Saying goodbye

When C.J. Werneke accepted the position of head volleyball coach at Fairfield, he was expected to continue the tradition of winning. The Stags had earned five-straight NCAA championships berths before he took over.

It was a difficult task for Werneke, who inherited a talented team that had lost many key players from the previous season.

He immediately helped the Stags back into the MAAC championship game and took them there five more times in his six seasons at Fairfield, but he never earned a spot in the NCAA tournament.

It was a combination of bad luck and the strength of Siena, who has emerged as a dynasty in the MAAC, replacing the Stags.

But in the end, Werneke leaves Fairfield as the winningest coach in program history while also bringing in a few of its best players.

“It is never a good time to leave, but I made a personal and family decision to leave now,” said Werneke.

Werneke is leaving along with his strong senior class, but remaining behind are a solid group of players and a six-person recruiting class that is ranked among the top 100 in the country.

“I talked to everyone on the team and they all support his decision,” said Lauren Campbell ’08. “It would be easy to say that it is about the five of us leaving, but it is about more than that. We all wish him the best and hope to keep in touch.

“It is better that he is making the move to a big state program [instead of] another school in the conference or something,” she added.

Despite his success, it will be difficult for Werneke to shake the stigma of his lack of MAAC championships, mainly because of the precedent set by the two coaches before him, Todd Kress and Mitch Jacobs.

The Stags will miss both Werneke and this year’s graduating class: Lindsey Lee, Jazmin Pa’akaula, Campbell, Kelly Oliver and Ashley Hanohano.

The senior six have been the faces of the program since the moment they became part of the team four seasons ago.

Lee, Oliver and Pa’akaula all leave the school on the top 10 lists in a variety of categories. Lee holds the career record in digs, digs per game and kills.

Oliver had arguably the best season of any of this year’s class and moved into sixth place all-time in career kills and into 10th place in digs and was picked on the All-MAAC First Team.

Pa’akaula is ninth in kills and ranks third in digs.

But, like Werneke, the new coach will inherit a team that still has a lot of talent remaining.

Fairfield has been established as one of the top volleyball programs in the Northeast and should be able to find a worthy successor to Werneke.

Athletic Director Gene Doris has had experience replacing coaches in the school’s top sports over the past two years, finding replacements for basketball coaches Tim O’Toole and Dianne Nolan in Ed Cooley and Joe Frager.

Werneke will be missed, but the volleyball program should stay just as strong under new leadership.