Dan Westby, a 1978 Danube graduate, will be inducted into Minnesota Volleyball Coaches Association Hall of Fame tonight at the state tournament banquet at the Crown Plaza in St. Paul.
The next day Westby will guide his top-seeded Marshall Tigers in the Class AA quarterfinals.
The Tigers head coach since 2004 is yet to come home empty handed. Marshall either reached the Class AAA or AA final or won the consolation trophy for an incredible 17-4 won-loss record in those seven state tournaments.
The Tigers were Class AAA champions in Westby's first year at the helm after he assisted HOF coach Terry Culhane 2000-3 (Culhane left to head up the University team). Beginning in 2007, the Tigers have been classified AA winning the championship match in both '07 and '09.
Westby, who played football at Willmar Community College before transferring to Southwest Minnesota State, coached volleyball at Renville County West from 1991-2000. He was twice 212 Conference Coach of the Year and Section 3AA Coach of the Year in 1998. The Jaguars posted a 56-6 record his last two years, when he was also the school's activities director.
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He's twice Class AA Coach of the Year and the 2004 AAA Coach of the Year. He has been head girls basketball coach at Marshall since 2009, reaching state this past winter..
At Danube, Westby played for Rod Black, Gary Fox, Al Handahl and Roger Beihoffer and later coached with Renville legendary athlete Kevin Mulder. He was hired at RCW (then BDRSH) by current Willmar principal Rob Anderson.
Westby commented that "Basically the kids are taught that they need to care about their teammates more than they care about winning. We don't give individual awards other than All-Conference and All-State. Eleven straight trips to the state tournament in volleyball are more than we could have ever dreamt."
Westby and his wife Deb have a daughter Rachel, 19, who is a two-year starter at outside hitter for the Mustangs.
