2023 is shaping up to be one of the best years in Cougar Volleyball history. Head Coach Jen Greeny and her squad have turned the heads of college volleyball, rising to #4 in the country – the highest ranking in WSU history. The Cougars are looking to achieve their first ever 3-week stretch inside the top-5, this week with home sweeps against Utah and Colorado. Individual and team records look to be broken this year by a fiercely competitive, veteran volleyball team making a name for themselves. Is 2023 the year WSU volleyball cements itself as a national powerhouse? Jen Greeny believes this year can be a special year to add to her already amazing story.
 
"[We have] so many people coming back for their fifth year, just the experience of the team. It's almost like they are coaches on the floor already, they know what we want. Last year we dealt with some injuries and not a lot of depth, I think it's a little bit of unfinished business with this [2023] team." Greeny said.
 
Legacy. Something Jen Greeny and her staff are looking to leave on WSU athletics as they have turned around a volleyball program that had zero conference wins when she took over the helm in 2011, into a national competitor. Greeny and her staff (which includes husband Burdette and college teammate Shannon Hunt) have since led the cougars to seven-straight NCAA tournaments with an eighth being eyed down. A stretch no other teams in WSU history have been able to achieve. Greeny knew when she took the head job over a decade ago, that she could bring WSU volleyball back to national prominence.
 
"I wouldn't have taken the job if I didn't think I could turn it around. I think being a player here and being an assistant coach in great times of cougar volleyball, we knew that you can win here. You just have to get the right people; you have to have the right system [and] stay at it. It took a while; I think it took longer than we wanted it to take but thank God [administration] let us have that time and trust," said Greeny.
 
It wasn't always easy for Greeny, but she knew that if she had the right people in the locker room, cougar volleyball would return to the postseason. 2016 was finally that year, that as head coach, Greeny had steered WSU back to the NCAA tournament. Greeny says the resilience of the 2013 recruiting class helped turned the program to where it is, and many players have come back to thank Greeny for the hard times that shaped them.
 
Greeny was a successful volleyball player at WSU from 1995-98, which included being named Athlete of the Year in 1998-99. At WSU she became the seventh player in WSU history to reach 1,000 career kills and was a three-time All-Pacific-10 Conference selection. Greeny still ranks eighth in career block assists (360), fourth in total blocks (419), and eighth in solo blocks (59). Greeny has always considered Pullman home and contributes a lot her success as a coach to understanding what it means to be a Coug, having experienced it for over 20 years of her life. Greeny takes pride in immersing herself into the community and being an active member of both WSU and the greater Pullman area. Being the head coach of WSU volleyball has a greater sense of meaning to Greeny and her family than what meets the eye.
 
"I think it's great. I think Pullman is a really special place, not everyone wants to be here for a long time. We just understand Pullman and Washington State, and what it really means to be a Coug. We have been through it. You're not going to find that on a lot of other college campuses," Greeny said.
 
During her time at WSU, she met her husband Burdette, who played baseball at WSU and eventually went on to play professionally before turning to volleyball coaching. Knowing they needed to sync up their schedules, Burdette joined Jen when she accepted the head coaching job down in Lewiston at Lewis and Clark State, beginning a career turn that would shock most. Salt and pepper shakers were how Jen taught Burdette different volleyball formations – creating now one of the best volleyball coaches and recruiting coordinators on the west coast. The family atmosphere that Greeny has created within WSU volleyball is something un-rivaled in college athletics.
 
"He did drive me a little bit crazy those first couple of years with the salt and pepper shakers. But now he's pretty dangerous," Greeny said.
 
Greeny has given birth to a winning tradition in Bohler Gym that is gaining the attention of all. Washington State volleyball expect their name to be called each year, however, they know it doesn't stop there. They want more. Greeny and her heavy hitters are chasing down a first national championship and have proven they have what it takes. Road wins versus Baylor and defending national champions Texas, seem only to be scratching the surface of what this dynamic 2023 team is capable of.