The announcement that UNC volleyball head coach Joe Sagula would be inducted into the North Carolina Volleyball Hall of Fame wasn't a surprise to anyone.
Except Joe Sagula.
At the end of the Tar Heels' practice last Tuesday, a number of guests snuck in the back entrance of Carmichael Arena. Among them: Dick Baddour, former UNC athletic director, Beth Miller, former senior associate AD, and Bubba Cunningham, current AD — plus Jim Ross, president of the USA Volleyball Carolina Region.
For the past two months, members of Sagula's staff had kept the news of his pending induction from him. When Ross finally told Sagula in front of his players, staff and former associates, he was floored — not just because of the honor, but because of the secrecy surrounding it.
"I was surprised," Sagula said. "It's hard to keep a secret around me, because I usually have my hand in everything that happens."
Sagula was heavily involved in the program's Alumni Weekend plans, but other staff members were able to keep the news from him until the Tuesday surprise. Five days later, on UNC's Alumni Day, the Tar Heels swept Boston College, with Sagula honored before the match in front of a collection of former players.
"I was amazed that I never found out," he continued. "I was pleasantly surprised. And I'm just so honored, how much hard work they put in to keeping it a secret."
Sagula will be the first coach to be inducted into the N.C. Volleyball Hall of Fame, having collected seven ACC Championships and the conference's Coach of the Year honor five times. At the end of this year, he'll join more rare company: the group of UNC legends, including Dean Smith, Anson Dorrance and Karen Shelton, that have coached 30 seasons at North Carolina.
“He's a very loving guy,” first-year Parker Austin said after the game Sunday. “He really cares about us as people, more than just volleyball players."