New Bishop Gorman volleyball coach Tracey Giorgio. (Chris Parry/Staff)

Tracey Giorgio has coached some of volleyball’s best. She wants to do the same at Bishop Gorman while pushing the Lady Crusaders to new heights.

The new volleyball coach was unveiled Thursday at a small meet-and-greet at Gorman’s Haddad Gymnasium.

“I really was waiting for the right opportunity and being able to coach in a private school setting is what I wanted,” Giorgio said. “This is a blessing. I think God’s plan for me is (at Gorman).”

Giorgio is a former collegiate player who began her coaching career as a student assistant at Tyler Junior College under Dana Hatch. She went on to coach at Robert E. Lee, where she played at and graduated from in 1993.

She spent several years as a club volleyball coach and said she was able to work with the likes of Kristee Porter, who starred at John Tyler before earning All-American honors at UCLA and is a member of the TISD Athletic Hall of Fame.

Giorgio has been out of coaching for eight years as she has worked in marketing and sales for Doctor’s Hospital in Dallas and the past six for Suddenlink Communications in Tyler, but said in an email to Rod Kaspar, Gorman athletic director, “I am so ready and excited to get back to what I love and was born to do.”

Kaspar said Giorgio won him over with her infectious confidence and drive.

“Tracey is someone who was recommended to me by multiple sources,” Kaspar said. “When I found out she was a Lee girl, I reached out to Larry Jones and Tobin Reid and both spoke very highly of her.

“I feel like we needed to change things. Our volleyball program at Gorman needs a fresh (face and outlook). She is very confident and enthusiastic. For instance, next year she wants to schedule Robert E. Lee. I am excited and I think she is going to be a great addition for Bishop Gorman.”

The Gorman volleyball team has struggled in recent seasons with Kaspar set on returning the Lady Crusaders to the postseason.

Giorgio is ready to get to work on doing that.

“I like that Gorman is about the whole child from academics to fine arts to athletics; when I played volleyball I played year-around,” Giorgio said. “I encourage kids to (to do) everything. Everybody has a place on my team. I don’t necessarily believe in cutting kids.

“Our goal is to turn things around. You can teach kids skill and technique until you are blue in the face, but you have to teach them how to win. My thing is when I played and coached is I know how to win and I know how to get kids to win.”

TWITTER: @CParryETFS