Rivier men's volleyball players are not happy that the school has dimissed their longtime coach, Craig Kolek. (Photo courtesy of Rivier Athletics)

NASHUA — A shock to their system.

The Rivier University men’s volleyball team is still trying to recover from the stunning dismissal of longtime Hall of Fame Raiders coach Craig Kolek.

And the players are not happy about it.

“It’s just utter shock and disgust,” Raider senior setter Neil Rea said. “It is sending a very bad message to us as players to relieve our coach with 11 games left, a month left before we get to the playoffs. It sends a very bad message to us that they just don’t care about us.

“A lot of us are very involved and have put a lot into this school. It’s definitely difficult to have that message sent back to you after putting so much in.”

With that being said, the players, with the help of volleyball alumni, are planning on sending a message to the administration. Beginning with Tuesday’s 6 p.m. non-conference match vs. Eastern Nazarene at the Muldoon Center, the team is set to wear uniforms that do not show the Rivier logo in any way, but with numbers on the backs as required. The players say that the alumni are providing the uniforms that they plan on wearing the remainder of the season.

“We’re trying to figure out the best thing to do to show where we stand,” Rea said, “obviously without sitting down and saying we’re not going to play – because this is something we’ve been working for for four years, too.”

Not playing was discussed, but many of the upperclassmen missed their senior year of high school volleyball as well as their freshman season at Rivier due to COVID. They don’t want to lose another one.

“The decision to play is not necessarily one to continue to play for the University or for this,” Rea said. “It’s really a decision to play for each other, and what (Kolek) kind of instilled in us.”

The Rivier administration has refused comment on Kolek’s dismissal other than to acknowledge that it has happened. Several sources maintain Kolek was fired due to a procedural issue regarding the expenses of the team’s recent trip to compete in a tournament in California. But that also followed, sources say, a formal complaint/disupte Kolek has had with a high ranking school administrator.

As Raider senior Chris Lezon said, “Obviously, there’s an underlying situation going on that isn’t really being discussed that I feel should be. It’s impossible for them to be seperate.”

“We definitely are aware of the inter-staff issues and concerns that have been raised by Coach (Kolek),” Rea said. “It’s very hard for us to believe there’s nothing else behind a move like this.”

Kolek, who has coached at Rivier for nearly three decades, would not as of yet — he said he may at a later date — comment regarding the firing except to say he expected, given the atmosphere in the athletic department the last two years, to be ultimately dismissed. He was inducted into the Great Northeast Athletic Conference Hall of Fame, is one of the nation’s all-time winningest college coaches in the sport. Volleyball royalty, if you will.

Raider senior Isaac Borges said that during the tournament in California, a couple of college coaches came up to speak to Kolek. “They came over to Craig and thanked him for all he had done for the sport,” Borges said. “Even the impact of a team we had never played before comes over, thanks him for all he’s done. And five days later he’s let go. They didn’t even let him finish out what he had started. … I feel the school has let us down in more ways than I can count.”

“There was no one on the team that thought that this was even a possibility at this point,” Rea said. “When we were sat down and told, we were all literally too stunned to speak.”

The players were sent an email Thursday morning that there was an important, emergency team meeting in the locker room early that afternoon. That’ when Rivier athletic director Jonathan Harper delivered the sudden, shocking news.

“Jonathan explained why, but didn’t give us too much background on it,” Rea said. “You could tell they were scrambling as well trying to kind of figure out everything themselves. … They (the athletic staff) made it very clear it was above them.”

The team had a couple of informal practices Friday and Saturday, with assistant coach Peter Pray in attendance Friday. It’s expected an interim coach will be named prior to Tuesday’s match; the team has a full practice scheduled tonight from 6 to 8.

But it won’t be the same. Kolek meant more to the players than just as a volleyball coach.

“He’s helped all of us,” Lezon said. “Not just in volleyball, but in our personal lives and helping us become better people as well. I feel that’s where we’re going to feel the loss the most. Moving forward from this is something that’s not going to be easily accomplished.”

“He coached more than just volleyball,” Rea said. “He was a life coach too. A mentor to every single person on the team.”

Kolek is one of the main reasons the players came to Rivier.

“We came here to play for Coach,” Borges said, “and what he offers.”

“My high school coach (at Lincoln, R.I, Lyndsey Sweeney), she is a Rivier alum,” Lezon said. “She really pushed me in the Riv direction, saying that Kolek is the best of the best. She said ‘When I came in I was not great at volleyball at all and he transformed me into being an athlete I never thought I would be.’ “

“I had an older sister (Taylor) who played for him,” Rivier senior Pete White said. “A big reason why I wanted to go there, besides my academics, was for Kolek, to play volleyball. It’s really heart-shattering. I don’t think it’s justifiable, really.”

The players, especially the upper classmen, say they feel they deserve to hear more from the upper administration on the matter and hope to have a meeting at some point.

“We deserve an explanation face to face, not an email or making our AD talk to us,” Lezon said. “We definitely deserve to sit down with the people who made that decision. The same people who were in the room who told Kolek he was fired should be in the room with at least the seniors and graduate students and attempt to justify all this.”

“To say I’m upset is an understatement, for sure,” Borges said. “This is someone we all look up to as a leader, a role model. It’s someone that can’t really be replaced. It’s something we’re still trying to get our heads around now.

“We’re proud of our coach for standing up and doing the right thing (regarding the internal disupte). I think that shows a lot toward his character. Obviously we’re upset this is what it’s come to, but we’re all happy he made that decision. … “We’re going to finish out the season for him, not the school.”

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