BIG RAPIDS – It’s the 50th anniversary of Title IX which opened the way for high school and collegiate athletics.
It’s also the 50th season for Ferris volleyball and veteran Bulldog skipper Tia Brandel-Wilhelm has seen the leaps and bounds her program has taken.
It could also be a special year if the Bulldogs are able to play in the new volleyball arena, currently under construction. But Brandel-Wilhelm indicated there’s a chance some games could be played in the new facility this season. For now, Wink Arena will be the home for FSU volleyball.
The former volleyball arena is being used as a strength and conditioning center.
“The fact that it’s the 50th year (of volleyball) and the 50th year of Title IX says a lot about Ferris,” Brandel-Wilhelm said. “Right off the bat, Ferris was proactive about adding opportunities for athletes. Volleyball was one of the first.”
Brandel-Wilhelm is in her 27th year with the program.
“The sports has grown tremendously,” she said. “I think the experience of the female athlete has grown so much. Today, they have the full expectation that they’ll have such opportunities.”
Brandel-Wilhelm continues to earn her place among the nation’s most respected collegiate coaches. Faced with the task of rebuilding the Bulldogs’ tradition-rich program in her first season, Brandel-Wilhelm proceeded to direct the Bulldogs to a 19-12 overall record and a top 25 national ranking. In the last 19 seasons, Brandel-Wilhelm has coached Ferris to an impressive 475-163 overall record (.745). She was voted as the GLIAC’s Coach-of-the-Year for the sixth time in 2018 by her peers.
On the new arena, Brandel-Wilhelm said an exact time for completion is not known.
“For 42 years, the university had an arena for volleyball and that was leading in the country,” Brandel-Wilhelm said. “I was a great place to play. This new arena will have seating on both sides. It’s a little bit longer and will be a little bigger. It has the intimacy and same exciting environment our old arena had. We could seat 600 fans and now we can seat 1,100.
“You could use it for other sports but it will be primarily be the home arena for Ferris volleyball.”
