VB Transfer Portal
- Thread starter MartyInLawrenceville
- Start date
Its not really money related. If it ends up being stanford, well who can turn down playing closer to home, getting a hell of a degree, and playing for a top 10 program while being their best player. I dont think Olivia goes anywhere
I think she just wants to be closer to home. An honest, pre nil type transfer. Obviously unfortunate for Pitt but not any blatant foul play
You can reach out to Alliance 412 and request that your membership donation be allocated to a particular sport or sports. They were happy to accommodate me when I requested it.
I believe you can also donate directly to Pitt through the new Athletic Director’s Fund and request that the funds be directed to volleyball.
Texas lost their setter over the weekend. Try to keep in mind that Pitt isn't the only team that lost a key player. The more talent you accumulate, the more this will happen.
This is very true. Which is why it’s great that Pitt has really stepped up the recruiting with the recent success. Fish has Pitt firing on all cylinders. It sucks that Stafford is in the portal, but I have faith that Fish will be able to find talent and maximize that talent more than any other Pitt coach in any sport. But losing Stafford still hurts.
I hope u all are ready for the core that will be created from the 2025 and 2026 classes. Will likely bring at least one national championship
2026 Lineup Could Be
OH Samara Coleman
OH Ayanna Watson
RS Olivia Babcock
MB Ryla Jones
S Isabelle Hoppe
L Mallorie Meyer
2026 Lineup Could Be
OH Samara Coleman
OH Ayanna Watson
RS Olivia Babcock
MB Ryla Jones
S Isabelle Hoppe
L Mallorie Meyer
Volleytalk is saying that Pitt comes up short in the volleyball NIL battle. Do you happen to be able to speak to this?
All but a few select schools come up short in the volleyball NIL battle.
Yeah I get that. I'm looking for a more detailed answer, such as specific differences in amount, finding sponsorships, etc
Nebraska and Wisconsin have rabid fan bases that really do care enough about VB to blow wads of cash. Texas and USC are just ridiculously rich schools. After that, everything else sort of falls off the ledge down to where a few schools like Stanford and PSU hang out and then everyone else is just out there in the mud doing their best.
To @Chaos.......the data on Pitt is spotty on NIL compared to other P4 schools. The big names....as pittdan77 mentions.....are obvious. Try using your browser and use something like 'nil spending by school' for example. I've done this in the past and then stopped.....decided it was a waste of time. Know this.....if NIL is a train with all the P4 schools on board....I'll assume Pitt is not riding in 1st class. I'd love to be proven wrong.
I know we're not at the front. We have plenty of corporations in the city-are we tapping in to any of them for volleyball specific deals? The team is well-known, and if I did marketing, I'd pay some of the players to market my product/brand. I think volleyball could be a niche market, different from the obvious fball and bball teams.
I was under the impression we were pretty competitive in NIL for volleyball but who knows. Bre Kelley was a big transfer if I remember correctly and was an “Alliance 412 Athlete” so she had to have been paid something.
You are absolutely correct. IMO volleyball is not niche. What is a big marketing opportunity as you imply? How about young women in general....or mothers of families with daughters....or fathers like pittdan77 whose daughter is all in with volleyball. Alliance 412 and the new AD should set aside their 'it's all about football and basketball' for just a moment and think about opportunities that are attractive to a whole other demographic.
Maybe Stafford didn't want to play second fiddle to Babcock for the rest of her career.
Volleyball is doing well. The sport took a major hit when an entire club season was lost to Covid. The last of the players who were most affected are currently Sophomores. Behind them is a massive group of girls who are flooding into the sport. Sort of wild to look down the list of teams that are scheduled for tournaments and seeing so many new clubs. The biggest reason the sport is growing so rapidly is that women are very, very good at connecting with relatable social media content. The goofy little TikTok dances and the "day in the life" videos really create a connection. It becomes a community to the point where a video that my daughter's high school team made has nearly one million views. Lexi Rodriguez made a short little tearful video after they lost to PSU that has 2.6 million views. That kind of engagement is obviously pretty valuable.
Just going to throw a name of local interest but Reese Hazelton is transferring to Virginia Tech from Indiana. She was a state champion from Phillipsburg-Osceola. I'm assuming the lane to more playing time is a lot less crowded at VaTech.
Dan, what is/are a/some good websites that feature volleyball talk and have useful information? On a side note, has there been any word on where Torrey Stafford is going? Thanks.
Louisville’s coach said Stafford said ‘no’ to them.
Abby Benton always has good insights. She does "volleytakes" podcast and posts under @numberonevolleyball on the socials. Her IG page covers US pro teams too.
@collegevbtransfers is on X and IG. They publish actual lists by position in a spreadsheet that is free. VolleyballMag.com is subscription based but posts on X. Same with VBAdrenaline.com. There are also some random creator that don't have a ton of insight but do post information pretty quickly.
Stanford and Nebraska probably shouldn't make anyone explode, certainly not Stanford
It would be odd for her to choose a school that wasn't B1G or ACC unless maybe Kentucky but that seems odd. I discount Texas because it feels like a mess right now but they do have a pile of NIL money.
Right now I think the 3 most likely destinations are Nebraska, Wisconsin., and Penn State. I do not believe she'll end up at a west coast school......and I wouldn't rule out Texas yet. Finally.....I do not believe she has dismissed the possibility of returning to Pitt. This probably won't drag on beyond the middle of next week at the latest. I'm beginning to believe she will not be at another ACC school other than Pitt. All of this is from my gut and some of what I see on Instagram.
Someone on volleytalk insinuated returning to Pitt was possible.
It wasn't me. Her Instagram feed is interesting......still a lot of Pitt vibes there. For example....Pitt VB is at the top of her 'following' list.....and you'll find a number of her Pitt team mates there. IMO she's being pretty classy.....not burning bridges.....still posting stuff.....but it's not VB related.....and as you know there is no post saying 'goodbye Pittsburgh....I've appreciated my time here'.
Ha! Well, I know your volleytalk handle now - lol. I’ve noticed the same on her instagram-
Sorry im back. Its less likely but Ped State has reached out among many others. Still think most likely scenarios are either
Wisconsin
USC
Stanford
Wisconsin
USC
Stanford
