Cumberland County Lady Jets girls volleyball head coach Rodney Howard said he wants to continue to make his home gym a tough place to play.
Cumberland County finished last season losing only once at home. The Lady Jets rode the success into the sectional round last season before being eliminated by Signal Mountain. Howard said he got a call from the basketball coaches expressing their gratitude for making their gym loud.
“We’ve been such an underdog for a long time, and everybody just rules us out all the time,” Howard said. “And that’s where I like to be is where nobody like puts you on the radar and then you can surprise everybody but now I don’t think people have that recognition of us. I think we’re one of the teams to beat all the time.”
Howard is a graduate of Cumberland County High School. He played basketball, soccer, baseball, and football for the Jets. Howard said he wants to make the atmosphere at Cumberland County close to what a college atmosphere feels like.
“When we played basketball then, it was completely packed. I want to see that again,” Howard said. “And I want to see it for these girls and I want to see every seat filled in here because it is outstanding of what these girls have done and is probably one of the best things that they’ll ever see come out of CCHS for a long time.”
Howard said the team has grown exponentially in early practices.
“It’s what was advertised,” Howard said. “We said that we’re gonna be good for a long time. We’re finally coming to that, and we have one of the best teams that Cumberland County’s ever seen, probably in history.”
Howard enters his second season as Cumberland County volleyball head coach. Cumberland County was one win away last season from making it to state for the first time in program history. The Lady Jets will look to take that first trip this season.
