Samford Volleyball Coach Keylor Chan’s journey and passion
On Oct. 4th, Keylor Chan, the head coach of Samford Volleyball, celebrated his 400th career win in Samford’s match against Western Carolina. However, up until the day before the match, Chan had no idea it would be his 400th win.
“It was kind of revealed to me the day beforehand. I mean I care about it but, it’s really not that important to me. The wins are just a reflection of a lot of hard work people have put in and I’m just fortunate to have been on a journey with those people,” Chan said.
In truth, Chan gives the credit for the wins back to his players as a shared victory.
“I didn’t really win any of these games-the players did. Those wins are really theirs. I was just a part in them,” Chan said.
Chan began his career in volleyball as a high school student when a P.E Coach recommended he start playing men’s volleyball in the off season of tennis. However, he had no aspirations for coaching. When he got accepted to the University of Florida as an undergrad, he expected to follow the usual college plan of getting a degree and job. Volleyball coaching was entirely off his radar.
But during Chan’s first semester at school, while playing volleyball in the campus recreation center, he was spotted by the men’s volleyball club who recruited him. As time went on, the club team worked heavily alongside the women’s volleyball program and Chan would get paid to help with camps and as a practice player with the women’s varsity team.
While Chan was looking into dental school, Mary Wise, the head coach of the women’s volleyball team at the University of Florida, asked Chan to coach as a volunteer at Florida. Chan initially said no. However, he was still regularly helping with the women’s team and ended up changing his mind, giving up dental school for coaching.
Right after Chan graduated Kevin Renshler, one of Wise’s former assistants who went to be head coach at Kent State, called Chan and offered him an assistant coaching job. A year later, Renshler went to Northwestern and brought Chan with him. Chan assisted him for two years; from there he went to Furman in 1999 and then back to Northwestern in 2000 as a head coach. He was there until fall of 2015.
However, burnt out from the profession, Chan was ready to transition out of coaching. That was until he got a call from Samford athletics administrator Michelle Durbin.
“Michelle heard I was in the process of transitioning out of Northwestern and asked if I would be interested (in coaching at Samford). I had known Michelle for a long time and my wife thought it would be healthy for me to try. From the first call with Michelle to where I am now Samford has just been the biggest blessing,” Chan said.
For Chan, the game is about much more than winning games, it is about watching his athletes grow.
“To me the most rewarding thing (as a coach) is seeing your athletes develop, overcome challenges and embrace them and become better than they once were. What gets me is watching a team soar and at Samford I have been blessed to see a lot of teams do that. Even when they graduate, these young women do wonderful things with their lives- they have purpose, and they have faith, and those things are way more powerful than just winning a volleyball game,” Chan said.
This is a sentiment his players seem to share.
“He really wants to the best for our team, but he also really cares about us as people and as individuals-us growing up to be young women in the real world,” said Gracie Lynn Butler, a senior volleyball player.
Despite a long and successful career with coaching, Chan also acknowledges that it has not always been easy.
“There is no official degree in coaching. There is no ‘why do you do what you do,’ you kind of just follow what your coaches do. You have to learn to not just be a good coach but a good teacher. There have been so many blessings through (coaching), a lot of adversity too, I won’t lie, but it’s been a very purposeful life and career,” Chan said.
With a 400th win comes the opportunity for many more wins as Chan continues coaching the Samford volleyball team and watches athletes soar.
Staff Writer
