Good Sports: Erin Hoffman chases another volleyball state title at Advance

Advance High School head girls' volleyball coach Erin Hoffman instructs a Hornets player during the 2019 MSHSAA Class 1 state semifinals at the Show Me Center.

Kyle Smith/Dexter Statesman

Good Sports is a column featured weekly in the Southeast Missourian and on semoball.com. It is primarily designed to showcase people who have impacted the sporting life of Southeast Missouri, so that readers may get to know them more fully. Responses have been edited for clarity and brevity.

Today: Erin Hoffman, 45, head coach, Advance High School girls’ head volleyball coach and the 2020 Semoball Awards Coach of the Year. An alum of Southeast and a member of the SEMO Athletics Hall of Fame along with her 1996 team, Hoffman – a native of Grimes, Iowa - enters her 24th year as a head coach this fall and her 6th consecutive season with the Hornets. She has been to the state tournament seven times and her teams have won the MSHSAA Class 1 title three times – in 2019 and 2018 with Advance and in 2003 with Bell City. Advance has gone 144-31-6 (.823) since 2015. Overall, Hoffman is 590-160-18 (.786) in nearly a quarter of a century of coaching. She has also skippered girls’ teams at Meadow Heights, Scott City and Bernie. Hoffman came to her current coaching position in the 2015 season.

I assume volleyball is your lifelong passion.

It has become a passion, yes, but soccer was my main sport in high school.

How did you make the migration to the indoor game?

When I graduated at Grimes, there wasn’t much opportunity for girls in soccer back then, so I decided to give volleyball a try when I got to SEMO. I was a walk-on as a freshman, which forced me to study the game to get where I wanted to go. I did end up with a scholarship for my last three years.

Except for one year at Scott City, you have specialized in coaching at the small schools.

There were 65 students in my senior class (at Grimes), so it’s what I knew. I prefer the smaller environment. It’s more homey and you get to connect with all the kids.

After two back-to-back state titles, should we expect a three-peat in 2020?

I’ve got a really good group of kids; they love volleyball. I haven’t had to get after them to prepare for the season because they’ve been getting ready at the Southern gym we have in town. We have seven seniors coming back too. The kids are always good, always the same wherever I’ve gone. Never any problems, no complaints.

Erin Hoffman (second from left, top row) at the official signing by John A. Logan College of former Hornets volleyball star Roz Schrader, Nov. 29, 2019, at Advance High School. Submitted

Roz Schrader was your go-to player the last two seasons but now she’s in college.

Yes, she’s at John A. Logan now. Roz was a big blocker for us (with 317 kills in 2019), which made our defense really good. Jadeyn Metcalf, a senior this year, should step up for us in ’20.

Say a word, please, about your family.

I married my husband, David Hoffman, in 1998, and we have a daughter, Lexi, who is a freshman this year and will play on our team. We’ve lived in Leopold for 20 years and I’m not looking to leave it.

Can you put a finger on why you’ve been successful for so long?

When the girls are accountable to one another, the losses hurt more, and the wins are sweeter. Accountability drives them to win. Also, I do whatever I can to build their confidence.

Is there an Erin Hoffman “system?”

On my teams, you have to play defense and you have to pass. Those things are important at every position. I like to say that if you can’t pass, you can’t play.

You blew out a lot of teams the last two seasons, especially, notching lopsided victories.

Correct, but I’ll tell you something: I’d rather play hard against a good team and lose than beat a team 25-5. When you win so big over an opponent, your girls don’t improve. I like to help my student-athletes study the angles and get better.

Advance has dominated Class 1 the past two seasons. How do you keep your returning girls from resting on their laurels?

Complacency is a concern I have so I’m teaching new skills and new defensive schemes, things that will be hard to grasp to keep them focused and concentrated.

What do you teach in the classroom?

Today, I teach history, which I love. I try to take students to Europe every summer, which didn’t happen this year due to COVID. One year, we had a group go to Egypt. Because our European trip got cancelled in ’20, we’re planning a trip to Costa Rica in 2021. In 2022, it’ll be Germany, France and the Alps.

Tell us something not a lot of people know about Erin Hoffman?

I play the piano. We don’t have one at home anymore but there is one at school. It used to be I could release my emotions playing that instrument.

Favorite piece of music to play?

Tough one. I suppose I’d say, “Flight of the Bumblebee,” a very familiar piece of classical music.