ASU women’s volleyball head coach Stevie Mussie mentioned she had made a Penn State-related hire as her assistant coach at her introductory press conference on Feb. 22.
Little did ASU know, this new coach (whose hire hadn’t yet been announced) was directly related to Penn State volleyball.
Chris Rose, son of Russ and Lori Rose, has signed onto ASU’s coaching staff.
Russ Rose has been the head coach of PSU for 37 years and won seven National Championships there, the most of any school. Lori is the all-time kills leader at PSU and was a three-time all-American.
With his lifetime of experience and friendship with Mussie, the decision to hire Chris Rose was easy.
“He was who I wanted initially when I got this position,” Mussie said. “I always knew, ever since I met him, that I wanted him to be on my staff.”
The two met when Mussie joined the PSU coaching staff as an assistant coach and Rose was a volunteer assistant on the team. The two have only known each other for two years, but they are remarkably close.
In a phone interview, Russ Rose said that while they were on his coaching staff, his son would spend more time in Mussie's office than in his own.
“They established a nice connection,” he said. “When Stevie got this opportunity, I think she knew the importance of making sure she could find people that she could trust and people that could impact the energy level of practice.”
Rose said he wanted to be her assistant coach for a long time. When he was an assistant coach at East Carolina, they remained in contact.
“I said, ‘Stevie, if you’re ever a head coach, I want to come with you. … I don’t care if you go to Alaska, I want to work for you,’” Rose said.
He’s excited to have his chance. The 23-year-old said the money doesn’t matter, and that he’s “too young to be caught up in that.”
Some coaches around the league may see his age as a shortcoming. Mussie and Russ Rose see it as a positive — he started at PSU when he was only 25.
“If Chris wasn’t my son, I would’ve been very interested in him for my assistant position,” Russ said. “I think the energy factor is very important, the ability to relate well to young people and be able to have skills that allow him to play and elevate the level of competition.”
Rose and Stevie are a young, energetic duo who are attempting to change the culture of ASU volleyball. There will be more gym days, harder work in practice and, according to Rose, “150 percent” effort.
If there’s a program to mirror, it would be Penn State. The school with the most wins of all time has influenced the coaching style of both new ASU coaches: Rose from childhood, and Mussie on staff at PSU.
Also, as Rose proudly pointed out, they have four rings between the two of them.
“If we can establish a similar culture with Stevie’s fingerprints on it … we’ll be fine,” he said. “If every kid in the gym is going as hard as they possibly can and is buying what we’re selling, the potential’s going through the roof.”
With similar coaching styles, student populations and general feels of the two schools, there are several similarities that could draw recruits.
“This place has such a cool vibe to it that even in the East Coast, we talk about Arizona State,” Rose said.
Additionally, players may like the PSU connection. This could become a fixture at ASU — Rose was emphatic in saying that he plans to stick around for the long run.
“I’m not going to bounce on (Stevie) after two years,” he said. “If I’m here for three years, and people offer me a head coaching job, I'm not going to leave. I promised Stevie that I want to work for her and I want to go to war for her.”
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Editor's note: Do to a reporting error, Rose was incorrectly identified as a volunteer assistant at East Carolina. It has been corrected.
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