The best advice one of McMaster University‘s all-time greatest coaches can give his successor is to leave the program “a little bit better than you found it.”
That will likely be a tough act to follow considering Dave Preston led the men’s volleyball team to 10 Ontario University Athletics (OUA) titles in just over two decades.
The Chatham native was honoured Friday night prior to his last regular season home games closing out his tenure after 22 years with the Marauders.
Like a true competitor, Preston said the back-to-back Friday-Saturday matches against the Royal Military College Paladins were the top priority.
“I thought it was really important that I kind of kept everything in check, just out of respect to the student-athletes,” Preston told 900 CHML’s Good Morning Hamilton.
“It was a nice tribute to me, but the reality of it is (the game itself) was the most important thing of the night.”
Preston is less than two weeks away from finishing off the 2022-23 regular season with games against York, TMU and Toronto before the playoffs and championships in March.
Arriving from Western University in the early 2000s, his impact on the program would not come until after two seasons of losing.
After that, though, his squads would never fall below .500 season in the years to follow.
Over his career in the OUA, Preston has amassed over 300 wins in just over 450 games.
His teams have been to 14 championship tournaments, and he’s been named OUA coach of the year seven times.
The most notable elements of the game to evolve over his time with the squad are the improved quality of matches and the pressure to succeed.
“There’s just so much more stress in the world right now, and especially on a student-athlete,” Preston said. “We’ve really had to make an effort to reduce the amount of stress in the gym and dig a little deeper to find the joy.”
McMaster will host the USports Men’s Volleyball Championship March 17-19 and Preston says he’s not yet envisioned the potential to go out as a champion.
“Obviously, from a competitive point of view, that is definitely the goal,” he said. “But I’m just trying to get our guys in a position where they’re ready for it.”
Assistant coach Ian Eibbitt will serve as interim head coach upon Preston’s departure.
McMaster is expected to search for a new head coach following the current season.
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