After winning only one match in Conference USA over the past two seasons, the UCF Volleyball team needed a change.
Tuesday, that change came in the form of new head coach Todd Dagenais, who replaced Meg Colado after she resigned in November.
"I am so proud to be a part of an athletic department and work with an athletic administration that shares such a lofty vision of what the UCF Women's Volleyball program can become," Dagenais said in a press release. "[Director of Athletics Keith] Tribble has set the bar of success at a very high level, and I could not be more excited that he is giving me the opportunity to take that vision to fruition."
Dagenais, 38, brings a winning mentality to UCF after spending the past three seasons as an assistant coach at the University of Southern California.
Under his watch, the Trojans went 29-5 in 2007 and made the NCAA Final Four for the fourth time in six seasons.
They finished the season ranked third in the final American Volleyball Coaches Association poll.
"We are fortunate to have lured Todd to UCF from his position at the University of Southern California." Tribble said in a press release. "His background coaching and recruiting at the top of this sport should thrust our program to the forefront of Conference USA and nationally.
"We will win championships in women's volleyball under coach Dagenais."
Dagenais' resume includes time on the sidelines as the head coach for the 2007 USA White Select National Team that won the silver metal at the High Performance Championships.
He spent time as a correspondent for the program since 2004 and oversaw the girls' youth and junior national programs.
He was also involved with the U.S. Men's and Women's National Teams.
Prior to USC, Dagenais spent time at Michigan State from 1999-2004 where he served as an associate head coach his final two seasons.
Under Dagenais, the Spartans went 100-58 and made the NCAA tournament each year during his tenure.
"[Having Dagenais] is really promising because Michigan State was kind of in the same situation that we are in and years later, they were fighting for a national championship," outside hitter Erin Campbell said. "[The change] might not be immediate, but we are all looking at it as we are starting this legacy under him."
The new coach spent two hours meeting with his team on Wednesday, introducing himself as well as his philosophies.
"He has a very strict championship philosophy and [being a champion] comes from within and out and not just on the court and off the court," Campbell said. "It's something that he is trying to build with us because we were in a losing mentality so long that he wants to rebuild our championship mentality."
Dagenais spent time reviewing tape of the Knights 9-23 season in 2007 and talked with the players about how some of their losses could have gone the other way.
"He brought up a lot of our statistics from last year and compared them to the other teams in our conference that were winning," middle blocker Kerry Brown said. "He showed us why they were winning and why we were losing and why our numbers fell short."
For a team that has lost 33 consecutive conference matches and has posted a 14-47 record over the past two years, the Knights are hoping that Dagenais' winning formula can transfer to this current UCF squad.
"He believes in a lot of different things that our team hasn't been used to in the past, like faster paces practices and a more structured program," Brown said. "Since we are such a young team, such a stronger leadership from the coaching staff will help [us] be guided into the right direction."
Former UCF head coach Meg Colado resigned after a 2007 season in which the Knights went winless in Conference USA.
In the past two years, the Colado-led Knights managed just one conference win, a 3-1 victory over Southern Miss last season.
Dagenais' worst record at USC was the Trojans 17-11 showing in 2005-06.
He won at least 20 matches in each of his other two seasons.
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