How to Be Great Fans: A Guide

Assistant Head Coach Reily Buechler Canter lays it on thick, saying that last year, fans of Texas Volleyball were "brutal." And she's not wrong. Sure, the season didn't go as smoothly as fans had gotten used to, but they were sure to point that out at every possible opportunity. Just about any time you opened a comment section on a social media post about the team, it was "the staff should make this change" or "player X is playing really poorly."

Now, let's just stop for a moment and think about what that actually does. Because coaching decisions are not in the least influenced by Instagram comment sections. Do you think Jerritt Elliott crawls into bed at night with his fuzzy slippers on and a freshly made mug of hot chocolate to open his phone and see what @texasvbfan has to say about how he should run his team? (I'll give you a hint: he does not). But you know who might actually be affected by these comments? Players. Just like any other college students, players are all over social media and can very easily run into the negative discourse about them. And according to Canter, that only makes the coaching staff's job harder, because now they have to worry about how to help their players stay in the right mental space on top of everything else. Our job as fans is to make things easier on our favorite team, be a home court advantage, don't drag our players down.

I want to illustrate this with an example from baseball. In 2023, legendary player Trea Turner was in the worst slump of his career. He was batting .235 with dismal numbers all around, and the fans were not impressed; they were booing him at games, ripping him apart online, the whole nine yards. In one particular stretch, he went 0 for 15 at the plate... and then the fans took a different approach. When Turner stepped up to the plate in the 2nd inning of the game on August 4th, the fans gave him a standing ovation, an entire stadium of unconditional support... and he lined out. In the 4th inning, the fans rose again... and Turner popped out. In the 6th inning, the fans stood behind their guy yet again, and he delivered with an RBI single. Over the next month, Turner turned it around and went on a wild hot streak hitting .364. That's the power of a fanbase that lifts up its players no matter what.

I mean, I get it. Everyone has opinions about the players and the team, and everybody wants their team to win. That's part of being a fan. Just have those opinions in a way that can't harm the players or the team, and is respectful of the fact that players are humans, and that goes beyond social media. Because guess what? I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but Texas will lose some games this year. No team has had an undefeated season since 2009. 10 of the last 15 national champions have lost 3 or more games. When Texas does lose, there will be lots of talented players on the bench and fans will inevitably want them started. When it does happen, understand that it's a normal part of the process towards the ultimate goal of winning in December, and it's no excuse to drag any Texas players down.

I'm asking you to trust the coaching staff that has won two national championships very recently to make those decisions. All of them have a decade or decades of experience at the highest levels of volleyball. They are in the gym every single day with these athletes and see so much more than you, me, or any other fan sees. Every decision they make is backed by experience, data, connections, and so much more. So just have a little faith in them, alright?

Focus on the things that Texas fans are already so great at: arrive early, stay late, wear orange, and be loud. Sell out arenas, like the home opener in the Moody Center against Stanford, where the 10,000-seat arena was sold out in just two days. Travel to a game or two, and if you're a Longhorn fan away from Austin, head to a game when the team comes to town. Support athletes on and off the court, and make sure that if Texas players are feeling the pressure this season, it's not because their own fans are putting it on them.

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