Southeastern volleyball is fresh off winning its first-ever Southland Conference title back in late November at the University Center, but as we all know, Rome wasn’t built in a day. 

When Jeremy White first took the reins in Hammond at the conclusion of the 2018 season, the program was coming off of a 2-27 record. This was the worst mark in school history and a new low for the Green and Gold.

“I think a lot of it is bringing in athletes that are good people. We’ve been able to change the culture drastically and the expectations as well. From a training standpoint and how much effort we put into the gym and also the aspect of what kind of people and how we’re going to treat each other as teammates as well as the community,” said White on the shift in attitude instilled within his squad over his four years in charge. 

Hitting rock bottom and a change of leadership worked wonders as SLU is now 59-48 since White’s arrival, including one of the biggest turnarounds in the nation from 2018 to 2019 (2-27 to 14-17) and of course a coveted conference championship in 2022.

Ironically, White is a graduate of one of Southeastern’s biggest rivals – McNeese State. 

A native of Vidor, Texas, White began his coaching journey as a fixture in both Texas and Louisiana club circles while serving as a club director and coach for eight years with multiple club teams across both states. 

Many of the players trained by White went on to play at the collegiate level. 

He went on to Barbe High School in Lake Charles, where White led the Lady Bucs to an 81-28 record and was named district coach of the year in all three seasons at the helm as his team dominated District 1-5A for three consecutive titles. 

Then, White was hired as McNeese’s recruiting coordinator and stayed in that position for two years before taking his first head coaching job at a DII school, Northwestern Oklahoma State. 

White became the winningest coach in school history, going 38-25 across two seasons. The Lady Rangers maintained a 3.0 team GPA throughout his tenure. 

Since he stepped on campus, the Lady Lions have continued this pattern of maintaining high academic standards under Coach White.

“That starts with who you recruit. If you recruit kids who value education it goes a long way into boosting those GPAs. Since we’ve been here we’ve had a 3.4 or better every semester. When you’re putting in great work on the court, why not put in great work in the classroom to prepare yourself for the rest of your life and not just your volleyball life.” said coach White on the importance of academics for both on court and off court success. 

While many people are aware of White’s recent success with the indoor volleyball program, not everyone knows he is also the head coach of the Southeastern Beach Volleyball team. 

Beach volleyball is entirely new to SLU, becoming an official sport of the university in 2020. Its inaugural season was cut short due to Covid; the squad went 0-3 before the pandemic. 

Under White’s guidance, the team’s record has steadily improved each year (3-19 in 2021 and 12-21 in 2022). The beach season will start Feb. 24 in Hattiesburg, Miss. at the Southern Miss Invitational. 

“We’ve seen how much support we had in the conference tournament and really enjoyed that situation. Getting to play against our conference rivals in Hammond, America was pretty tremendous. I don’t think anyone else in our conference brings that kind of energy to a home match,” said White regarding the electricity at the UC during Southeastern’s triumph over No. 1 seeded HCU in the SLC Tournament Championship. 

White went on to add how much the support from the students and fans helped his team and hopes to keep that momentum going into next season to help continue to build his program into a mainstay in the Southland. 

Fill those seats for 2023 Lions fans, since Coach White and co. will be looking to defend their title. 

The future of Lady Lions volleyball and beach volleyball are truly in good hands.