By Evan Sandel
The Scene staff
The St. Louis Community College volleyball season was canceled this year after head coach Johnna Kinney announced on the first day of the season that she was leaving to take another job.
“It’s kind of how life goes,” said Athletic Director Sharon Marquardt. “Sometimes job offers pop up when you least expect. … You can’t blame a person for trying to secure full-time employment, and that option was given to her, and she took it.”
Kinney was an adjunct faculty member and assistant athletic director for STLCC. She started coaching volleyball on the Florissant Valley campus in 2000, before the college consolidated its sports teams.
Marquardt declined to name the job Kinney took, and Kinney declined to be interviewed.
“I am no longer affiliated with STLCC athletics or the volleyball team,” she wrote in an email to The Scene.
The Archers volleyball team is part of Division II in Region 16 of the National Junior College Athletic Association. Its season was scheduled to begin Aug. 1. Gabrielle Reed, who played last season and planned to return this season, heard about Kinney’s departure the day before the team’s first meeting, when the coach called her.
“That’s when I heard the news, and I remember I was at work, and I had to sit down,” said Reed, 23, a criminal justice major.
“I was kind of flabbergasted because we went to do our routine physicals just the week before. There was really no initial notice or warning at all. We really thought everything was supposed to go as planned.”
Last season was a rough one for the volleyball team, which finished 0-30. That was the first winless season for Kinney, although the team’s previous two seasons were disappointing with a first-round tournament loss in 2012 and a 6-30 record in 2011.
Reed remembers Kinney as being somewhat detached last season.
“It kind of seemed like she might move on … coach at another school or retire or something else,” Reed said. “It wasn’t initially a shock to me that she wouldn’t be coaching, but I still can’t believe the season was canceled.”
Even after Kinney’s resignation, there was still a chance the 2014 volleyball season would continue. But the team’s assistant coach was unable to make the additional time commitment due to having recently taken on foster children, Reed said.
“We were just sort of hanging in the balance waiting to hear something when, finally, we were told (the season) was cancelled,” Reed said.
Volleyball players who had already signed letters of commitment were able to keep their scholarships, which was a relief to players like Reed. She had decided to play volleyball and attend the Florissant Valley campus, where the team is based, because of the financial aid. It is the furthest STLCC campus from her South St. Louis home.
Today, the volleyball team’s webpage is blank, except for the statement, “St. Louis Community College will resume play for the fall 2015 season.”
“We are in the process of making sure we have a qualified coach on board by Dec. 1,” Marquardt said. “That person will be responsible for recruiting for the team, setting up the season schedule and hopefully have everything ready to go for the Aug. 1 (2015) start date.”