Newly-Hired Head Volleyball Coach at Grambling State University Cuts Every Player From Team

In an unprecedented move, a college volleyball coach cut an entire team of players.

According to KSLA, a newly hired head volleyball coach at Grambling State University made a roster change that caught everyone, especially the players, off-guard. After notifying the administration that she would make changes, she cut all 19 current players from the volleyball team.

Grambling State University’s new head volleyball coach Chelsey Lucas was hired to guide the team in February. She informed all 19 players individually earlier this week, on April 4.

“The decision, it’s her decision to make, and she’s got some quality players coming on board. I think 14 or 15 coming on board at some point, so in terms of things, I hate to say out with the old, but in with the new a little bit,” GSU Athletics Communications Director Brian Howard said.

“Obviously, we don’t want them to be cut or lose their scholarships or whatever that might be or whatever that might look like. At the end of the day, Coach Lucas has a goal, has a vision. We have a goal as an institution and a vision as well to win and that’s first and foremost.”

Sports Illustrated has reported that Lucas, a 2007 Grambling alum, spent six seasons at two other Southwestern Athletic Conference programs. The University of Arkansas Pine-Bluff and Alcorn State University. She coached at UAPB for three years and achieved an overall record of 37–44 while compiling a 37–17 mark in conference play. Before joining UAPB, she was the head coach for three seasons at Alcorn State from 2016 to 2018.

“Just as the transfer portal empowers student-athletes,” Grambling State athletic director Trayveon Scott said in a written statement, “our coaches are also empowered to make the decisions they deem necessary to advance their programs.”

One of the players, Maurisa Harris, a junior at Grambling, had something to say about the move.

“She said that we weren’t able to practice much, which we weren’t and she said based off of that, she was not able to renew my scholarship, so I didn’t really get any time to show what I could do. When I was in there and she told me, my heart completely broke. Of course, and I didn’t cry in there, but I did when I left, and it just hurts really bad, the fact that it was snatched away so fast,” Harris said.