Terry Liskevych

Taras "Terry" Liskevych ( ; born October 14, 1948) is a Ukrainian-American retired volleyball coach. He served as the United States women's national volleyball team head coach from 1985 to 1996. During his tenure Liskevych posted over 300 international victories.

Early years Liskevych was born in a displaced person's camp in Munich, Germany, to a family of refugees from Ukraine who fled to Germany during the Soviet invasion of Western Ukraine in 1944. In 1951, when Taras was three, the family immigrated to the United States and settled in Chicago, Illinois. Growing up, Liskevych led a life fairly typical of a post-World War II Eastern European immigrant child – attending a local grammar school, St. Nicholas, and going to Ukrainian language school on Saturdays. He was a member of the Ukrainian scouting organization Plast, where he became an eagle scout. His sports activities were centered in the diaspora playing table tennis, tennis, soccer and volleyball. Liskevych attended St. Ignatius High School, where he played on the varsity tennis team and at the same time played soccer for the Chicago Lions. He continued to play soccer at Loyola University (1965–66) and also played in the Chicago Major Division for the Lions Soccer Club. By 1990, Liskevych had established the American team as a dominant force in international women's volleyball with a third-place finish at the World Championship. In 1991 the U.S. qualified for the Barcelona Summer Olympics by placing fourth at the World Cup in Japan. Liskevych gained personal recognition that year when he was asked to coach the World All-Stars in a two-match series against the defending World Champion USSR at the World Gala. Liskevych's squad won both matches in Rome and Barcelona.

At the 1992 Barcelona Olympics, Liskevych guided the USA Team to a bronze medal. After losing a hard-fought match to Cuba (2–3), the women played magnificently the next day in defeating Brazil 3–0 for the bronze medal. This finish motivated Liskevych along with the rest of his team to give it one more run for Olympic gold in a home Olympics – the 1996 Centennial Olympic Games in Atlanta. In the 1995 season, the USA Women were well on their way to achieve this goal. They won 78 percent of their matches, capturing the Canada Cup and the Coca-Cola Cup, and won the $2 million World Grand Prix (a grueling six-week event in Asia) where they defeated Cuba, China and Brazil in the finals in Shanghai. However, the team finished a disappointing 7th at the Summer Olympic Games in Atlanta, losing in the quarterfinals to the eventual gold medalist Cuba (0–3). Liskevych left the USA program in December 1996. He served on several Federation of International Volleyball (FIVB) committees – 1998–2001 – and spent time as a consultant for the Australian national teams from 1995 to 2004.

Oregon State University

After coaching the USA National Team for 12 years, Liskevych decided to enter the business world – 1997–2004. Before the 2005 season he returned to coaching and accepted the head coach position for women's volleyball at Oregon State University in Corvallis, Oregon. 1976–1987 – Volleyball Clinics. Liskevych was one of the first to actively promote and produce volleyball clinics nationwide – The American Volleyball Coaches Clinics, Inc. and the Volleyball International/Sports Associates, Inc. Clinics were the first professionally run national volleyball clinics in the US. 1979 – Established the Wendy's Classic – the premier women's college volleyball tournament in the US. This four-team weekend event was televised (starting in 1980) and played to capacity crowds of 6,000+ per night – two nights every November 1980 – 1984. The event brought in annual revenues of $100,000 +. 1988 – Created, developed and produced (with Ken Grosse) the Women's Collegiate Volleyball All-Star Classic – sponsored by Yugo America, Reebok, Sports Imports, JogBra and Wilson Sporting Goods. The event was televised on ESPN and was played in Stockton, California at the University of the Pacific. 1989 – Facility Design and National Center. Liskevych spearhead an effort to build a National Volleyball Training Center. He created and developed the concept and negotiated with the city of Carlsbad, California for a 17.5-acre state-of- the art training center and events center. 1992 – Developed a "white paper" – The Professional Volleyball League – A Preliminary Prospectus. This was an innovative study on the formation of volleyball professional leagues in the USA. 2011 - Co-founded the Art of Coaching volleyball clinic series and website.

