DePaul assistant coach Nick Vogel finds new love for volleyball
CHICAGO (BVM) — Athletics can be a beautiful place to find a passion in life. However, sometimes the greatest things are not meant to be, and it’s often the response that can determine greatness and impact on this world.
Nick Vogel began playing volleyball in high school and instantly fell in love with playing the game. As he ventured into professional volleyball, his passion grew even stronger. But during his third year overseas, all of that quickly got taken away.
Doctors had informed him that his volleyball career was over because of a medical condition. From that point forward, Vogel quickly learned that he had not fallen in love with playing volleyball, but he fell in love with the game as a whole.
Vogel grew up playing a plethora of other sports besides volleyball. Being from California, he mainly loved playing outdoor sports including soccer, tennis, ultimate frisbee, and occasionally football.
He did not start playing volleyball until his friends convinced him to give it a try.
“Two of my best friends told me, ‘You have to come out and play volleyball. We need you out here,’” Vogel said. “I remember pretty distinctly coming home from the first open gym I went to and I was telling my mom, ‘this is it.’”
After that moment, Vogel spent the majority of his time focused on volleyball. At the age of 16, he stood 6-foot-9, which made him a perfect fit for the game.
Vogel specifically remembered joining a club volleyball team soon after starting the game within his high school career. However, what stood out even more was some of his memories with teammates.
“The first year that I played, there was an older guy, he was on varsity, a basketball guy, and super popular,” Vogel said. “I remember being on the team with him and him driving me around to practices and games.”
He also remembered a great friendship that turned into an unexpected rivalry.
“One of my closest friends, Aaron, ended up switching schools,” Vogel said. “We battled it out the very next year and we matched up in our rotations kind of perfectly and got into each other’s head a little bit. We got to talk a little trash through the net. He was a huge part of my volleyball experience throughout my life. He was my beach partner for a while and somebody I always kept in touch with.”
After his high school career, Vogel decided to stay in California and play volleyball for UCLA. He had the opportunity to play under Coach Al Scates who had 1,239 wins in his 50-year coaching career. On top of the wins, he also had 19 NCAA titles with the Bruins.
“He started the program at UCLA back in the 1960s, he was a player on the team,” he said. “My senior year was his 50th year as the head coach at UCLA. He was a total legend. There was nothing he hadn’t seen. Any ridiculous play or something steps up and does something incredible, he would love it and clap, but it was all business for him in a lot of ways. He saw the game differently than anyone else would see it just because of the sheer amount of volleyball he’d seen.”
After graduating from UCLA, Vogel decided to pursue professional volleyball overseas. He spent three years overseas including one in Athens, Greece, and two in Germany.
“There is nothing to do but your craft,” Vogel said of his pro experience. “There’s no class, no tests coming up next Wednesday, and nothing to get done for a lab on Friday. It’s just you, your sport, and your craft.”
Vogel also had the opportunity to play for Team USA. During the summers and breaks from their professional contracts, all the guys around the world would fly home to train in the national team gym.
Soon after going back overseas, Vogel received the news about his medical condition. The team USA doctors had told him that they had found an abnormality in his heart that would cause him to shut down his career immediately.
“I got back to the states and did not know what to do with myself,” Vogel said. “I had an abrupt stop and did not know what to do next. It was a challenge, but I had a really incredible support structure.”
Vogel was able to look at the positive side of being able to return home to family while also having the opportunity to be a bit more adventurous in life due to the removal of his contract. Nonetheless, Vogel still missed the game of volleyball. He didn’t know coaching was the next step in his life until Mike Sealy, the head coach of the UCLA women’s team, told Vogel to come be the volunteer coach for his team.
In the first match, Vogel realized that playing volleyball was not his only passion in life.
“I remember so distinctly, our very first match was at the Outrigger Tournament in Hawaii,” Vogel said. “It was against Hawaii with 9,000 screaming fans. They had given me the responsibility of working with the middle blockers and the blocking system for the team. I’m standing up there telling our middles where to go and what to watch out for. I remember looking around and going, ‘Okay this is just as exciting as playing.’ That is the point where I was hooked.”
After realizing coaching was meant for him, Vogel began looking for a full-time job as a coach rather than volunteering. He got his first paid coaching job at the University of California San Diego. During this job, Vogel was a part of only a three-person staff. Therefore, all of the coaches had to help with the traveling, the recruiting, and of course the practices.
“I learned very quickly that this job was far more than volleyball,” Vogel said. “In fact, your two-hour practice a day is recess compared to the rest of the day. To do this well from top to bottom, there is a lot that goes into it.”
His second coaching job became an instant bright spot in his career. He coached at the University of San Diego, a top competitor within Division I volleyball every year. Vogel mentioned how much he learned from the head coach and one of the assistants who ran the practices in a very efficient manner.
However, his biggest takeaway was meeting Marie Zidek. Vogel and Zidek formed a bond on the court as coaches but also off the court as friends. Zidek had been long awaiting a head coaching job and wanted Vogel to be her assistant as she looked for a job. They didn’t want just any job, rather, they wanted a program that had high potential and needed a coach to fill in the missing piece.
The two decided DePaul University was a perfect match and they instantly began restructuring the program.
Throughout their first three seasons, Vogel and Zidek have been making a substantial amount of progress. They have been able to reach the team’s highest winning percentage in 21 years while also being a Power 5 school for the first time in 13 seasons.
“For us, it was about building the foundation the right way,” Vogel said. “Even if it takes a little longer to make it stable, that’s the way we want to go about it. We not only have a destination in mind, but we have a roadmap on how we’re planning on getting there.”
To top it off, Vogel has been steadily increasing his resume as a coach. This summer, he had the opportunity to coach the USA Volleyball National Team Development Program. Rather than the actual team that competes in the Olympics, this program is designed similar to a training camp which allows for future Olympians to be selected.
“We were coaching the best 17 and 18-year-olds in the country,” Vogel said. “We got to work with these young women and they got to work with each other and eventually develop a really cool playing relationship. By the end of the week, it was some great volleyball. You get to look at this group of young women that are incredible at their craft and see future Olympians in development.”
As for his own goals, Vogel remains dedicated to bringing the DePaul volleyball team back into the spotlight. He mentioned how determined the players and staff are to get this team back to the NCAA Tournament. Though this team is destined for greatness, Vogel continues to find motivation for his players and himself.
“At a foundational level, surround yourself with people who want to be great and it takes care of itself,” he said. “I want to be around people who are highly competitive, elite human beings. I love the sport of volleyball, but more so I love being around athletes and I love being around people who want to be elite.”
Most important of all, where he found the love of volleyball and so many other sports, Vogel relates his motivation to the whole of a team.
“Another big focus for me is how to establish a team culture, that is, as a whole, stronger than the sum of individuals,” Vogel said. “That is why I think teams are so special. Two people can be much stronger than two individuals.”
