LEWISBURG (WVDN) – Greenbrier East volleyball coach Matt Sauvage is no stranger to success.
He has turned the Spartans’ volleyball squad into an annual contender and won a boys’ state basketball championship last year with the James Monroe Mavericks where he doubles his coaching duties.
A few weeks ago, Sauvage got word that he was named the WVSSAC Coach of the Year for the 2021-22 school year.
To say he was blindsided by the honor would be an understatement, and how he received word was a funny process as well.
“My principal, Mr. Routson, called me down to his office at lunch. He said, ‘I wanted to be the first to congratulate you.’ I asked what for and he started laughing.”
“Then he said, ‘You are 2021-22 WVSSAC Volleyball Coach of the Year.’ When I said, ‘Don’t joke with me.’ He said, ‘Seriously, you are.'”
“My first reaction was thinking of all the players that have come through the program since I started coaching. This award is just as much about them as it is me, and maybe more,” Sauvage said.
So, how does a coach go from teaching one sport at Greenbrier East to another sport at a completely different school in such a short amount of time?
Well, Sauvage says it can be difficult, but certain people in his circle make things as easy as they can on him.
“I can’t lie. It’s a quick and somewhat of a big change,” he said.
“Two things that make it a great transition for me are that the players I coach at both schools are very coachable and truly are like family to myself and my family. Having players at both schools that care about myself, my coaches and each other off the court helps tremendously. And my coaches at both schools, East with Taelor Curry and James Monroe with Corey Miller, Todd Lusk and (last year) Adam Dixon. These coaches help make the transition very smooth for me. I couldn’t ask for better coaches to coach with, or better yet, friends,” Sauvage stated.
As big time as this award is for Sauvage, he stays true to not liking to take any credit for himself.
“I do not like the spotlight or credit on myself. I truly feel I have been blessed when current players, or better yet former players, come back and they say things like ‘The impact you had on me’ or ‘GEVB made me’ or the phrase ‘love you,’” Sauvage said.
“Former players have become some of my family’s good friends as they get older, and I could go on and on, but the impact off the court means so much more to me than on the court. God has truly blessed me,” he concluded.
At the time of this interview, Sauvage has the Spartans’ volleyball team with a record of 29-9-2 on the season with the postseason coming up in a couple weeks.
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