Althoff’s new volleyball coach is home and ready to build on her family’s foundation

More than a decade after graduating, Carly Thomas is back in the Althoff Catholic High School gym, this time, for her first open gym as the girls varsity volleyball coach.

The former Althoff standout isn’t just coming home to coach at her alma mater — she’s leading the same program that her two sisters and aunt have coached at different levels for years.

“It gives me goosebumps in order to be part of it in a different light,” Thomas said. “I’ve grown up around Althoff. I feel like I have a lot of pride for the school.”

As Thomas leads her players through passing drills, she’s wearing a shirt commemorating the team’s last state championship in 2017 — under the coaching direction of her sister, Sara Thomas-Dietrich. Their aunt, Kathy Wuller, was the coach for 12 years, and worked as an assistant coach for that state championship season, before becoming the athletics director for Althoff.

Abby Carlson, Thomas’ other sister, previously coached the junior varsity team and was an assistant coach for varsity.

“As a high school player, she was super intense,” Wuller said of Thomas, who started as a freshman. “She liked to work hard. She liked to push her teammates to be better. She didn’t like to lose.”

After graduating from Althoff and playing with USA Volleyball, Thomas played for Missouri State, and then coached at the college level for four years, coaching both beach and indoor volleyball at Missouri State, Southeast Missouri State University and, most recently, Montana State. Along the way, she’s continued to work with high school students, including helping out with summer camps at Althoff.

Junior varsity coach Addie Burris, a 2018 Althoff graduate, was coached by Sara Thomas-Dietrich for her entire Althoff career, including that 2017 season when the Crusaders took home a state championship.

“I think Carly has the same potential,” she said. Thomas also coached Burris during Althoff’s summer camps.

Rather than feeling any pressure from her family’s legacy, Thomas said she felt motivated to work with a new group that she knew had a solid foundation.

“I don’t feel unnecessary pressure coming into this school,” she said. “I feel like I’m going to succeed with this team already because of the foundation and the path. I feel like I’m being set up with a lot of success and support already.”

Last school year, COVID-19 drastically changed many high school sports seasons. Because of that, Thomas said her players seemed eager to start team bonding

“Playing sports isn’t just about the games. It’s about the experiences, and I feel like they were robbed,” Thomas said.

It being the first year off of COVID, Thomas recognized that there was some uncertainty, but her main goals are a winning season, for her players to gain confidence, and to encourage natural leaders.

“I want them to feel good at the end of the season, because I do feel that’s going to motivate them,” she said. “I never want them to want volleyball season to end, because they enjoy it so much.”