Legendary Louisiana high school volleyball coach Sandy Fussell will retire from the sport after 35 seasons at the helm of Assumption High School’s volleyball program. Fussell, an Assumption alumnus, took a junior high teaching position at the school in 1982, and shortly thereafter took over the volleyball program.
The 57-year old Fussell was actually a member of the school’s first-ever volleyball team, which started in 1975, and won a regional championship with the program during their first season in 1976.
In her career as a coach, Fussell’s teams have won 28 district championships, 8 times finished as state runner-ups, and won 8 Louisiana state championships. She’ll go out on top – her team finished with a 39-7 record overall (perfect in district) and were the Louisiana Division II runner-ups in November.
“It’s just that I thought with the day-to-day rigors of coaching that it was time to just back away while the program was still successful,” Fussell told the Daily Comet. “I felt like it was the right time for me while I can still coach rather than have to walk away when I knew that my time was totally done.”
The school moved fast to find Fussell’s replacement. After a statewide search, the school promoted Tara Campo, who has spent the last 22 years as Fussell’s assistant at Assumption. Like Fussell, Campo is an Assumption graduate, and has been an assistant for 5 of the team’s 8 state championships.
Fussell’s exact career record is unknown, but she won at least 1,080 games in her time at Assumption – or about 31 wins per season.
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