Former Vestavia Hills volleyball star completes first year as Grambling head coach
Paige Phillips just completed her first season as the head coach of Grambling volleyball. (contributed)
Paige Phillips thought she had her hands full early in 2022.
The Vestavia Hills native had finished a year preparing for physician assistant school by working at Duke University Hospital, been working volleyball camps and clinics, and was promoted to associate head coach at North Carolina Central University in Durham.
Then, the 26-year-old got a call from Grambling State University, where she was interviewed and offered the volleyball head coaching job the last week in July.
It was a head-spinning turn of events for the former high school and college standout athlete, who took the Grambling job July 28, and was looking at a starting date four days later.
“I had a week to move to Louisiana and find a place to live,” she said. “I met the team for the first time on Aug. 8. Our first day of practice was Aug. 9.”
Paige Phillips is the head volleyball coach at Grambling. (contributed)
Less than two weeks later, the Lady Tigers played their first scrimmage, followed by their first game Aug. 26. Their season came to a close Nov. 18 in the Southwestern Athletic Conference tournament, when Phillips’ players finished at 15-12 and 12-4 in league play, marking Grambling’s first winning season and highest tourney seed since 2009. Lady Tiger Haley Gomez was named SWAC Blocker of the Year, and teammates Ana Calderon and Jayden James joined Gomez on the All-SWAC team.
“A few years ago, I never thought I would be in this position,” Phillips said. “I was actually very focused on getting into physician assistant school while being an assistant coach at NCCU. The possibility always crossed my mind; I just never thought it would happen so soon.”
Success in coaching has prompted Phillips to put aside her medical profession aspirations. She always seemed a cinch for coaching following her days at Vestavia High School, where the Rebels were state runner-up in 2012 and Phillips was the Birmingham News South Player of the Year, after collecting 1,184 assists, 208 digs and 46 service aces as a junior. She played Amateur Athletic Union volleyball all four years of high school, was on the 15-and-under national champion team and played only AAU ball her senior year before signing a scholarship to NCCU.
“Paige was an exceptional player,” said Mandy Burgess, who was the Alabama Coach of the Year in Phillips’ junior season. “She was calm on the floor, an excellent leader. A lot of times setters don’t get any glory. Everyone likes to see the power from the hitters. Paige worked so hard, and you cannot have a great team without a great setter. Paige was mentally tough, saw the floor very well and knew her teammates exceptionally. She was a very smart player as well as tenacious. She was an excellent defender and server, as well.
“Paige was a coaches’ dream,” added Burgess, noting that Phillips is the first former player from her 16 seasons at Vestavia High to become a college head coach.
As an NCCU Eagles star, Phillips made a record 1,896 assists in a season and is fourth all-time at the historically Black university for averaging 5.75 assists per set. She graduated with a bachelor’s degree in biology in 2018 and received a master’s degree two years later. During that time, she spent a year as a graduate assistant, two years as assistant coach and a month as the associate head coach under Jody Brown.
“Her transformation from a strong Division I setter to a confident and capable Division I coach has been a seamless transition that will only continue to create great opportunities for the Grambling State University volleyball program,” Brown said. “I am extremely proud of coach Phillips.”
Phillips’ Grambling squad handed her the first head coaching win of her career against Southern Illinois on Aug. 27. It was the culmination of having spent half her life on a volleyball court, under the direction of Julie Dailey, Burgess, Brown and others. And it came for a Lady Tigers team that had suffered through previous losing seasons and seen its two most recent coaches fired.
“It was an amazing feeling,” Phillips said. “A very proud moment. That win definitely set the pace for the season and really helped me see the potential that this team had. I was also just really excited for the girls on the team. They have all worked really hard and had been through a lot prior to the season and the new coaching change.”
On Sept. 2, Phillips’ parents, Cherry and Edward, were able to see their youngest child achieve a college coaching victory for the first time, as Grambling beat New Orleans in the University of North Alabama Volleyball Classic. It was another special moment, as Paige’s athletic hero awaited her afterward at courtside.
Paige Phillips’ father, Edward Phillips, appeared on the 1987 Auburn football guide. (contributed)
Edward Phillips was an All-State and All-South sports star at Thomasville before signing a scholarship to play football at Auburn University. He was a three-year starting linebacker for a Tigers team that won 36 games in four seasons, including the 1987 Southeastern Conference championship and a Citrus Bowl victory over Southern California. He played in the 1988 Senior Bowl and in 2016 was inducted into the Thomasville Sports Hall of Fame.
“He has always been someone that I have looked up to,” Paige said. “As a kid, he had been through so much but still managed to play multiple sports. He didn’t grow up with a lot of money and has many siblings. He still managed to find a way to get his education and get it paid for. He has motivated me my entire life to do the same. He is the reason I started playing sports and the reason why I wanted to play in college.”
Phillips said she always dreamed of being a head coach but figured it would be at the club volleyball level. That goal remains in her career equation but is on hold heading into her second college head coaching season.
“I’ve always had aspirations to own my own volleyball club,” she said. “I still have those aspirations now, but that will be something I do later on in life. Possibly in a few years.”
