Berkeley Prep volleyball coach nears 700th win
By Joey Knight, Times Staff Writer
Published October 9, 2007
TAMPA - One of the most cherished items in Berkeley Prep volleyball coach Randy Dagostino's possession last week rested atop his neatly-trimmed salt-and-pepper hair.
As the native of Chicago's north side removed it to give his guest a closer look, he proudly explained the white cap - with a black "C" and black bill - is an exact replica of those worn by the 1908 Chicago Cubs, the last Cubs team to win a World Series.
His hope: It would help vanquish his beloved team's title drought, now on the cusp of centenarian status following its latest playoff exit. As long as the Cubs remained alive in the 2007 postseason, he wore it at Berkeley matches.
"The law of averages," Dagostino lamented, "has to kick in at some point."
This is the paradox surrounding one of the most successful prep volleyball coaches in Florida history: A guy with 12 state championships in 24-plus seasons exercising all the karma he can muster for a team synonymous with futility.
Meantime, Dagostino, 56, keeps evoking the awe of averages: More than 28 wins a season and one state title every two years. Wednesday night at Lennard, the man who concocted a dynasty from a fusion of strategy, psychology and unbridled passion is expected to notch his 700th career win.
His record stands at 699-150. According to Floridapreprecords.com, only ex-Fort Lauderdale Cardinal Gibbons coach Louise Crocco has more volleyball coaching wins 1,046 from 1969-2004 in this state.
"I am just thrilled to see him set some records out there because to me he is the consummate coach," said Tampa Prep athletic director Carol Chalu, who has the unique distinction of being Dagostino's ex-wife and ex-rival while Terrapins volleyball coach. "He's the best prep coach any kid could have. Absolutely he is a natural teacher of the game."
To this day, Chalu lives a few blocks from Dagostino - remarried with two children - in Ballast Point. But testimonials come from as far as California, which only stands to reason.
Name a Division I volleyball power - Stanford, UCLA, Penn State, Duke, Florida, Notre Dame - and the guy to whom many affectionately refer as "Dag" likely has sent at least one kid there. Additionally, he created the first club volleyball program in Florida, helping spawn the sport's popularity and parity that has, in turn, made state titles tougher for him to win.
"He knows the game of volleyball better than any coach I've ever had," said former Buccaneers setter Eden Ramos, now in her senior season at Charlotte.
"Simply put, Coach Dag is the ultimate expert on the game," added former Berkeley and Stanford setter Anna Robinson Alldredge, who helped lead the Buccaneers to a pair of state titles and the Cardinal to the 2001 national crown.
"He has the rare combination of incredible volleyball knowledge and psychological instinct."
Discovering his passion
Ramon Randy Dagostino's love for volleyball began like many courtships: in college. A third baseman at the University of Illinois at Chicago, he enrolled in a volleyball course popular among the jock demographic, and became hooked.
"The teamwork was very appealing," he said. "Just the fact that you play the sport in such a confined area; the communication was necessary. I think it's a great team sport."
He married Carol, whom he met at a college party, in 1973. Later that decade, the couple moved to Florida when Carol's father was hired as chief financial officer at Bayfront Medical Center in St. Petersburg.
Together, they essentially started Tampa Prep's athletic program. Carol coached girls sports; Randy, the athletic director, coached boys soccer, boys basketball and baseball. On the side, he helped his wife with the school volleyball team that would become a dynasty.
"When we came here, women's sports had been in effect for two years tops, and volleyball was really bad," said Carol, who also won 12 state volleyball titles in 20 seasons as Terps coach. "Randy, he had played in a men's league up in Chicago, so I thought we had kind of an advantage."
In 1980, Tampa Prep won its first volleyball title. The following year, Dagostino was hired as Berkeley Prep's athletic director and baseball coach. When the volleyball coaching job opened in '83, it was his job to hire someone to fill the vacancy.
"We had a few seniors returning that had played the sport since they got to Berkeley, and they were quite talented and we had a nice little core around them," Dagostino recalled.
"But I knew I was going to have to find someone who knew something about the sport. I did know something."
