BOULDER — Vowing to return the Colorado women’s volleyball program to the upper-echelon of the Big 12 Conference, newly hired Buffaloes coach Liz Kritza said Tuesday during her introductory news conference that she knows all about rebuilding projects.
Kritza, 31, was head coach for the past four years at Tulane University in New Orleans. One match into her first season, on August, 29, 2005, Hurricane Katrina made landfall in Louisiana. After escaping to safety from the rising water, her team eventually was relocated to Texas A&M, where it played the remainder of its “home” matches that season.
“I’m sure, (they were) the most adverse conditions for a person, for a coach, for an athlete,” Kritza recalled.
“Going forward in my career, nothing (else) fazes me. I had a team that had nowhere to live. They had no idea where they were going to eat, no idea if they were going to be in school. We had no uniforms. We had no way to train our team. It was an amazing experience. I’m forever grateful to (Tulane) and to my players for moving forward.”
A native of Colorado Springs and former all-stater at St. Mary’s High, Kritza agreed to a five-year contract (receiving one of the six multi-year deals available to CU) that specifies an annual salary package of $142,200, including base pay plus Nike sponsorship, summer camp income and a car allowance. Performance incentives and academics/community service incentives could boost her income by as much as $85,500 annually.
CU athletic director Mike Bohn said the multi-year contract and the planned practice facility for basketball and volleyball that will be adjacent to the Coors Events Center (bids go out this week, Bohn said) show a commitment to women’s volleyball. The practice facility also will include the women’s volleyball operations center.
Kritza compiled a 76-39 record at Tulane, earning American Volleyball Coaches Association Midwest Region coach of the year honors in 2007 and 2008 after guiding the Green Wave to a 28-6 record both years. Tulane finished with a No. 13 RPI in 2008, compared to No. 119 for Colorado (13-16).
Under Kritza, Tulane earned its first Conference USA championship in women’s volleyball in 2008, earning a berth in the NCAA Tournament.
“I told the (search) committee to find a coach and to aim high,” Bohn said Tuesday.
Kritza replaces Pi’i Aiu, who was fired in January after 12 seasons at Colorado. Aiu guided the Buffs to nine NCAA Tournament appearances, but CU had a losing record the past two seasons.
Returning to her home state after 14 years at Tulane, Kritza began as a student-athlete there in 1995. She remained at Tulane, progressing from student assistant to volunteer assistant to full-time assistant, before becoming head coach of her alma mater in 2005.
Aiu had been criticized for failing to successfully recruit many of the top in-state prospects.
“I grew up playing volleyball in Colorado. I’m a Colorado kid,” Kritza said Tuesday. “It wasn’t too difficult to entice me (to take the CU job). I know the strength of (high school and club) volleyball in this state. I’m really committed to make it a priority that all the best volleyball players in Colorado are coming to the flagship university of this state.”
Kritza is no stranger to Boulder. During her high school years, she trekked up I-25 to compete with the Boulder Volleyball Club. An older brother, Ted Kritza, played two seasons (1994-96) with the CU men’s basketball team before transferring to Tulane to be closer to family members.
Ted Kritza, a Phoenix-based executive in sports marketing, attended Tuesday’s news conference. He had been back to campus only one other time since leaving CU.
“When people talk about life being cyclical, I guess my sister and I are a perfect example of that,” Ted Kritza said. “I couldn’t be happier for my sister coming here.”
The team’s only senior-to-be, setter Kaitlyn Burkett, also is a product of St. Mary’s in Colorado Springs.
“I’m really excited about Liz’s vision of the program and how she sees it getting there,” Burkett said after attending the news conference. “I feel a lot of us were getting complacent. Now, she is going to force a drive in us.”
Colorado State women’s volleyball coach Tom Hilbert turned down the CU job last week because of family considerations.
Tom Kensler: 303-954-1280 or tkensler@denverpost.com
