By Logan Stolberg

The Oswego State women’s volleyball program hired its new head coach, Toby Rens on April 12.

Overall throughout his years as a women’s volleyball coach, Rens has learned many valuable lessons that stuck with him over the years.

“It’s been a journey and process from the different institutions,” Rens said.  “I’m thankful for the path I took and I learned a lot of tough life lessons along the way but you always bring that to the next job and you always try to do better than you did before.  One thing I think I am very proud of is how I left every program better than how I found it.”  

Rens has had many role models that he has looked up to that got him to be passionate about volleyball but credits his sister the most for his interest in the sport.  

“I have two younger sisters, one of them is close in age to me,” Rens said. “She basically kind of made me learn how to pepper, which is a ball-control thing with volleyball.  From there it morphed into falling in love with the game.” 

Oswego State has had many positive attributes that caught Rens’ attention as a deciding factor for him accepting the coaching job. 

“The program here at Oswego State has a good tradition,” Rens said.  “It’s got a very good foundation and an alumni base that’s pretty engaged.  I fully intend to build off what JJ was doing and take it to the next level.  A lot of that requires a lot of hard work and buy-in from the players.”  

Rens says he is fully aware of what impact previous coach JJ O’Connell had on the women’s volleyball program and looks to continue to build off the foundation that he set for the team.  

“I fully intend to build off what JJ was doing and take it to the next level,” Rens said.  “A lot of that requires a lot of hard work and buy-in from the players.” 

Rens says the program’s past does not matter to him but rather he is focused on how to move the program forward into the future. 

“I approach this as a clean slate,” Rens said. “Their past doesn’t matter to me as much as the present and how they want to develop as players moving forward.”  

Rens took a brief hiatus from coaching at the college level during the COVID-19 pandemic, but continued to coach for a high school. 

“I was able to coach my niece’s high school team,” Rens said. “I was very thankful that I was able to do that along the way.” 

Rens believes that his confidence and his prior experience coaching at the D1 level will carry over well to Oswego State’s program.

“I’m not going to change my approach to training the team,” Rens said. “I know what works well for me and I know the style of play I plan to implement.  We’ll certainly prepare for every match from an offensive stance and how we plan to prepare for our opponents.”

The women’s volleyball program begins its next season in August as the Lakers hope to continue to win with their new coach. 

Graphic provided by Oswego State Athletics