By Christine Jinbo

This year's theme for the Tournament of Champions at Duncanville High School is Building on Tradition.  The tournament begins today and features the top teams in Texas, particularly Amarillo and Austin Westlake, as they compete for the championship crown.  The Duncanville volleyball program and tournament have a tradition of success built on the back of retired head coach, Jan Briggs.

	Duncanville High School
	Jan Briggs has a winning tradition.

Briggs began her coaching career right after college and continued the vocation for forty years.  From her tenure coaching, Briggs developed championship caliber players, teams and programs, was instrumental in the development of the Texas Volleyball Coaches Association, and most of all, had a great time doing it.

The journey began at the Jr. High School level, followed by 34 years at the High School level.  From the junior high level at Monahans (Texas) and Crane (Texas), Briggs moved up to the high school level at Midland Lee High School in 1965.  She led the program to district championships each year, State Runner-up in 1968 and became the first athletic team to win the State Championship in 1969 at Lee High School.

During the late 1960's and early '70's, Briggs served first as the Vice President then President of the Texas Volleyball Coaches Association, while she also served as the representative for the National Federation Rules Committee for the University Interscholastic League (UIL).

In the summer of 1969, Briggs settled at Berkner High School (Richardson, Texas), a new school that had just opened where she coached the Freshmen, Jr. Varsity and Varsity teams.  As the program developed, Briggs took the school to the UIL State Championship finals five times. 

Briggs' final stop found her at Duncanville High School in 1975, where she coached for 23 years. 
After teaching and coaching for 40 years, Briggs retired in 1998 and handed the reigns to Lyn Evans, who she mentored as a player and a coach.  Evans played for Briggs at Duncanville High School and coached with her as the JV coach and Varsity assistant in the 1990's when the Panthers won the state tournament. Evans, now in her eleventh year as head coach, looks forward to the kind of successes Briggs enjoyed, not measured in wins and losses. 

Briggs reflected on her life of coaching and teaching.

"Volleyball has always been my love and passion.  I feel very blessed that I was able to be a small part of such a great sport and had the privilege of coaching so many talented and great young ladies.  It has given me a rich family of friends who, through sharing our love of this wonderful sport, has meant the world to me."
 

Jan Briggs Coaching Career

1969                      West All Star Coach
1971                      Texas Volleyball Coaches Association First Vice-President
1972                      Texas Volleyball Coaches Association President
1972-75                 UIL Representative to the National Federation Rules Committee
1975                      West All Star Coach
1976                      Coach of the National AAU Junior Olympic Volleyball Champions Team
1977                      Kellogg's Coach Of The Year
1978                      Kellogg's Coach Of The Year
1990-91                 11-AAAAA Coach of the Year
1993                      West All Star Coach
1994-95                 9-AAAAA Coach of the Year
1995-96                 6-AAAA Coach of the Year
1996                      Volleyball Coach of the Year - Texas Girls Coaches Association
1996                      Volleyball Coach of the Year - Dallas All Sports Association
 
Midland Lee High School Volleyball Records
  1967-68     4-AAAA State Runner-Up
*1968-69     4-AAAA STATE CHAMPIONS
*4-AAAA was the largest class then

Berkner High School  (Richardson, Texas)
1970-71     State Semi-Finalist
1971-72     State Semi-Finalist
1972-73     State Runner-Up
1973-74     State Semi-Finalist
1974-75     State Runner-Up
 
Duncanville High School
1987-88     5-AAAAA District Co- Champs
1988-89     5-AAAAA District Co- Champs
1989-90     5-AAAAA Regional Semi-Finalist
1990-91     5-AAAAA District Champions
1991-92     5-AAAAA Area Champion
1992-93     5-AAAAA Area Champion
1993-94     5-AAAAA Bi-District Champion
1995-96     5-AAAAA STATE CHAMPIONS
1996-97     5-AAAAA Area Champions