Volleyball: ‘Cuz’ calls it quits

To the casual observer, Nelson might come off as a curmudgeon: a white-haired coach who only arises from his slouch on the sideline to scream after bad points.

He is a notorious potty-mouth and is not afraid to speak his mind. But those even remotely close to Nelson — players, alumni, parents or anyone who speaks with him for more than five minutes — know him as humorous, incredibly competitive and, most of all, devoted to the program and his players from when they first arrive on campus until long after they have left through FitzRandolph Gate.

In late March, the Department of Athletics announced that, after 31 years in Dillon Gymnasium, Nelson, who coaches both men’s and women’s volleyball, will retire at the end of the season.

Tonight, in the first round of the Eastern Intercollegiate Volleyball Association (EIVA) playoffs, Princeton takes on Rutgers-Newark in what will be Nelson’s final home game as a Princeton coach.

His players casually refer to him in conversation as “Cuz,” and an unknowing listener might think they are talking about another player. That might have been expected when he arrived as a 28-year-old in 1979, but it’s a casual relationship he has maintained throughout his career. If the Tigers lose in the EIVA playoffs, Cuz will be free to ride off into the sunset.

“Actually, I’m going to sit in a room and vegetate for a while,” Nelson said. “I’m really tired.”

His fatigue can be excused if one examines his record.

He has 579 career wins with the women’s volleyball team. Between the men’s and women’s programs, he has 1,109 wins in 58 combined seasons, making him Princeton’s all-time winningest coach.

He has won 11 women’s volleyball Ivy League titles. In the 1997-98 season, he became the only coach to lead both men’s and women’s teams to NCAA tournament berths in the same academic year.

The 1998 season was especially notable for the men’s volleyball team. Since the inception of the EIVA 32 years ago, Penn State has won the postseason title and moved on the NCAA Final Four 20 times.

The lone exception — the Nittany Lions’ only EIVA postseason loss ever — came 3-0 at the hands of Princeton in the 1998 EIVA semifinals.

The Tigers went on to win the title and go to the Final Four, where they lost to Pepperdine.

Get the best of the ‘Prince’ delivered straight to your inbox. Subscribe now »

One of Nelson’s most impressive seasons with the women’s volleyball team came two years ago.

In 2007, after starting the season 2-3, Princeton reeled off 20 straight wins, including the first-ever 14-0 Ivy League season, before falling to Delaware in the NCAA tournament.

To coach two teams is unique at the collegiate level, but to have the success Nelson has had with both is even more remarkable.

“You look back on it now, and you say, ‘What the hell was I thinking?’ But when you’re young, it really was different, not that bad,” Nelson said. “Now, when [I’m] 60 years old, I couldn’t make a decision on which one I’d rather coach. Some years you feel better with your men’s team. Some years you feel better with your women’s team.”

Volleyball has not always had the profile it does now. In the early days, Nelson and his players often had to quarrel with pickup basketball players over court space at Dillon.

Until the mid-’90s, the team played its games on the far court of Dillon — where it still practices today — before eventually getting to use the gym’s center court.

By that point, the sport had developed the cult following among students it maintains now.

Nelson maintains that though volleyball games attract a lot of spectators, there used to be more.

And, like every other volleyball-playing school, Princeton has its fair share of obnoxious spectators.

A few weeks ago, when the crowd chanted for a certain bench player to be put in, Nelson, who isn’t shy about yelling at fans or referees alike, screamed back, “He’s injured, idiots,” before turning aside and saying, “This is why I can’t wait to retire.”

“Princeton has its idiot fans, but we’ve had some great fans in the past,” he said. “It’s a cult following. We used to put a lot of people in the stands. They’d bring the whole club — all of Ivy [Club] or all of [Tiger Inn] would be recruited to be here.” When asked whether senior outside hitter and former TI president Phil Rosenberg had that draw over his club, Nelson joked, “Even if he did have that power, he would never figure it out.”

That he can joke about players — and that players can joke with him — seems to be what makes him tick.

When Nelson retires, he said, there will be a lot of things he won’t miss at all — the sport itself, team administration, missing college football games, “being on a freaking bus” — but he will miss the players, who keep him young even when they tire him out.

Despite his gray hair, Nelson is far from a father figure. Players portray him more as a fun uncle, as he greets friends and strangers alike with a “What up, dude?” and calls everyone “Cuz.”

The men’s and women’s volleyball teams are especially close through their relationships with Nelson, as one team is always present at the others’ games.

The men’s team even got matching orange tank tops emblazoned with “Glenn’s Men” to wear at the women’s games last fall.

But of greatest pride to Cuz is how he keeps in touch with his former players. “I know them all, every one,” Nelson said, pointing to his cell phone. “Everybody’s right here. Everybody I want to talk to, anyway.”

According to current players, alumni come out in droves whenever the team plays in New York or California, and the annual alumni game during Reunions is consistently standing-room only.

And more often then not, when those alumni come to games, they come not to watch bumps and sets but for a quick “What up?” with Cuz.

Moreover, Nelson insisted that he will maintain the same level of contact after he retires as he has in three decades of coaching.

Despite his stated intention to vegetate, it’s hard to imagine that Nelson will be completely inactive in retirement.

Though he stopped practicing volleyball daily with both teams after he turned 53 — “My body wouldn’t let me play anymore,” he said — rumors still circulate about his supposed incredible athleticism.

Even with a limp — which he has had since a staph infection from before he started coaching — he reportedly still had the best control on a volleyball, could beat Division III tennis players and would never back down from any athletic challenge.

One rumor that has persisted past his volleyball-playing days is his alleged 1-handicap in golf.

“No, it’s not one,” he semi-humbly admitted, “but it’s pretty low — single digits. I played really well Saturday and really bad [Sunday]. I probably shot even on Saturday and 8-over [Sunday].”

Whoever takes over for Nelson will have big shoes to fill. This is not just because he has been the face of Princeton volleyball for so long or because he is so close with the current players or because he is the biggest draw to 58 total classes of volleyball alumni, but for reasons as simple as X’s and O’s: Both teams are graduating strong senior classes and will field largely inexperienced squads next season.

“It’s going to be tough for whoever comes in to do well right away,” he said. “But given the draw of this place, given that they’ll run a national search, I know they’ll hire a good coach. I’m sure they’ll get back on top.”

But his successor will know that he or she is indebted to Nelson, as without his work over the past three decades there would be no opportunity to get back on top.

Princeton volleyball is what it is — on the court and off — because of Cuz.

“The program is in better shape than when I got here,” Nelson said. “All you can do is help to take a team and a program from point A to point B and preserve it. And believe me, there were times when we were wondering if we could preserve it. So I think I take special pride in that.”

It might be hard to see that pride as Nelson leans back in his chair on the sideline of games. But every now and then, Nelson will erupt in a moment of passion that will result in a yellow card or maybe even a broken cane — though he maintains he has only broken one during his entire career.

“No, just that one cane,” Nelson said. “I had that cane for a while — from ’76 until Eichler made that absolutely terrible play.”