The Wisconsin volleyball team didn’t go very far to find its new assistant coach. Hailing all the way from Racine, Wis., Colleen Bayer was a four-year letter-winner for the Badgers from 1995 to 1998. She recently replaced former assistant coach Christy Johnson.

“I’m really excited to be back,” Bayer said. “It’s just a homecoming. It’s good to be part of the program again. It’s a little different being on the coaching side of it, but it’s just good to be part of it again.”

Bayer, then Colleen Neels, began her career at UW as a defensive specialist and a backup setter, but she excelled after moving to starting setter her junior year. In her final two seasons she earned all-Big Ten honors and was named to the NCAA Regional All-Tournament team. She was also team captain those seasons, planting the seed for a future coaching career.

Now Bayer will have to make her leadership felt strictly off the court, something she has been getting used to the last few years. But she will also have to do it at a level she has never coached before. Bayer spent 2001 as the assistant varsity coach at St. Charles East High School in Illinois and since 2002 has been at the Great Lakes Center in Aurora, Ill., helping with a club team. She also helped coach the Milwaukee Sting Volleyball Club in 1996 and the Wisconsin Select Volleyball Club in 1997. But none of her prior experiences compares to the college level, where she will have to take on the role of recruiter as well as coach and mentor. However, Bayer feels that she can meet the challenges of her new job.

“I know what it takes to win,” Bayer said. “I know what it takes to win a Big Ten championship. Even though we didn’t get to the Final Four, we were close enough both my junior and senior years that I know what it takes to get there. I’ve played enough professionally that I know what hard work is, and I know what it takes to get certain places.”

Bayer continued to play after her UW career in the United States Professional Volleyball League. She was a part of the USVP Dream Team before shipping off to Germany to continue her career. She returned to the USVP for one season, where she captained the Minnesota Chill to a league championship in 2002.

“[Bayer] played for three or four professional teams, and with that training came skills from former national team coaches and areas, especially in defense, that can really help our team this year,” UW head coach Pete Waite said.

Coach Waite expects Bayer to help improve a team that was skilled offensively but needed improvement in other aspects of the game, including defense.

“I told her when she came in her emphasis was going to be defense, and so as we start practices here, she is in total control of the players’ individual defensive techniques and the defensive schemes,” Waite said. “That’s going to alter a little bit of what we’ve done in the past, but I think it’s an upgrade.”

Perhaps easing the transition for Bayer is the fact that she is taking over a position once held by her former coach and friend, Christy Johnson, who took over as the head coach at Iowa State. Johnson came to Wisconsin in 1997, and Bayer was the first setter she worked with. The two have been friends ever since, and Bayer has no reservations about replacing her mentor.

“She’s actually one of my best friends, and so even though they’re big shoes to fill, all I have to do is call her up and say, ‘What do I do with this? I need help with this,’ which I’ve already done a couple times,” Bayer said. “Trying to get acclimated to the job, she’s been a big help because she’s just a phone call away. Not only has she done such a good job here, but she’s been a good friend as well.”

Besides the help of a former coach to ease Bayer’s transition, her husband will also be joining the Wisconsin coaching staff as a volunteer assistant coach. Dave Bayer, who has served as the volunteer assistant coach before, came to the Badgers to stay with his wife.

“It’s kind of a great package deal we have here,” Bayer said of the situation. “Dave was also a former volunteer assistant coach here in the program, and he’s also from the state of Wisconsin. So, again, it’s very comfortable for him coming back. For us, we’re going to gain another great coach on the court.”