BIG TEN VOLLEYBALL MEDIA DAYS

August 1, 2023

Leah Johnson

Julia Bishop

Aliyah Moore

Michigan State Spartans

Press Conference

LEAH JOHNSON: Welcome. Thank you, guys, for being here and making this event so special. Year two of the Big Ten media days, and what a hit it's been. I'm honored to be representing Michigan State, alongside these outstanding and wonderful women who are continuing to drive our program forward, build on the foundation from last year, continuing to set our own standards, and push us forward.

We're looking forward to answering your questions and sharing a little bit about us.

Q. You're going into year two here, but it really almost feels like a year one because you came in late. It was a smaller gym; you didn't really have camps. How has it been going through the standard volleyball off-season and getting to implement some of those things in year two?

LEAH JOHNSON: I appreciate your question. You're right; in year one we had seven players, and of those seven, for year two, the off-season, I think we have one, and that's Julia. We have a very different roster.

For a variety of reasons, mostly positive. We've had an incredible off-season of getting better. We've sped up our offense. The athletes, their mental, physical and personal well-being I think is much improved, and you can see that in the way they interact, the way they interact with us, the way they challenge me so confidently, which I love and hate, but mostly love.

So it is different because you create that dynamic, being able to push each other together versus trying to figure out what's next. So it feels like a fresh start in a completely unified way.

Q. One thing that was talked about with the prior school's culture, this is your second year with this culture, and for the players, also you have two new assistant coaches. How do you keep a strong culture with turnover not only of players but with assistant coaches, as well?

LEAH JOHNSON: Yeah, I'll take that first, then I'll let them answer. I think one thing we always have to remember in athletics is it's likely the highest-turnover industry there is, so turnover isn't always a negative thing. Change can be positive. Change adds new ideas, it adds new energy, new excitement.

I would imagine half of you in this room are fairly new in your roles.

I think if we remember that, we can see change as something that's a catalyst for improvement.

But culture and impact and kind of draw in any change you make. To me that's the power of culture. So whoever is sitting in that seat should be able to feel our culture from day one, so I'll let them speak to that.

ALIYAH MOORE: I just want to say, I don't think you can just keep a culture. I think you create it, and it's something that you have to work with the people around you. I have to work with my teammates to find that culture that fits best with us, and I love our culture.

It's incredible. I do think it is a little bit ever-changing. We are family. That will always stay. But I don't know, I think it's not something that you just say, this is this and that's it.

JULIA BISHOP: I will touch on some of the things that make our culture unique. We talk about grow, serve and honor in our gym every day. That is growing as a person on and off the court. That is serving one another, serving your support staff, because we have an amazing support staff day in and day out to make sure that we are healthy, that we are mentally and physically ready to play. But that's serving each other, serving everyone else in our program and serving the university.

And then honor, and that's one of the most important. Me and Aliyah have talked about this several times, but honoring the people that came before us because at Michigan State there is such a rich history, and we really take that to heart. Every time we put on the Spartan jersey, we make sure everyone knows we are proud and honored to wear that jersey.

Q. I'd love to get a look inside the schedule making because obviously last year was, as you mentioned, unique, and then you have that strong start. But it doesn't quite prepare you for conference play. Leading into this season, what was it like scheduling Arkansas and then finding the teams to build your home schedule?

LEAH JOHNSON: Yeah, scheduling is a weird animal, frankly, because the teams you might want to play maybe don't want to play you just yet. There's a balance of scheduling tough to give ourselves an opportunity to prove ourselves.

Like opening with Arkansas, I'm excited to get them first match of the year because I think we're a team that no one knows anything about. I like that. Even though we have returners, we've made so many changes and grown so much that I think we'll be a bit of a surprise in that way.

The other matches I think we have a balance of competitive, but I also know that we had to schedule to be successful, as well. With due respect to all of our opponents.

But the Big Ten is such a challenging conference, and we want to make postseason. So much of that comes down to a final record, not just a Big Ten record.

There is a lot that goes into it. Frankly, I don't overthink it because I know the Big Ten is where we have to prove ourselves before it matters to anyone. So whoever shows up on the other side of the net, that's who we're going to play.

Q. How was the Kathy DeBoer Invitational created, and what exactly does that name mean to you and the sport?

LEAH JOHNSON: Thank you for that question. That might be my favorite one so far. So Kathy DeBoer is a Hall of Famer from Michigan State. She served -- and I'm going to get this wrong, but she served for many years as the president of The American Volleyball Coaches Association. She was a dual-sport athlete, basketball and volleyball.

