was the plan back then. We knew we could win the title and go all the way, and we’ve just been working for it. In past seasons, we fell short, but this season from the very beginning in August, we’ve been working, and we knew that we could be where we are now.”

Where the Eagles are now is sitting atop the conference’s Northern Division as the regular-season champion — the first in program history. Their 10-4 overall record and 9-1 mark in the league has been fueled by school-record nine-match winning streak, and the nine MEAC victories are a new program record.

Walsh joked he has yet to turn his visionary prediction for the volleyball team into success in lottery tickets.

“I remember recruiting people for the 2018 season saying, ‘Hey, in three years, my goal is to win a championship. That’s a goal I think we can obtain here.’ Funny enough, it ended up being this year,” he said. “So I think we’re on track with where we need to be. Of course we could be better and stronger, but for what we have and where we are, I think we’ve done a good job. We’re right on track to being a team that’s competitive in the Mid-Atlantic region.”

Coppin State’s journey to this stage is remarkable considering the state of the program when Walsh — who had guided Division III Marywood to a 25-36 overall record and a 15-7 mark in the Colonial States Athletic Conference in two seasons — inherited it less than four years ago. He wasn’t hired to succeed Kyetta May, who had compiled an 11-39 overall record and an 8-16 mark in the MEAC in two years, until late May 2017 when recruiting had pretty much concluded.

“I knew right away that I had to start making some changes, and there were some tough conversations with players that didn’t return,” Walsh recalled, citing a lack of continuity and culture within the program. “There were five seniors on the team, and there were a few that were outstanding people, and two of them were really strong players, but they were just never really developed. Part of taking over a program and rebuilding is saying, ‘Hey, at the end of the day, this is a tough decision, but I don’t see you doing X, Y, and Z, and I need to move forward.’ It’s almost like a business.”

Retaining four players from his first season that produced four wins, Walsh brought in 11 freshmen to replenish the roster, which was the youngest in NCAA Division I. That squad won 12 matches in 2018 with Coleman, an outside hitter, earning MEAC Rookie of the Year honors and a spot on the conference’s second team.

In 2019, the team advanced to the MEAC tournament semifinals for the first time since 2014, Coleman was named to the league’s first team, and freshman Ashley Roman joined her on the first team at libero.

After a 1-4 start this winter, the Eagles have not dropped a match since Feb. 21. Coleman is nine kills away from joining three other players who have recorded 1,000 in their careers, Roman ranks sixth in school history in digs (769) and ranks 23rd in Division I in digs per set (5.4), and junior middle hitter Jordan Celestine ranks eighth in program history in blocks (144).

Walsh admitted that watching the program’s growth has been surreal.

“I have to step back sometimes and say that I’m pleased with where we are,” he said. “Of course I was upset when we got eliminated in the semifinals last year, but I thought, ‘Hey, can we get better? Can we grow? Can we make the finals this year and win it?’ I will always continue to push how far we can go and how good we could be and put that pressure on myself. But in terms of the team, I praise them every day and tell them, ‘Hey, we are doing a great job and you guys are the foundation of this program. You can be as good as you want to be. No one is stopping you.’ I want them to have that right mindset and that confidence.”

Both Walsh and Roman pointed to the Eagles’ current three-match winning streak against Howard, which has won the last five MEAC tournament crowns, as a turning point this season.

“I was like, ‘This is a top team. This is a team that everyone else was afraid of to play this season.’ And we were able to beat them three times in a row,” Roman said of the team’s victories of 3-1 on Feb. 25, 3-1 on March 4 and 3-0 on March 5. “And then we beat Morgan, and we’ve been winning and winning. So I think this is a champion team from the MEAC.”

Coleman said another factor has been the close friendships the players have developed with each other. She said they frequently gather in apartments and dorm rooms to review film, tackle homework assignments, and watch “Good Girls” on Netflix.

Coleman said the team’s popularity since capturing the MEAC regular-season title has skyrocketed.

“You walk around campus, and people are congratulating you all the time,” she marveled. “There’s TVs all around campus with our picture on them. People are asking about the championship gear they can purchase. It’s just so great.”

As the regular-season champion in the Northern Division, Coppin State cemented one of the two No. 1 seeds in the upcoming MEAC tournament in Norfolk on April 2-3. Being the favorite is an unfamiliar position, Walsh admitted.

“I’m kind of an underdog person. I love underdogs,” he said. “So it is kind of flipped, but I’m trying to take it the best I can and say, ‘Hey, we’re No. 1 for a reason.’ But being No. 1 is a little thing at the end of the day because we still have to go out there and win two games for the MEAC [championship]. We’ve just got to keep on pushing and striving to be the best.”

Walsh said he has sensed a greater level of confidence among the players, and Coleman said anything less than the tournament crown would be disappointing.

“We speak of it as not if we win, but when we win,” she said. “We’re already thinking ahead to the NCAA tournament. We’re already at the next step because we just know that we can. But there’s a fine line between getting comfortable with that and handling your business. You can say you can do it all day, but when it’s time to play, you have to show up.”