Catherine Shiely does not like to reminisce about the glory days, but she returned to the place where they all started.

Known better as “Tat,” Shiely returned to her former stomping grounds for the Marquette Women’s Volleyball 50^th Anniversary Celebration & Alumni Weekend. Family, friends, alumni and players gathered to celebrate the program that Shiely founded back in 1975.

Considering what it took to start the program, the event was much more meaningful to Shiely. Inspired by her high school coach, she realized coaching was something she wanted to do and earned a degree in physical education. She got hired at Marquette and went on to create opportunities for women in sports.

“The best thing about being the first one to do a job is that nobody knows what you’re supposed to do,” Shiely said. “So, you just get to do it whatever way you want, and if you’re successful, you’ll still be there.”

However, the process was by no means a cakewalk. Without long-established club volleyball at the time, Shiely’s recruitment process was a bit unconventional. Instead of scouting at games, she went to the admissions office and combed through every incoming female first-year who had a sports background and sent them a letter. She also put up notices around campus to advertise tryouts.

“I was at Cobeen Hall when I saw there was tryouts,” said Angie Kvidera, an outside hitter on Marquette’s first volleyball team from 1975-1979. “I wanted to play basketball, but I thought I’d try out for [volleyball].”

Once the team was rallied up, practices began — which were not for the weak. The players practiced in the ROTC gym, and because they didn’t have any equipment, Shiely had to engineer a volleyball net with a pulley system. The net was connected to poles attached to tires, so there was no way to get it taut enough.

The lack of air conditioning in the gym didn’t help either. Some girls went through two practice shirts because they were drenched in sweat.

The long hours in the hot gym paid off, though, when the team won their conference championship the first year, playing against Mount Mary University, St. Norbert College and Milwaukee Area Technical College. But it wasn’t what Shiely was looking for.

“We brought the trophy home, but it wasn’t as competitive as I wanted our program,” Shiely said. “So, the next year we went into what was called the Wisconsin Women’s Intercollegiate Athletic Conference… and we got killed.”

The setback didn’t stop her, though. Shiely said she wanted to help make her players competitive, competent people who could transfer those qualities to their own life ambitions.

People like Karen Weir Binash, who played middle blocker from 1980-1984.

“She [Shiely] definitely demanded,” Binash said. “But when all was said and done with my four years of playing, she certainly made me a better player. She certainly made me a better person.”

After her time playing for Marquette, Binash became an integral part of the program as she went on to coach with Shiely from 1989-1994.

“When she asked me to coach with her as an assistant, I definitely got a better appreciation of how kind and very passionate she was about the game of volleyball,” Binash said.

Shiely poured her dedication into her players and emphasized the importance of being a teammate — something she wants the current players to practice as well.

“Give 100% every day,” she said. “It doesn’t matter whether you start or whether you’re subbed in or not because your teammates are counting on you, so you have to be a dependable person. You have to be someone that they trust.”

Shiely coached Marquette Women’s Volleyball from 1975-1999, and she also coached Marquette women’s basketball from 1975-1985. At one point, she was the only woman in the nation to be head coach of women’s volleyball and basketball programs simultaneously.  

“It was hard because the seasons overlap,” Shiely said. “I’d have one practice at like, 6-8, and then a practice from 8-10, so it took a lot of time.”

She was inducted into the Marquette “M Club” Hall of Fame in 2004, named Volleyball Coach of the year in 1980 by the WWIAC and was also named the Great Midwest Conference Volleyball Coach of the Year in 1992.

But her proudest accomplishment isn’t an award, championship win or season highlight; it’s the work she did as an American Volleyball Coaches Association board member to prevent coaching abuses.

“There were some complaints about abuse of athletes, and nothing was being done about it,” Shiely said. “So, we created a legal system, put together a legal document so that students had some way to express their problems and concerns about coaches and… every coach had to sign the document.”

Now, thanks to Shiely’s work, the AVCA works with USA Volleyball and the U.S. Center for SafeSport to promote abuse prevention across the country.

Shiely’s commitment to sports was unwavering, and it’s what led to the creation of Marquette women’s athletics. She was instrumental to the volleyball program, and has seen many changes over the years.

“I don’t think the current athletes realize where the program has come from. I don’t think they have a clue,” Shiely said. “That first team is so important because it was the building block for everything that they have now. And those people now stand on the shoulders of the 10 people that were the first ones that played for Marquette.”

Kvidera also sees a shift in how the sport has changed since she has played on the university’s first team.

“Tat did a hell of a lot to get this going and fought for anything she got… I mean, it’s such a different era now,” Kvidera said. “Besides having full scholarships and travel and recruitment, I mean, everything is different. It’s like crawling and now running.”

Starting out in a gym without A/C or equipment, Marquette women’s volleyball has evolved. When Shiely reflects on her contributions to the athletics program, she keeps a humble mindset.

“When you leave, somebody’s always there who can take your place,” Shiely said. “You can’t ever say ‘you can’t do this without me,’ because somebody can come in right after you and do it just as good or maybe even better.”

Shiely’s glory days aren’t so glorious in her eyes. She came to do a job, and now, she’s embracing life — playing golf and spending time with her great nieces and nephews. 

“I mean, I could walk off the curb tomorrow and get hit by a car,” she said. “So, I think that today is the most important, and what you do every day is what’s going to guide you in your life.”

This story was written by Rachel Lopera. She can be reached at r[email protected].