Ricci Luyties Discusses Management and Leadership Philosophy with Turner Business

If there were a Mount Rushmore for American men’s volleyball, Ricci Luyties would likely be a part of it.  Born in Pacific Palisades, California, Luyties became a star volleyball player during his high school playing days at Palisades High School.  He led the team to the Los Angeles City Championship match as both a junior and a senior, and was named Los Angeles’ Player of Year in the process.  Luyties went on to start four consecutive years (1981-1984) for the UCLA Bruins, during which time UCLA won four consecutive NCAA Men’s Volleyball championships.  UCLA went undefeated in each of his sophomore and senior years, and over the course of his collegiate career UCLA won 83 straight home matches. 

He was named All-American during his junior and senior seasons in 1983 and 1984, and became the first player in NCAA history to receive back-to-back NCAA Player of the Year Awards.  In 1995, Luyties was inducted into the UCLA Hall of Fame, and in 1986 his #11 UCLA jersey was retired at famed Pauley Pavilion on the UCLA campus.

Luyties was named to the U.S. Men’s Volleyball team in 1985, a unit that went undefeated in seven
matches and won the Olympic Gold Medal at the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul, Korea.  That same year he won his first title on the Association of Volleyball Professionals tour – the largest and longest-running professional beach volleyball tour in the U.S.  – with partner (and U.S. volleyball icon) Karch Kiraly in Manhattan Beach, California.  Between 1988 and 1994, he would seven AVP tour titles with various partners.  After brief stints as head volleyball coach at La Jolla High School and assistant women’s volleyball coach at the University of Colorado, Luyties accepted the head women’s volleyball coaching position at the University of Southern Mississippi in 2004.  Over his final two seasons (2008-2009) with USM, Luyties’ teams went 48-18, including two wins over cross-state rival Mississippi State University.  This success propelled him to his current position as head coach at the University of California – San Diego.

Luyties recently spoke with Turner Business about his leadership and management philosophy.  We specifically asked him to respond to a question about what he has learned about leadership and management over his collegiate coaching career.  “I try to create a culture where the players have some responsibility to manage each other.  We have court captains of course, but we also have academic groups, a team bonding activities group, a group in charge of what we wear to practice[, on] trips[, and to] games.  Of course, I decide what we do in practice, but I think today’s athletes need to know why we do the drills and things we do.  I feel these days it’s not realistic to think players will just do everything a coach tells them without the ‘why?’ being answered,” Luyties explained.  Having led the Tritons of UCSD to 189 wins over 11 of his first 12 seasons (with their 2020 season being cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic), Luyties’ recipe seems to be working.  “With the players [being] a part of the discussions and decisions, it tends to keep the team more invested in the goals,” he added.  Finally, Luyties also affirmed the importance of servant leadership in his program, noting that it is another area where he initiates action at times, while at others he allows his players to take more ownership in decision-making. 

Editor’s Note: Ricci Luyties’ connection to the Turner College is an interesting one.  He and his family were backdoor neighbors of Turner College economist Frank Mixon and his family during their time in Hattiesburg, Mississippi.  Mixon, formerly a member of the economics faculty at the University of Southern Mississippi, tells Turner Business that Luyties’ daughters, Chloe and Lia, enjoyed playing with the Mixons’ pet beagles and rabbit alongside Mixon’s sons, Trey and Sparks.