AHS girls' volleyball coach wasted no time getting players' attention

BILL SPARKES/Acorn Newspapers CHANGE IN ATTITUDE- Agoura first-year girls' volleyball coach Carlos Cojulun address several players during practice on Monday. The coach said one of his biggest challenges this season will be to get the team to believe in itself. Last year, AHS finished seventh in the Marmonte League. New Agoura High girls' volleyball head coach Carlos Cojulun believes he's the man to help lead the Charger program back to prominence.

Agoura hired Cojulun in May, after former head coach Amanda Kiser opted not to return.

According to Cojulun, he became interested in the job last November, when he attended the Chargers' final regular-season game at Newbury Park.

"I was hearing from some people that they were having some problems and that the coach might not come back," Cojulun said. "A good friend of mine told me the position might open up, so I went to check out a game.

"I could see the girls had a lot of talent, but they hadn't developed it quite yet. I was told that the game I saw against Newbury Park was their best game of the season, but to me they looked emotionally defeated while playing."

Cojulun graduated from Hoover High in Glendale in 1986. He played on the school's first boys' volleyball team before moving on to UCLA, where he continued to play volleyball in intramural leagues before graduating college in 1991.

For the past several years, Cojulun has concentrated on running his business, Ascension Mortgage. It wasn't until last season, when he served as an assistant to Doug Magorien on the Westlake High boys' varsity volleyball team, that Cojulun started coaching.

"The best advice that Doug gave me was to be consistent," Cojulun said. "Treat every player a little different, but when it comes to penalties on the team, treat everyone from the best player to the worst player the same."

Magorien said Cojulun will be a fine addition to the AHS program.

"I wish him the best of luck at Agoura," Magorien said. "I think he will be good for them because he has a ton of energy and is really good with kids. The fact that he lives and works in the area will help him, too."

After getting hired at Agoura, the new coach decided to hold a meeting with players and their parents on May 14.

Cojulun said he handed out packets to everyone at the meeting declaring what he expected of the team for the upcoming season. He stressed that everyone giving 100 percent, coupled with respect and commitment, would lead to a championship.

"I had some players decide to leave, and I respected that. But the players that stayed knew what they were getting into," Cojulun said.

"One of the most important things about the meeting was that it generated a lot of positive feedback from the parents. I have had parents tell me that their kids are coming home happy after practices, and they hadn't experienced that in a long time."

Although some players on the Chargers viewed the new coach as a breath of fresh air, there were others who were skeptical.

"I liked (Kiser) as a coach last year, so when Coach Cojulun came in really strong with a seven-page contract it was a little weird," senior Cassie Kogler said. "After a little while, I started to like him. He does a good job of being optimistic and realistic at the same time. And he makes playing volleyball a lot of fun."

Senior Rachel Siegel agreed.

"I like how he tries to mention our positives rather than our negatives," Siegel said. "I have played volleyball on different teams for Agoura for the last four years, and it seems as if this is the first coach that believed in us."

Cojulun said getting the team to believe in itself after finishing in seventh place in the Marmonte League last year will be a major challenge.

"In the past with this team, the moment something would go wrong you could just see the team start to crumble," Cojulun said. "In a way they were kind of like the Cincinnati Bengals' football team of five years ago. However, as summer went on the team has started to gain confidence in one another and believe they can be successful."

While Cojulun said he believes this year's squad has talent, he knows rebuilding the program will take time.

"My goal this year is to start a good, continuing, unified program and make the playoffs," Cojulun said. "Next year our goal is going to be to win league. After that I would like for us to compete for a CIF title. We have many good freshmen and sophomores in our program to go along with our upperclassmen."

The Chargers begin their season at home against Oak Park on Sept. 10.