We inducted her last year into the Hall of Fame. We unfortunately weren't able to be there because we were on the road. But she created change for women. She created an avenue. She paved a lane for all of us to walk down, to continue to broaden it.

She said women's sports are relevant, women's sports should be celebrated, women athletes should be role models and modeled after. We do not need to reflect our counterpart in men, we need to become our own pioneer, and she was that.

When she announced her retirement from the ABCA, that was the first thing, how do we honor this, and how do we honor it for the sport, not just for Michigan State, because she was the sport as much as she was a Spartan.

We tried to tie those two together by making sure namesake always lives in the halls for our tournament. And every time she and her family or whomever can attend, we will do our best to honor her to the fullest, just like our values.

Q. Last year you had 12 players that started a match, and that's not including Nalani. How much can that rotating cast affect your ability to take a step forward?

LEAH JOHNSON: I do think that hinders your consistency. I don't think we have to have the same lineup every night to be great because we have 18 players that are fully capable that we intentionally recruited to be capable.

Now, where they are in their development process, where they are in their maturity and their experience to take on the moment in the jersey under the lights, that varies from night to night.

But you're right, I do think that affected our consistency. We had several matches that went the distance. We played as many points as possible, and then some, and multiple sets going extra points, five-set matches.

So we were on the cusp of breaking through, and I think the inconsistency held us back sometimes from that because of multiple lineups, not talent. So now we need to steady out.

Q. For the players, how do you deal with different players standing next to you on the court each night?

JULIA BISHOP: I think one thing our team does a really good job at is competing with love. That means no matter who is on the court or who played that weekend before, we go into every practice knowing that you're going to compete with love because you want the person next to you to succeed as much as you do.

But I think on the court, obviously we play with each other enough during practices to know how each other play during the games. So I think there isn't too much from our standpoint that affects the way you play next to someone because you already are used to it. But I say we compete with love 100 percent of the time.

ALIYAH MOORE: I agree with that. I think your job stays the same no matter where you are on the court or off the court. Our bench, we're constantly looking for ways to help the people on the court, and we practice that in practice.

I don't think it really hinders us or changes how we see things or how we compete.

Q. How has it been integrating Rosalind into this situation?

LEAH JOHNSON: So Rosalind, she was the best surprise I've ever had. She snuck in there to be baby three, and now she's my best recruiting tool. She is crushing it in the visits. She only smiles. I think the kid has only cried three times. I'm really lucky.

But yes, she is their favorite. I am now, I think, fourth in the pecking order of favorites in the coaching ranks -- okay, fifth probably, and out recruiting, she is loving it. Thank you so much for that generous question.

Q. I'm glad that was brought up because I was just thinking, Coach, the last time we saw you at this media day we were hearing all about Noodle and that kind of became the lead. I'm curious here because your story of expanding your family while you're coaching at a high level is pretty uncommon, and I'm wondering if over the past several months what the reaction was like among your peers in this industry about very publicly you going through this process maybe in a way that other people haven't had the opportunity to do.

LEAH JOHNSON: So it's been the spectrum, okay. I've had -- I'm going to be honest because that's the only thing I know how to do here. But I've had from internally, unfazed. My administration barely blinked, other than being excited. It did not even change the tone, which was such a relief for me because I had been on the job for three months when I'm like, so, this is happening.

They were as normal as could be and only there to help. So that was great.

Then on the flip side, I had younger women come up and ask questions, like, oh, my gosh, how are you doing it? Like is it possible? I had women thinking about getting out of the profession call me to ask what changed my mind or what got me through it because there were days when you don't sleep and -- I'm pumping in between meetings. That's the life of being a mother. That's not a surprise. It's not a secret. It's reality.

But that's how I have to thrive is by normalizing the things that are normal for 50 percent of the people, should they choose, in this space.

Then I've had the other side, where like I'm a little surprised that happened. Yeah, and you feel like that shouldn't be the case, but it is. That's why I stand next to them every day and make sure there's a space for them to speak, to be heard, to show up as their true selves, because don't question me. I can do both, and I will. But I have been questioned by my peers.

But I continue to show up, and success is not defined by the outcome on the court, it's defined by these young women and the way they lead their lives because of the example I'm able to show or the way they empower me to stay true to myself that I don't have to change just for them because they want me to be my best, too, just like I want them to be their best.

ALIYAH MOORE: I want to add to that. From our point of view, I just want to say we've learned so much about pregnancy, about children in general, which is kind of terrible that we didn't know a lot of the things that we learned. We were constantly asking Coach questions throughout the whole journey, month by month, as Roz grew. We just learned so much.

