Carl Ferreira knows it’s just around the corner.
His eyes widen as he passes a sign on the side of the road — “Respectability: Two miles.”
But there’s some bumps in the road, then some curves and finally a construction delay.
To make it to Success, U.S.A., one must put forth the effort, have the confidence and, most importantly, the desire — all of which are displayed on the face of the first-year Oregon volleyball coach.
Ferreira has been to “Success.” He almost knows the road by heart, but that doesn’t make traveling it any easier, especially with a bus full of 15 young and talented athletes.
“I’ve always considered myself an overachiever,” said the 39-year-old Ferreira. “But I don’t expect anyone to roll out the red carpet for me. In this profession, you’d better be successful on a day-to-day basis or you’re going to get your lunch handed to you.”
After an illustrious high school career in Hawaii — in which he starred in volleyball, baseball, basketball and track — Ferreira attended California’s Santa Rosa Junior College in the early ’80s. It was there where he found his true passion.
Ferreira asked to assist the Santa Rosa volleyball team’s coaching staff on a volunteer basis, and he has never looked back.
Following a stint as an assistant coach with Stanford in 1994, Ferreira was hired as the head coach at No. 1 ranked Cal-State Bakersfield, a Division II school. Ferreira led the team to the national championship match in his first season, and compiled an overall record of 100-13 in three years at Bakersfield. From there, Ferreira moved to Division I Idaho and the Big West Conference, where he led the Vandals to a three-year record of 48-43.
“You’re always trying to put yourself in successful situations,” said Ferreira, who had his third child, Elise Malia, just two weeks ago. “But to be successful you have to have the right opportunities along the way. You have to have passion as a leader and create vision to get motivated people to follow.”
And that vision is now in Eugene, where volleyball and success have not blended well in the memorable past.
In February, Ferreira was hired to turn around a program that had not seen a winning season in 10 years and had an overall record of 14-130 in the Pacific-10 Conference from 1992 to 1999.
“Oregon volleyball has had its struggles, but it’s not impossible to be successful,” Ferreira said. “I’m not reinventing the wheel here. You make a plan and stick with it. But you still have to look in the mirror to figure out what’s working and what’s not. You have to stay hungry and passionate.”
Ferreira said that one of the main reasons he came to Eugene was because of the University’s strong athletic department.
“It’s a great time to be here,” said Ferreira, who is 7-8 overall this season and will look to win his first Pac-10 match in Washington this weekend. “Oregon has one of the fastest growing athletic department’s in the country.”
From the get-go, Ferreira has issued a one-minded rule: Concentrate on the now and don’t predetermine anything.
“Having a philosophy is one thing,” he said. “Getting 15 kids to believe in it, and have the proper mentality is another.”
In the first year of establishing a new program, Ferreira understands the difficulty of adjusting for everyone.
“A year from now, it’s going to be so much easier because the team will know me better and know what the system is like,” Ferreira said. “But at the same time, we want to win now. While it’s going to be easier in the future, I’m not willing to bypass the present.”
While it appears that the team has made minimal progress since Ferreira’s arrival — beginning conference play 0-7 — those involved with the program understand what’s happening.
“This is a very, very different program than it was last year,” sophomore setter Sydney Chute said. “Carl is a phenomenal coach. He spends a lot of time with us and in his office fine tuning everything, which makes us even better.”
Ferreira’s influence on his players is clearly immeasurable. Two players — sophomore Amanda Porter and freshman Lindsay Murphy — were committed to playing at Idaho, but came to Oregon to follow their leader. Assistant coaches Jared Sliger and Anna Reznicek also came to Eugene with Ferreira.
“He’s a very competitive person,” said Murphy, a Spokane, Wash., native. “I liked his coaching chemistry and was really attracted to his coaching style.”
The relationship between the coaching staff and the players is unlike most teams, according to Ferreira and the players.
“Carl is amazing,” senior outside hitter Amy Banducci said. “He has the ability to make all of us work so hard. His eyes just get huge sometimes, and we’re just dying to compete for him. We trust him a lot. He’s open and doesn’t have a hidden agenda; there’s no line between the coaches and the players.”
While the road to “Success” is not an easy one for a program that has never even been on the bus, Ferreira has the pedal to the metal and is not willing to stop.
“My job is to prepare them to play,” he said. “And they rely on me to out-think the other coach. I am my own team’s biggest fan.”