A quiet accomplishment

Last Thursday was supposed to be a banner day for Albemarle volleyball coach Mark Ragland — with a win over North Stafford, he was set to become the all-time career wins leader in Virginia high school volleyball.

As it turns out Ragland surpassed the old record over the summer, when most volleyball teams were going through preseason workouts before practice started in August. That’s when the Virginia High School League made a simple correction to former record-holder Lillie Moore’s win total from 415 to 372 victories, immediately vaulting Ragland, the state’s active leader, into the top spot all-time.

“It’s one of those things where it does kind of take the air out of the balloon,” Ragland said. “Not that coaching is about setting records but obviously when you’re close to one and the goal changes, you’re like ‘what happened.’”

The VHSL has recently stepped up efforts to try and correct the state’s record books and make them more accurate. That campaign drew a group of coaches including longtime Waynesboro coach Pat Austin and Page County coach Alan Knight to go to work on fixing the state’s volleyball records, which needed to be corrected and adjusted because of changes in the game’s rules over the years, like playing to five games instead of three.

“One of my emphases has been that the record book is significant and we want it to be,” said VHSL information and communications specialist Mike McCall. “Without the help of coaches, parents, sportswriters and even athletes, we can’t maintain the record book.”

That mission also led Austin and Knight (who are both on the career wins list in the top 10) to check through the records list, which led to the correction of Moore’s total. Ragland noticed the change while checking to see if his total had been updated over the summer after he’d sent in the numbers via email, but he kept quiet about the change until he knew he was set to pass the old record.

“I figured it might resurface and I’d look pretty foolish,” Ragland said.

So far nothing has resurfaced, and Ragland is officially the all-time win leader in girls volleyball, which he would have been anyway after last Thursday with the Patriots’ 13-0 start to the season.

While in a way he’s been robbed of the moment, the good-humored Ragland has taken the revelation in stride, which isn’t a shock — his pride has been held in check by the sport since his first interaction with the game. While taking a volleyball techniques class for his physical education major at James Madison, Ragland’s instructor told the class the men’s volleyball club was looking for players.

“I wasn’t playing a sport, so I thought, what the heck I’ll go out,” Ragland said. “I went out there and we were scrimmaging the women’s varsity squad, and I was doing all kinds of backyard volleyball stuff, lifting, everything, and they were playing at such an elite level. But I sucked up my pride and went back out there and played two years of club ball.”

That initial experience was the catalyst for what has become a 20-year coaching career good for now 416 victories. Ragland, who has coached a pair of state runner-up squads at Albemarle and VHSL All-Star teams, has also been instrumental in the youth development of the sport in Central Virginia. That devotion and commitment is a big reason Albemarle athletic director Deb Tyson is so happy about Ragland becoming the all-time wins leader.

“I’m so proud of his success and that he is a Patriot at heart because he’s devoted a lot of his time outside of the Albemarle season to be a part of junior development in our community,” Albemarle athletic director Deb Tyson. “I’m extremely proud of his devotion to the sport.”

He’s also established a program that demands a higher standard of its players than some coaches could even consider. Ragland is an uncompromising competitor, and that has helped create his success over the long haul.

“His bar for his athletes is very high in performance and practice, but beyond that, his bar is the same for them having a team attitude,” Tyson said. “He applies that and demands that from not only his No. 1 player but also his No. 12 player.

“That’s a challenge for some athletes — he does not let them sit back and celebrate past victories. He wants them be a part of that tradition, but the idea of entitlement is not in his vocabulary. That’s the key to his success — he does not compromise.”

Ragland claims to have also had the benefit of an understanding spouse in his wife, Jacquelyn. He also made the rest of his family a part of the Albemarle program — his two daughters played for him, his oldest son was a camera guy for the team and his youngest son also served as a manager.

The players though were, and continue to be the key for Ragland. Like any coach, he can really only go as far as those players follow him.

“If kids don’t buy into the program you’re going to only be so successful,” Ragland said. “I’ve been fortunate to have players that put the program first and the individual second. We tend to attract pretty intelligent folks who know that there’s a purpose to what they’re doing.”

That’s a purpose that’s been responsible for 416 wins. And counting.