Head coaching record National Team record

Team Year Record Pct. Top finishesUSA (W) 1996 23–20 .535 7th Olympics/5th Grand Prix USA (W) 1995 57–16 .781 1st Grand Prix/7th World Cup USA (W) 1994 25–20 .556 6th World Championship USA (W) 1993 15–27 .357 2nd NORCECA (zone) USA (W) 1992 15–22 .405 3rd Olympics/3rd Super Four USA (W) 1991 38–22 .633 2nd NORCECA/4th World Cup USA (W) 1990 41–32 .562 3rd World Championship USA (W) 1989 16–20 .444 3rd NORCECA USA (W) 1988 32–15 .681 7th Olympics USA (W) 1987 26–34 .433 2nd NORCECA/3rd Pan Am USA (W) 1986 24–33 .421 10th World Championship USA (W) 1985 25–20 .556 2nd NORCECA International coaching record totals Years Wins Losses Winning % 12 337 281 .545

College record

Team Year Record Pct. Conference National standingsOregon State (W)20156-24.200Tied for 10th (Pac-12)148th (RPI) Oregon State (W) 2014 21-13 .618 Tied for 7th (Pac-12) 23rd (RPI) Oregon State (W) 2013 9–22 .290 12th (Pac-12) 138th (RPI) Oregon State (W) 2012 14–18 .437 Tied for 10th (Pac-12) 63rd (RPI) Oregon State (W) 2011 16–16 .500 8th (Pac-12) 103rd (RPI) Oregon State (W) 2010 9–23 .281 9th (Pac-10) 130th (RPI) Oregon State (W) 2009 12–18 .400 Tied for 9th (Pac-10) 75th (RPI) Oregon State (W) 2008 14–17 .450 9th (Pac-10) 82nd (RPI) Oregon State (W) 2007 10–20 .333 9th (Pac-10) 74th (RPI) Oregon State (W) 2006 3–24 .111 10th (Pac-10) 146th (RPI) Oregon State (W) 2005 11–13 .458 7th (Pac-10) ------ Pacific (W) 1984 31–8 .795 2nd (PCAA) 3rd (NCAA) Pacific (W) 1983 37–4 .903 1st (NorPac) 4th (NCAA) Pacific (W) 1982 32–8 .800 1st (NorPac) 5th (NCAA) Pacific (W) 1981 27–13 .675 1st (NorCal) 4th (NCAA) Pacific (W) 1980 48–8 .857 1st (NorCal) 2nd (AIAW) Pacific (W) 1979 40–11 .784 1st (NorCal) 4th Pacific (W) 1978 23–15 .605 3rd (NorCal) ----- Pacific (W) 1977 12–10 .535 3rd (NorCal) ----- Pacific (W) 1976 17–8 .680 1st (NorCal) ----- Ohio State (M) 1976 24–4 .857 1st (MIVA) 3rd (NCAA) Ohio State (M) 1975 21–3 .875 1st (MIVA) 3rd (NCAA)

College record totals Years Wins Losses Winning %22437358.550

Athletic participation

Columbus Caps Volleyball Club, 1974–1976 (USVBAA-AAU) Chicago Volleyball Club, 1973–1974 (USVBA-AAU) Kenneth Allen Volleyball Club, Chicago, 1971–1973 (USVBA-AAU) Chicago Ukrainians Volleyball Club, 1967–1971, Captain, 1969–1971 (USVBA-AAU) Loyola University Varsity Soccer Team, 1967–1970, Captain, 1969 Major Division Soccer – Chicago Lions, 1968–1969 Varsity Tennis – St. Ignatius, 1962–1965 Soccer – Chicago Lions Juvenile and Junior Competition, 1957–1964 Table Tennis – Chicago Lions – 1962–64

Publications

Managing Your Health Care (with Martin Gipson and Edwin Swillinger) Pathfinder Publishing, Ventura, CA 1996 Championship Skills: Youth Volleyball (with Don Patterson) Master Press, Indianapolis, IN 1995 Volleyball Is A Hit Master Press, Grand Rapids, MI, 1986 – 1st Edition, 2nd edition 1993, 3rd edition 2005 A Pictorial Analysis of Power Volleyball (with Jim Coleman) Creative Sports, Hollywood, CA 1972