Five Questions With: Larry Wrather – a collegiate coach at an HBC, podcaster and former player
Monday, November 9th, 2020
In the fall of 2020, the Badger Region began a series titled Five Questions With, where we interview volleyball movers and shakers and share the stories with our members. Our second interview is with Larry Wrather. His background:
- Native of North Chicago, Ill.
- Played NCAA Div. 1 Men’s Volleyball at Ball State University
- Played on the Badger Region Lights Out PVL team
- Current head men’s and women’s volleyball coach at Fort Valley State University in Georgia
- Has a podcast called Motv8 MVB bringing more attention to men’s and boys volleyball to the minority community
For the full video interview, click here.
Question: What’s your perception of where boys and men’s volleyball is and where it is going?
Answer: It’s kind of like the “Tootsie Pop commercials … the world may never though.” I believe that it is capable of doing bigger and better things than what basketball is doing because of how intense, fast-paced and physical the game is. And it has yet to be shown to a point that everyone can be attracted to it. Since I was playing, there are way more clubs now, the level of play has increased, the knowledge of the kid has gotten better – you can tell there has been a difference.
Follow up question: What are your thoughts on Wisconsin boys volleyball? Will these be kids that you will be one day recruiting to play for you?
Wisconsin is an un-tapped market of talent. Lots of the kids are afraid to leave Wisconsin. They are more likely to stay in-state at a UW School or at Marquette and play club volleyball than leave. Some don’t necessarily chase the dream of a D1 or D2 picture, but they are GREAT athletes.
Question: What is it like to get your own men’s volleyball program started at Fort Valley State University which is one of the historically black colleges (HBC)?
Answer: It’s awesome. Being given the opportunity to be a head coach at the D1/D2 level is awesome. I am pretty young (30) to be a D1/D2 coach. It’s exciting, you get to build it from the ground up and make it how you want to make it. It’s going to grow as we go, but I’m also going to fail at times. But we’re going to learn from those failures to make it better later on. It’s extremely exciting to build my own program.
Follow-up question: Are you following in your father’s footsteps or blazing your own trail.
Answer: I’m following in his footsteps but slowly veering off. My right foot is behind his left and I’m about to make my turn into my own lane. Because I can’t that I’m not following in is footsteps. He’s a big reason why I’m in this game – seeing mentor kids all my life. He was underappreciated for everything he did. He doesn’t really ask for much ever. And I got to see that and learn from that from a very young age and a very close view. And that’s what drove me to be who I am. I’m just maybe just trying to be the Ed Wrather 2.0. I’m the upgrade.
Question: You’ve been a huge supporter of the equal rights and diversity movement and you have your own podcast called Motiv8, what does all that mean to you and what do you hope that you’re able to accomplish with all of it?
Answer: For those who don’t know me, I’m a pretty honest guy. I was reached out to by the gentlemen who I coached with at the University of Charleston (W.Va.), Mike Iandolo, who reached out and said he thought “this was the right time for you to open up some dialogue with some other black coaches about what it means to be black and whatever other ideas you have.” He said, “you’re the guy who can really drive this vehicle forward with being who you are as a person. You being so likeable and people knowing you so well. You can pull these random people together and make this happen.” I have never listened to a podcast in my life, but I started a podcast. As I slowly started reaching out to more people, more and more people were saying yes to being a part of it. It’s been going since mid-July and it’s going great. It’s reaching coaches who are not black to show them what it means to be black. And it shows them what it’s like to be black and going through their experiences in their own way. A lot of times, there’s only one or two black players on a team of 15 or 19, and they don’t really have anyone to compare to or to relate to or see what you’re dealing with and understand. This podcast is trying to give people a platform to learn and have an understanding. I’m just here to try and motivate, just like the name of the podcast says. Growth is the best thing to have. You have to be willing to put your pride in your pocket and have those difficult conversations.
Question: You talk a lot about “being comfortable being uncomfortable.” That’s a term common in coaching as well as in the social justice world that we live in. Can you compare the two?
Answer: They are 100 percent similar. They are the same to me in how I live my life. Being comfortable is the arch-nemesis to growth. If I become comfortable, I become complacent. When I become complacent, I become content. Now if I’m uncomfortable, that means I am growing. That means I am learning from the experience that I just had. If I continue to do what I am used to, then I am continuing in the same cycle and there is no growth. There’s a quote I heard on the radio that said, “sometimes growth feels like breaking.” Just like how muscles develop when you’re lifting. You have to tear the muscle for it to grow. That’s how you get stronger and get better at moving how you want. On the social just side of this question, in 2020, you have to enter conversations with your pride in your pocket. You are not better than me. I am not better than you. This is my view. This is your view. I’m going to understand it. I may not agree with it, but at least we’re having a dialogue and maybe I change my view a little or you change your view a little bit and we both have a better understanding.
Question: Are we as a volleyball community supportive of the things we talked about here? Are we going in the right direction of these initiatives?
Answer: We’re doing well and we are making practice. I’m seeing more work form the college level with racial equality councils that are being started in the various conferences. It’s a safe place for current players who are black or alumni who are black. It gives them someone to relate to if they have something going on. I’ve been tasked with helping out on some of these groups, and I get to use my podcast as kind of cheat code because I get to sit down with all of these great brains and bounce things off them and make it all mesh. The volleyball community is starting to make those steps – including in the club world. I can say compared to when I played in the club world, there are a lot more minorities playing now.
