A month ago, Charlie Olson was living in Texas working as an assistant volleyball coach at Sam Houston State University. Today, he is the head volleyball coach at the University of Louisiana at Monroe.

“Todd [Dooley] called me and he said ‘I want to bring you and your family in if you’re interested,’ and that was like the Saturday before the team reported back. So, that was a quick turnaround,” Olson said.

Olson came to ULM after spending five years at Sam Houston under the guidance of legendary college volleyball coach Brenda Gray.

Sam Houston’s coach has been there for over 35 years and according to Olson, is one win away from 700 wins.

“I felt that Charlie was just about ready last year, and I believe with this opportunity knocking right in front of him, I think he’ll do a wonderful job for ULM. I’m excited for him,” Gray said.

Coach Olson is at ULM serving as a head coach for the first time in his career. His experience with the sport doesn’t end with just coaching.

“I played in high school and in college. After I graduated college, I thought that volleyball was done,” Olson said.

According to Olson, the journey into coaching started with a blind date after college. What was supposed to be an invitation to meet his date’s AAU team turned into his first coaching gig. After a couple of years away from the sport he returned as a volunteer assistant coach at the University of Tennessee. A little over a year later, he made the move to Sam Houston.

ULM’s athletic director Scott McDonald said he saw the new coach’s hiring like a race.

“This is like a relay race. Russ ran that leg and got us in a good place and now he’s handing off the baton. Now, it’s up to that next person to take that baton and increase our lead. That’s the way we looked at it with Charlie,” McDonald said.

“It was a big decision for him and his family as well as for us. It just seemed like a good fit,” McDonald added.

According to McDonald, Olson was able to accept his job offer on a Monday and showed up a day later to meet his new team who were reporting back from their summer break.

Olson said the move has been sudden and with a very quick turnaround but it has all been positive. As he hopes to begin his first season as a head volleyball coach at the collegiate level, Olson is also working on moving his family to Monroe.

Olson said he expects this to be a good season with his new team and encourages students and the rest of the Warhawk supports to catch a set or two of volleyball.

“Give volleyball a shot. Stay for a set. You like it, stay for another set. You like that, come next week.”