The Kohan era begins

By Justin Michael

New head coach inherits talented roster

It’s a new day for the Colorado State volleyball program.

After 26 seasons as head coach for the Rams, the legendary Tom Hilbert called it a career. Now running the show is his longtime assistant coach, Emily Kohan.

“It is truly a dream opportunity to represent Colorado State as the next head volleyball coach for this storied program,” Kohan said via press release.

Hired as an assistant in 2016, before being elevated to associate head coach in 2019, for the last seven years Kohan got to work alongside one of the greatest coaches in the history of Division 1 volleyball.

During that time the Rams reached the postseason five times and won the Mountain West four times, so she’s no stranger to success. However, with the 12-time Mountain West Coach of the Year no longer in the picture, the pressure is now squarely on Kohan to continue CSU’s proud winning tradition.

While Kohan obviously has massive shoes to fill — anyone would in her position — the encouraging thing is that she inherits a roster that should be able to compete immediately.

The Rams did lose Ciera Pritchard, a 30-match starter at setter and 2023 all-conference selection.

Pritchard led the team in assists (1,044) and service aces (33) last season. She was second in digs (217) and fifth in blocks as well

(52), so she really was a major contributor. The bright side though is that as big of a loss as Pritchard is, CSU seemingly found her replacement via the transfer portal in Emery Herman.

Herman started all 31 matches at setter for Arizona last season and performed extremely well in the role. She led the team in assists with 1,068. And much like Pritchard, she was impactful in a multitude of ways. Along with the assists, she had 313 digs, 88 blocks and 30 service aces. CSU supporters hope to see her replicate the production she had during her three years with the Wildcats now that she is a Ram.

“She is an extremely talented setter, and tenacious defender, who has a great work ethic and leadership skills,” Kohan said of Herman when CSU announced her signing. “Her experience of starting in the Pac-12 for the past three seasons is a valuable addition to our group.”

As far as other key transfers go, Anna Porter, a libero/defensive specialist comes over from William and Mary. She was one of three players on the roster to play all 102 sets for the Griffins this past season. She was named second-team All-CAA after finishing with 455 digs and returned serves at 96 percent clip. She too, should be a major asset for Kohan in her first year as head coach.

“Anna fit in so well with our team and culture from the second we began this process with her,” Kohan said.

“Her experience in the back court will impact our team immediately. She’s a hard worker and feisty competitor, exactly what we like to see in our Ram players.”

Emery Herman and Anna Porter join a roster that includes outside hitter Kennedy Stanford and middle blocker Naeemah Weathers, both of which received allconference recognition this past season. Stanford led the Rams in kills (354) and finished second in service aces (31). Weathers, on the other hand, was second in blocks (69) and fourth in kills (156). Both coming back is a major win for the Green & Gold, particularly with the talent Kohan brought in through the portal.

CSU will also benefit from the return of outside hitter Annie Sullivan, who had the second-most kills and thirdmost blocks, finishing with 275 and 63, respectively. Defensive specialist Ruby Kayser is still in the mix too after playing in 29 matches last season and finishing with the third-most service aces (28).

The other key returners for the Rams are middle blocker Karina Leber and defensive specialist Kate Yoshomoto. The former led the team in blocks (111) and finished third in kills (245), while the latter led the Rams in digs (352). Finally, middle blocker Malaya Jones returns as a redshirt junior after recording the fourth-most kills in the 2022-23 campaign (238).

All of this is to say that the cupboard is far from bare. So while expectations will have to be realistic early on — Kohan deserves time to get her feet underneath her as a head coach — with the amount of talent on this team, it does seem realistic for the Rams to once again be in contention for the Mountain West Championship. Going back to 1999 when the conference was founded, CSU has won outright or split the regular season title 17 times. It’s a level of success that outside of track & field is unprecedented by any other sport on campus.

We’ll see how long it takes Kohan to adjust to her new role on the sidelines. It’s one thing to be the associate head coach and another to be the person making every major decision during the heat of the moment. Considering she has been projected to be Hilbert’s successor for a few years now though, Ram fans should feel confident that Kohan is the right person for the job.

Hilbert built this program from the ground up and established a winning tradition that means a great deal to the local community. He was always going to ensure that the team ended up in the right hands when he was done. And as weird it will be to see anyone other than Hilbert leading the way, it’s exciting to see the program taken over by someone that has not only earned the opportunity, but also truly understands what makes CSU volleyball unique.

The ball is in Kohan’s court now. Game on.