By Mike Pearson
FightingIllini.com

NOTE: This is Part 1 of a two-part story detailing the impact of former Illinois' volleyball head coach Mike Hebert. In Part 2, we describe how his program slowly took shape, evolving from a first-season record of 5-25 into a unit that would earn Illini women's athletics' its first three Big Ten championships.

He's the answer to an Illini trivia question. Who was the first coach to lead a University of Illinois women's sports team to an official Big Ten championship?

And the way his Illini career unceremoniously began in 1983, no one—including Mike Hebert himself—would have accurately predicted the success that would eventually follow.

The shy youngster grew up in San Bernardino, Calif., but lost his dad—Air Force Captain Robert Hebert—in 1952 during a fatal combat mission in the Korean conflict.

Wrote Mike in his 1993 biography, "The Fire Still Burns", "I must have heard a thousand times from well-meaning relatives and acquaintances 'Now that your father's gone, you have to be the man of the house.' I didn't want to be the man of the house. I was a kid, eight years old; I just wanted my dad."

Hebert said that his "obligation to be emotionally in charge" was the first in a series of defining moments.

"I began to develop a strong competitive urge," he wrote, "a will to succeed."

Hebert's early passion was water sports, typical for a young person who grew up 50 minutes from the Pacific Ocean. He dabbled in other sports, and primarily unsuccessful tryouts in baseball and football were followed by moderate success in track and field as a jumper and then more lofty accomplishment as a basketball player. As a teenager, he was employed at a hamburger joint owned by brothers named McDonald—yes, those McDonalds.

After a stint at BYU for college, he transferred home to Cal-Santa Barbara and discovered the sport of volleyball. Sand courts were everywhere and, said Hebert, "In no time I fell in love with the game. I had a 36-inch vertical jump, I was quick, could hit the ball pretty hard, and was a good defensive player."

As a senior at UCSB, Hebert applied for the Peace Corps.

"The notion of helping people and at the same time expanding my horizons was attractive," he wrote. "The next thing I knew I was getting off a plane in Lagos, Nigeria. This is it, beach boy. This is no vacation; this is life. (Going from) Isla Vista to Nigeria was like jumping from a Jacuzzi into a pool of ice water."

Hebert was supposed to spend two full years in Nigeria, but a deteriorating political atmosphere necessitated an early exit for him and the other Peace Corps volunteers. Shortly after his arrival back in America, he departed for Indiana University to study for his master's degree in university administration. In Bloomington, Hebert's life underwent further dramatic change, getting married and having two daughters. In his spare time, he cranked his volleyball game up a notch, playing for Jerry Yeagley, a man more notably known as IU's highly successful soccer coach.

In 1972, Hebert and his young family moved to Pittsburgh to teach secondary school education at Chatham College. Three years later, he was teaching ninth-grade social science at Pittsburgh's Peabody High School. Hebert remained active with volleyball by playing in a YMCA league. There, he was discovered by the University of Pittsburgh and was hired as the Panthers' first women's varsity coach for $2,500 a year.

"My primary reason for taking the job was extra income for my family," Hebert wrote. "The more I coached, the more I liked coaching. A Pitt victory put me on top of the world, though I rarely had any idea why we'd won. A loss sent me to – is there a level lower than basket case?"

As the '70s drew to a close, Hebert began to check out other coaching positions. He settled at the University of New Mexico in 1980 and later hooked on to Chuck Erbe's United States' World University Games staff.

Erbe ultimately had a hand in Hebert getting his job at the University of Illinois, suggesting Hebert's name when he turned down Karol Kahrs' offer in 1983.

"I saw that Illinois, with its location and its academic reputation, offered a better opportunity for the great players I'd need to build an elite program," Hebert wrote in his book. "It was clear to me that Illinois represented a step into firmer ground in every aspect of my profession. I really had made a point of asking questions during my interview and Karol was tireless in answering them. Yet even with all my questions, I wasn't quite prepared for what I found when I arrived in Champaign in early August, just two days before the team showed up for practice."

When Hebert and his assistant coach, Don Hardin, went to check out UI's facility—Kenney Gym—he realized that he hadn't bothered to fully examine the building where his team would play.

"It was 1983," Hebert wrote, "but there had to be junk in Kenney that had been there since the place was built in 1900. When I asked about equipment, I was told that it was in 'the volleyball box', a padlocked plywood box on wheels. One problem: the box had been kicked in during the summer and the contents had been stolen. Welcome to your new job … your step up the professional ladder. We had no ball, no net, nor a place to store anything securely if we'd actually had a ball and net. It seems funny now, but at that point Don and I were seriously questioning whether we had done the right thing in coming to Illinois."

Hebert and Hardin held their first few practices at the Intramural and Physical Education Building, where at least they could check out a net and ball.

"We kept on pushing for the bare minimum," Hebert wrote. "We were making a point and our players loved it. 'God,' they said, 'we've never had anybody stand up for us.' That was a big deal for them. They knew their coaches respected them and believed in them and were willing to fight for them. Finally, one Sunday night, Don and I met at the gym and dragged every bit of junk out into a hallway. The next day, we went to practice and the pile was gone. It must have taken the maintenance staff several hours to load the stuff into a truck and haul it away. Don and I exchanged secret smiles."

From the time they first arrived at Illinois, Hebert and Hardin established where the program was going, laying down a set of principles that were going to govern the program. Wins and losses weren't even on their list at that point. They eagerly spoke to as many community groups as possible to get people talking about Illini volleyball. Just as enthusiastically, they began visiting with high school coaches in the state.

"When I agreed to take the Illinois job," Hebert wrote, "I explained to Karol Kahrs that for the first three years of the program, I would work on everything. I would coach the team, recruit the players, promote the team, sell tickets, and build public relations … whatever needed to be done to put a better product on the floor and to sell that product, I'd be responsible. But I also said that after three years, the team's going to be good enough that I can't carry that whole burden anymore. I'll have to devote all of my attention to the team and you'll have to develop a staff to take care of the publicity, marketing and promotion of Illinois volleyball. And that is exactly what evolved."