It was constantly, all of us, Coach, what happens if this, what happens if this, what happens if this? It's kind of sad that we aren't educated on that.

I kind of want to ask educators to kind of step it up because why don't I know these things about my own body. So thank you, Coach, for teaching us.

LEAH JOHNSON: Thank you. Thanks for asking, and I'm glad that they felt comfortable enough to do that. We had some weird conversations. We won't repeat them all for your sake. But it was awesome.

Q. Aliyah, talk about making the adjustment to the Big Ten, what that was like, what you've worked on this off-season and what you learned from year one going into year two.

ALIYAH MOORE: Honestly, it is difficult in the Big Ten. It's a competitive atmosphere. Every single team is going to be a challenge.

But I wouldn't say too much changed. I have the same goal. I need to score points. I need to do my job.

I think as a hitter, you are constantly looking at the same things. You need to find your defense's weakness, strengths, and you need to know how to score.

I learned a lot more about myself than competition-wise. I learned how to handle school and volleyball at the highest level. I learned what it means to take care of my own mental health with the support of Dr. Molly, which is our sports psychologist.

I will say it's fun. It's challenging, and it's fun because it's challenging.

Q. Coach, question about the transition you're making, trying to play at a quicker pace and put your stamp on things going into year two.

LEAH JOHNSON: Yeah, we did speed up the offense a little bit, and Julia is a big reason for that because she can play the same so fast. You want to use your pieces to their strengths. And she's a risk taker by heart. That is where she shines. I needed to put her in a position to be able to take more risks or feel like she's on the attack versus the defense as an offensive component.

So we did speed that up a bit more. I think it's made for defending our offense more challenging. We feel good about our ability to serve and pass, to stay competitive. It won't be perfect all the time. That's not the game of volleyball. But it'll be competitive.

So we felt comfortable pushing the envelope a little bit with the speed, and now you have someone like Aliyah who already has the power having more time to see the game and create opportunities through those splits because Julia is able to put her in better positions. I think that speed creates space for all of our attackers differently.

Q. Coach, there's other first-year head coaches right now in this conference. What is something, maybe advice to them or something you wish you would have known coming into this conference that maybe could help them transition or be ready for what this particular conference brings from a coaching standpoint?

LEAH JOHNSON: Hmm, do I share all my secrets?

There's no secret. That is the joke, right?

Frankly, I think year two is the hardest year there is. Year one, you don't really have expectations. You just have opportunity because everything is a first, right, so why are you worried. You try it, you learn about it, you readjust, then you go.

Well, year two, everyone is asking, okay, what's going to happen now, now you have your team, which is all fair questions. But it changed the expectation, right. So your job as a coach is to make sure that you don't live in a state of expectations, you live in a state of process.

So we're focused on what we do every day, how we go about our business with one another, the way we treat each other, the way we interact, that our language is our culture, the way we speak about our mission.

I think year one is pretty darned fun. So have fun, have a baby if you want, but I think year two is actually more challenging for head coaches at any new job because of those unspoken expectations that are there, whether you want them or not.

Q. One of the things I haven't heard discussed here yet is the fact that you have five international players on the roster. I know there was some growing pains just integrating your two Turkish players last year. Now you have more. What steps do you take to help them integrate into the American game and American culture?

LEAH JOHNSON: Yeah. Well, one, often they come in the summer, but Taylah Holdem, our young lady from New Zealand, was able to come in December, so she arrived here December and January and spent the entire spring with us.

So that's one thing we're going to try to start doing more with international student-athletes and any new freshmen.

But the biggest thing they do is spend time with them. I have to stay out of the way and let the captains be in charge. We didn't quite have that luxury last year because when they arrived and the culture, we were only three months together. So now they know what to expect.

Julia, Nalani, Aliyah, they've all done a tremendous job implementing and acclimating our international athletes to our game.

The other thing we're doing is chess. So we implemented a chess program, and this is giving us a common language to start from that is competitive, and it is creating relationships. When you sit across the table from someone and you have to compete and you have to communicate about something that's completely unique to both of you or different or foreign, now you're in a situation where you're learning how to get on the same page and you're learning how to share the same language, and so we're transferring chess to volleyball.

It's been a really, really cool experience.

Q. Who is the best chess player so far?

JULIA BISHOP: It's safe to assume me. I was in the chess club for six years of my life, so it's a little brag.

LEAH JOHNSON: She totally punked us, you guys. She's like, oh, I don't know. She's like, I was chess captain of the club for six years.

JULIA BISHOP: They were teaching us how to play, and I was like, is this how you move it? And when we started playing, I was like, "Checkmate."