RTC’s Tanya Nygrin To Be Inducted Into Texas Girls Coaches Association Hall of Fame

Fayette County’s most decorated coach is about to get the ultimate honor.

On July 11 in Arlington, legendary Round Top-Carmine volleyball coach Tanya Nygrin is going to be inducted into the Texas Girls Coaches Association Hall of Fame.

The title of hall of famer is well-earned by Nygrin, who still lives in Round Top after retiring in 2014.

She led the Cubettes to five state championships and 18 trips to the state tournament and won more than 800 matches.

But even with a resume like that, she said she was still surprised when longtime friend and coaching rival, Susan Brewer of Bellville, called her earlier this year to tell her the big news.

“I was surprised and I’m very humbled,” Nygrin said. “I guess I don’t see myself in the same group as some of those other legendary coaches.”

When she is inducted, Nygrin will make a speech at the Arlington Sheraton, and though she said she hasn’t finalized what she will say yet, she said she does plan to point out that during her 28-year career at RT-C, every girl who played for her all four years of high school competed at the state level at least once.

“Every kid should have that opportunity, and I’m really proud of that,” Nygrin said.

But the story of how Nygrin turned RT-C volleyball into a program known statewide almost didn’t happen.

A native of Hutto, Nygrin was a star basketball player in high school and college at Southwestern University. After graduating college in 1981 she took her first job in Palacios as a volleyball coach.

She quit after one season and took a year off, wondering if coaching was what she really wanted to do.

“I did my job, but I didn’t like the political side of coaching,” Nygrin said. “When a new football coach came in, they could just fire anyone they wanted and that bothered me – maybe that’s why I ended up at Round Top-Carmine, because they didn’t have football.”

After that one-year hiatus from Palacios, she decided to take a job at Sabinal, working under athletic director and football coach Jack Rushing.

Nygrin and Rushing had similar coaching styles.

When Rushing came to La Grange to coach before the 1985 season, he tried to talk Nygrin into coming along. She did come to Fayette County, but just a little farther north to Round Top-Carmine, which Nygrin knew by reputation as a great basketball school. The Cubettes had won state hoops titles in 1966, 1971 and 1972.

Though Nygrin would coach basketball at RT-C as well, it was volleyball where she created a dynasty.

But not right away.

“They were horrible when I got there,” she said.

And some parents were even worse.

“There was a group of people who did their best to fire me that first year,” Nygrin said. “Maybe that’s why I stayed so long. I wanted to prove them wrong.

“But there was also a group of mothers who fought for me at every school board meeting.”

In time the winning culture Nygrin tried to bring to RT-C started to develop.

By her second year with the Cubettes, they made the playoffs.

“I’ve had other coaches tell me that by your third year, you know if you are making a difference,” Nygrin said.

In her third year the Cubettes made their first trip to the state tournament.

They would make four trips to state before they finally won their first volleyball state title in 1995. They won it all again in 1996.

Nygrin and her Cubettes (good old country kids, she calls them) won state again in 2003, 2010 and 2013.

Prior to that 2003 team winning the title over Windthorst, RT-C had lost to Windthorst in the state title game five of the previous six years. The 2010 team included four freshmen starters.

“Each one is special in their own way,” Nygrin said of the five titles.

“And nobody wanted to be the next group that wasn’t successful.”

Nygrin said one of the keys to success was how she was able to teach volleyball fundamentals to her players in elementary.

Then her longtime assistant, Jolene Byrd, would take over their volleyball education in junior high.

“Jolene was that mother figure they needed in junior high before I got them again in high school,” Nygrin said. “Jolene never gets the recognition she deserves for what she did for our program.”

Though always known as a very demanding coach, Nygrin didn’t believe in playing yearround volleyball.

She never encouraged her players to play club/travel volleyball. She wanted them to play other sports, have fun in the summer, and then come back in August hungry for another season.

Even though she’s been away from the game for eight years, Nygrin still occasionally gives talks at various volleyball clinics, where she is quick to remind younger coaches of the real definition of success.

“My job was to turn young girls into productive citizens,” Nygrin said. “Athletics teaches integrity, honesty, hard work. If you teach those things, they will be successful in life.”

One of her most memorable moments, Nygrin said, was not one of their title years, but rather one of the 13 times she made to state and didn’t win – and 39 of her former players showed up to watch and just hung around outside the gym with her after the match to share the pain together.

“We developed a family,” Nygrin said.