Dagostino's first Buccaneers team went 35-5, finishing as district runnerup to - who else? - Tampa Prep. Hoping to seize the momentum of that season, he tracked down every kid on the Tampa Tribune's '83 all-Hillsborough County team to see if they'd be interested in forming an offseason club.
When most responded affirmatively, the Hillsborough All-County (HAC) club team, forerunner of the nationally prestigious Tampa Bay Juniors Volleyball Club, was born. Virtually every great Berkeley player since has emerged from that program.
"The funny thing about it is, I realized I wasn't prepared," Dagostino said of that initial club season. "I would actually be in the huddle and I'd call a time-out realizing I needed a timeout, but I'd have absolutely no idea of what to tell the kids."
What evolved from that epiphany was an immersion in the sport's nuances. Today, Dagostino is considered one of the game's foremost strategists. Ex-players describe him as intense and not above walking out of the gym if a practice is really dragging.
"In his mind, you either get better or worse every day," Alldredge said. "And he wasn't willing to watch us do any lazy reps."
Dominique Philipp, a captain on the 1995 Berkeley team (36-2) that Dagostino considers his best, recalls a timeout at the beginning of a match against Tampa Prep. The Terrapins had broken out to a huge early lead, prompting Dagostino to pull Philipp and another player aside and ask, "Why can't you get your butts in gear?"
The Bucs would win all seven matches against the Terps that season, dropping only one game.
"I personally liked that and we needed that," Philipp said.
A dozen titles later ...
Dagostino won his first state title in 1986, two years after he and Carol divorced. From there, a crosstown volleyball rivalry, as bizarre as it was intense, percolated into one of the area's most passionate at the high school level.
From 1986-92, either the Terps or Buccaneers won the Class A crown. In '95, Dagostino's team topped Chalu's for the 3A title, only to have Tampa Prep exact revenge in the next year's 3A final. Chalu, who remains good friends with Dagostino, stepped down as Terps coach after the '97 season.
"I was sort of naive to think that it would be cool to have two people who had fallen in love with the sport (on opposite sides)," said Dagostino, who won six consecutive state titles from 1988-93. "And I think both of us did do an awful lot of good things for the sport of volleyball. But I think it became awkward."
In recent years, state titles have been less frequent; Berkeley has one this decade. But if anything, that's a testament to the statewide proliferation of club volleyball originated by Dagostino. "And you know, that's something I'm very proud of," he said.
Today, the Tampa Bay Juniors has 11 teams of various age-group and skill levels. Dagostino credits his wife of 15 years, Lauri, with helping start the program and serving as "driving force" behind the club.
He can't say how long he'll keep coaching, though 14-year-old daughter Mackenzie is an eighth-grader on Berkeley's varsity.
If he coaches her until the end of her prep career, he might have 800 wins by the time he hangs up that Cubs cap.
"He was the best coach I ever had," said Philipp, who played four seasons at Duke. "He really was just an unbelievable coach and really pushed us to think beyond what we could do."
Joey Knight can be reached at (813) 226-3350 or jknight@sptimes.com.
Dag's dynasty
The year-by-year record of Berkeley Prep volleyball under coach Randy Dagostino:
Year; Record; Postseason
1983; 35-5; District runnerup
1984; 7-17; None
1985; 19-11; District runnerup
1986; 36-4; State champion
1987; 35-4; District runnerup
1988; 42-1; State champion
1989; 38-2; State champion
1990; 37-4; State champion
1991; 38-2; State champion
1992; 27-2; State champion
1993; 31-5; State champion
1994; 27-4; District runnerup
1995; 36-2; State champion
1996; 23-9; State runnerup
1997; 24-10; State champion
1998; 29-6; State champion
1999; 30-5; State champion
2000; 21-11; Region finalist
2001; 24-8; Region finalist
2002; 31-4; State runnerup
2003; 30-2; State champion
2004; 24-5; Region finalist
2005; 22-10; State runnerup
2006; 21-10; State runneru
2007; 12-7; ???
Totals: 699-150; 12 state titles
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