Debby Colberg: Serving up victories

Debby Colberg

What keeps the most successful coach in Sacramento State history from bolting to greener pastures? She hasn’t found any.

Head volleyball coach Debby Colberg says that no school has offered her what she has found at her alma mater. “I like it here,” she says. “I have looked into other jobs but it would have to be something much more attractive.”

Before she set school records for wins, tournament appearances and coach of the year honors, Colberg was a student athlete herself, working toward a teaching credential. She played on Hornet volleyball, basketball and softball teams, and actually saw herself as more of a basketball player. “In those days women tended to play more than one sport,” she says.

After graduating in 1970, Colberg was teaching middle school when something brought her back to Sacramento State for a master’s degree. Perhaps it was destiny—or maybe it was the four years in middle school. But when she returned the position of volleyball coach was open, providing both a part-time job and a hint at her ultimate career.

Later the position became full-time and Colberg has never looked back. “Sometimes fate puts you in a place. My husband suggested I get a master’s and he was able to support me. It got me here.”

She says she has never has regretted leaving her middle school gig as she prefers the challenge of working with elite athletes.

Like most successful coaches, Colberg doesn’t linger in the past. Though she admits her two national championships—in 1980 and 1981—were special, she says that she doesn’t have a favorite memory. “There are so many. There are specific matches you remember—those you didn’t expect to win, and you’d win,” she says. “But I tend to live more in the moment. My favorite team is always the one I am presently coaching.”

She mostly enjoys the overall sense of progress her teams have made over time.

If you were to pick Colberg’s brain, attempting to duplicate her success with players, you might come away dissatisfied. Colberg’s impact on athletes is hers alone. “I look for talent obviously, athletic ability. But I’m a pretty good teacher,” she says.

But she also looks for a good fit—personality, academics, work ethic. “If they’re the right person, I can work with them. If they’re not strong academically, I try to find out why they aren’t. If they’re working hard, we may take a chance. But if they’re not trying, I will most likely look elsewhere.”

Colberg’s winning run has helped players find her as well. “That’s the fun of it, getting the better player,” she says. “You look like a brilliant coach if you bring in a better athlete.”

It’s also hard to pin Colberg down to explain what has made her successful. “It’s hard for me to say,” she says. “My teaching background has certainly helped. And I think I have a good dose of common sense.”

Her assistant coach Ruben Volta says it because players respond to her as a disciplinarian, an assessment she supports.

“I walk a line,” she says. “I can give them a push in the back in such as way as to not alienate them and not make them hate to come to practice. I want it to be a positive experience.

“I can’t make them enjoy doing sprints. But I can make other things fun. I try to treat them as I would want to be treated.”

As a former Sacramento State student who has guided scores of women through the volleyball program, Colberg has seen a lot of changes in women’s athletics but feels more changes are coming. She would like future changes for women’s athletics to be based on what is actually best for female athletes—not necessarily following the male model of athletics.

“I truly believe in the educational value of athletics and I hope that players under my tutelage will appreciate all the opportunities Sacramento State has to offer as an educational institution. And I hope their experiences as a volleyball athlete complement what they learn on the academic side.”

Despite all her success, Colberg is far from complacent. “We still have challenges. That’s the nice thing about Division I.”