LOS ANGELES--Earlier this season, after Southern California beat Arizona State to give Mick Haley his 300th win at USC, the Women of Troy’s head volleyball coach offered an unexpected answer when asked to describe his emotions.

“I am happy I got such good defense from my middle blockers today,” Haley said in the Galen Center media room.

It may seem odd for a coach to brush over such a milestone, particularly when it brings the all-time record for victories at USC within close reach, but for Haley, and those who have heard him speak, it is far from surprising. 

“You have to be appreciative, and then you have to go right back to what you need to do tomorrow, or else somebody will get ahead of you,” Haley said.  “You can’t be trying to amass records.” 

Setting records may not be his goal, but in a volleyball career spanning nearly 50 years, Haley certainly has done so. 

One look in his office, where awards fight for space among trophies and plaques, will show you that.

But one discussion with Haley will show you that his focus as a coach goes much deeper than adding another national championship ring to his hand (he already has three) or entering another hall of fame (he has already been inducted into three). 

“He is first and foremost, an educator,” associate head coach Tim Nollan said.

Nollan would know.

Although, alongside Haley, he is responsible for teaching the players, Nollan said he, too, learns from the head coach.

“Every year I have learned a huge thing from him and every day I try to learn small things from him.”

Haley, who received a bachelor’s degree in education from Ball State in 1965 and a master’s degree in education from Southern Illinois shortly after that, recommended Nollan get his master’s in education, as well.

Now, in Nollan’s office alongside his bachelor’s degree, there rests a master’s degree in education, as well.

When the Women of Troy learn from Haley it is usually about more than just volleyball.

“He is a very good volleyball coach, but he always has two intentions with everything,” USC’s setter, sophomore Hayley Crone said. “He wants us to be good at volleyball, but he wants us to succeed after volleyball, too.”

Haley is clear and unapologetic about what he expects from his players.

“We expect every player to graduate. We expect every player to do as well as they do in school as they do on the court. We never change that emphasis.”

That is not to say winning takes a backseat. 

By pushing the importance of education and personal development above winning alone, Haley feels he is bettering the volleyball program. 

“I think we get more wins this way than the other quite honestly,” he said.

When Haley talks about volleyball, it sounds different than one would expect. 

Rather than “coaching volleyball,” Haley “teaches volleyball.” 

He can relate volleyball to everything from football (he sees similarities between the University of Oregon volleyball and football teams’ offenses) to the presidential debates (he wants his players to be leaders who focus on issues rather than on other people). 

Surprisingly, volleyball entered Haley’s life at a somewhat late stage.  

Not surprisingly, Haley coached from a young age, getting his start in high school, four years before he began setting volleyballs at Ball St.

By the time Haley found his way onto legendary coach Don Shondell’s volleyball team, he already had coaching experience in everything from Little League baseball to fraternity flag football.  

Today, the 69-year-old Haley’s outwardly laidback and calm demeanor make the story of how he picked up volleyball difficult to believe. 

For what he calls “the dumbest of all reasons,” Haley joined the Ball St. volleyball team so he could prove to Shondell (who was also his professor) he was not a bad guy. 

Haley described himself as being a bit “off the wall” in his college days, a strong contrast to the composed professional he is today, and saw volleyball as a chance to redeem himself, at least in Shondell’s eyes.

Although Haley admits at the time it would have been hard for anyone to coach him, Haley’s plan worked; Shondell and Haley still talk to this day.

“He still thinks I’m one of the special ones,” Haley said.

Beginning in 1963, his sophomore year in college, Haley played volleyball -- until 1972.

That year, he encountered one of his few major disappointments with the sport.

He failed to make the Olympic team, a goal he had been eyeing since he began playing volleyball.

For six months, he thought about quitting. 

Then he realized volleyball had become his life.

He helped establish Kellogg Community College’s varsity volleyball teams in Battle Creek, Mich. There he coached the teams to six junior college championships. 

From there, he moved to the University of Texas, where he won a national championship in 1988. 

Yet throughout his early coaching career and the success he achieved, he never gave up on his dream of taking part in the Olympics.

In 1997, he was asked to be head coach of the U.S. women’s Olympic team. But Texas – where he had already spent 17 years – would not give him a sabbatical.

He decided to leave Texas, slightly upset he was forced to make a choice. 

Quickly, he found that coaching the national team proved different than he expected. 

“It was probably the best thing that happened to me,” Haley said, “but I hated it more than anything going through it.” 

Upset at the disorganization within the national team and negative reactions to his coaching, Haley frequently experienced disappointment while coaching what he thought would be his dream. 

“I would try to get college coaches behind us, so we would go out and play them, and all they would care about was trying to beat us and increase their fiefdoms,” Haley said.

After a fourth-place finish in the 2000 Olympics in Sydney, Australia, Haley said he came to his next coaching stop, USC, outright angry.

“Those ladies will tell you, I drove them hard for the first three years but we won two national championships,” Haley said of his first years at USC.

There is no sense Haley remains bitter about his departure from Texas or his Olympic coaching experience.

He tracks the progress of the national team, and the players he coached, and knows where Texas graduates gather to watch their Longhorns play sports.

He is refreshingly willing to talk to the media in press conferences and has no complaints about donning a headset after a game to speak with TV networks.

More disarming is his willingness to accept responsibility for mistakes of his own.  

When Oregon swept USC at the Galen Center this year, Haley assigned some of the blame to himself for not keeping his team focused.

He credits his naiveté for some of the difficulties he experienced while coaching the national team.

He also has an underlying confidence in his teams, in his bosses and in USC as an institution. 

“The athletic director and university president, I am constantly stimulated by the way they go after their job,” Haley said. “USC is really going for it and I am happy and proud to be a part of it.”

Unquestionably, his most identifiable characteristic is also the root of his philosophy on life and sports: an unwavering trust in education.

As a reporter leaves his office, joking about how difficult it is to make a good volleyball pass, Haley is quick to demonstrate the correct technique and offer a few suggestions.

In that moment it is difficult to tell whether one is seeing a coach coaching or an educator educating.

Then it becomes clear. 

It is both. 

Reach Contributor Willy Nolan here.