COLLEGES:Speraw catalyst for title

The UC Irvine men’s volleyball team’s run to an NCAA championship was a five-year journey that coincided with Coach John Speraw’s now-famous five-year plan.

But, Patrina Long, who was acting athletic director at UCI who hired Speraw, recalled that Speraw’s tenure was nearly doomed before it began.

“It was just after Dan Guerrero left that we had the volleyball opening,” said Long, who spent 10 years at UCI and is now the senior women’s administrator and associate athletic director at UCLA. “It was a great opportunity and we had six candidates. John came highly recommended from UCLA, but he was the last of the six to be interviewed and, frankly, we had already seen five people that we could have easily hired.

“We almost cancelled the [Speraw] interview, because we knew we had such depth there already,” Long said. “But, in the end, we realized that he was a credible candidate, so we brought him in and he absolutely blew the committee away. No joke, he absolutely blew them away.

“He was the unanimous choice. He came in with a presentation and he is an extremely intelligent and analytical person. He came in with a five-year plan, which I will never forget. He was in a suit, which volleyball coaches usually don’t wear. He was so passionate about his vision and in his on way, incredibly thoughtful, incredibly detailed and incredibly driven. And there was also an element of humility in there, too. There was just an innocence and a youth and desire.

“I left the room thinking, ‘Oh my god. What am I going to tell the committee, because I really think we have to hire him.’ ” But when I got around to each one of them, everyone said ‘Oh no, he’s it.’ So, it was unanimous and we were thrilled to be able to offer him the job.

“And when he got there, he was like the good luck charm,” Long said. “It was a very difficult time of transition.”

Ed Carroll, expected to help Long run the department, collapsed at school with what later became a fatal brain tumor.

“[Carroll fell ill] on the fifth day of my directorship,” Long said. “But Speraw came in shortly thereafter and he was just a shining light.

“The first year, he had his players laying in the foyer of Crawford Hall [which houses the athletic offices], doing visualization exercises, and the whispers would go down the halls and everyone would come out of their offices to watch. It was really special.”

Long, who was in Columbus, Ohio as a member of the NCAA Men’s Volleyball Committee, but spoke outside of her duties as a committee member, said she has followed the growth of Speraw’s program from up the freeway.

“I’m thrilled for John, and the kids, and the Anteaters,” said Long, who is not surpised that Speraw made his five-year plan come to fruition.

“He was extremely passionate about it and very, very clearly, he had thought out his plan,” Long said. “All of our finalists were incredibly accomplished coaches and players. But [Speraw] came in with a much more detailed vision.

“He had done the research and every great coach in volleyball had gotten his head [coaching] job by the time they were 30 and John was 30. So, he was almost desperate and he shared that, candidly, with the committee. It was not the desperation of a flailing person, but of somebody who just knew what they were supposed to be doing. And it has just been a real pleasure and a joy to watch him, for the 1 1/2 years I was there and since from afar, as they have incrementally built that program up.”

“Uh, just now,” said Thornton, with more than a tinge of sarcasm, prompting an immediate smile from Speraw and laughter from most of the assembled media. “It was a good plan. It tended to work a little bit.

“[Speraw] has always come in with a plan,” Thornton said. “And even if I didn’t know the title of the plan, I always knew it was there.”

“Last year, I didn’t play well and I blamed myself for things that happened,” Webber said after Saturday’s title win. “This year, I come into this press conference knowing that us four seniors [including Thornton, Jayson Jablonsky and David Smith] and the rest of the eam has come a long way. I couldn’t be happier.”

Ramirez said when they do arrive, word would be posted at www.book.uci.edu.

Championship hats, like the ones distributed to players and coaches, may be sold at a later date. Ramirez said they are still trying to track down the company that manufactured the hats.

The No. 13-ranked Anteaters (31-13-1, 7-5 in conference) visit No. 6 San Diego today at 3 p.m.

UCI sits fourth in the eight-team Big West, behind Long Beach State (10-2), UC Riverside (9-3) and UC Santa Barbara (9-6).

BARRY FAULKNER may be reached at (714) 966-4615 or at barry.faulkner@latimes.com.