SOUTH WAYNE — After more than a quarter century leading Black Hawk’s volleyball program, Rachel Wolff stepped away from the program this past spring.
“I loved every minute of that,” Wolff said, tearing up. “I’m going to miss it like crazy — especially that first day of practice and I’m not there. But somebody once said that the leaves change color in the fall, and I haven’t noticed that in a long, long time — so I’m excited for that.”
With more than 300 career wins, a pair of sectional championship appearances and a slew of conference championships, Wolff has left an imprint on volleyball enthusiasts throughout the Six Rivers Conference.
“The Six Rivers will certainly be different now that she has retired, but of course, as with all good people, the legacy she leaves behind will remain many years after she steps away,” former Black Hawk girls basketball coach Mike Flanagan said.
Wolff said that she came to the decision to leave the program thanks in part to the emotional toll COVID-19 had. She also said that she feels like the remaining players in the program feel let down by her leaving. In fact, as of deadline for publication, the Warriors had not yet found a replacement with less than three weeks to go before fall practice begins.
“COVID just took a lot out of me — both in the classroom and on the court this past season. I was just tired, right? I don’t know when it actually hit me, but the fact is that it did,” Wolff said.
Prior to the July 23 East vs. West All-Star Game, Flanagan presented Wolff with a plaque, thanking her for her dedication to not just the sport, but for influencing young women for more than two decades.
“I know she’s not really happy to have this kind of attention paid to her … but the career she had at Black Hawk, 26 years, a number the likes of which is becoming rarer and rarer,” Flanagan said. “I think it’s getting tougher and tougher to being a head coach — it’s a year-round commitment and the loudest voices you hear sometimes are critical. It’s a constant challenge to get kids and sometimes parents to buy-in to a system, a program, the roles that coaches have to ask them to embrace.
“But throughout her career, coach Wolff has persevered through that, and along the way she’s had success: Multiple conference championships, multiple regional championships, multiple coach of the year selections — just like she experienced this year. Despite any of those achievements, what stands out to me the most about coach Wolff is that she is all about the kids. She values her players as people, and not just as athletes. She has very high expectations, but she supports all of her athletes in all of their pursuits,” Flanagan said.
Wolff’s final game with Black Hawk came in a stunning 5-set defeat by eventual state champion Eau Claire Immanuel Lutheran in a WIAA Division 5 sectional championship. It had been 20 years since the last time the Warriors had played in a sectional final.
Wolff said that despite the years of success in the middle, she still never felt like she had fully deciphered the game, and was always so thankful for the breadth of talent she was able to coach.
“I don’t know that I ever figured it out,” Wolff said. “The kids make me look a lot better than I was. But certainly, I do have a passion for the sport, and I do have a passion for the kids. I think that’s a combination that breeds success.”
Her final time on the sidelines was at the all-star game, where she coached the East to a 4-1 victory. Four of her players from this past season made up the 11-person roster.
“I’ve put in a lot of time over the years, but it’s because of kids like this that I have loved every minute of it,” Wolff said.
