Tori Mellinger
Lake Highlands High School 2009 graduate Tori Mellinger has been named assistant coach and recruiting coordinator for women’s volleyball at the University of Mississippi. Steven McRoberts, head coach at Ole Miss, made the announcement Friday.
“A lot of people applied for this job and Tori rose from the top from the beginning,” said McRoberts. “She brings good experience, as she has played and coached in the SEC. She understands winning. During the process I definitely picked up on Tori’s positive attitude and work ethic. She was ready to get started as soon as the job was offered.”
Tori spent the last two seasons as assistant coach at Arkansas State, working with outside hitters, managing office operations, handling team travel and assisting with recruiting and scouting. Her Red Wolves went 25-8 last year (15-1 in Sun Belt Conference play) and had a record of 28-2 in 2015 (16-0 in the SBC). They advanced to the conference tournament championship both years.
“My job at Ole Miss is such an amazing opportunity that I honestly didn’t think I would get a shot at until later in my career,” Tori emailed me from Oxford Friday after jumping on the road to Mississippi soon after the job offer. “To be an assistant coach in the SEC at 25 is crazy! I think I’m most excited about getting to work with such an amazing caliber athlete. One of my main job titles is recruiting coordinator, so getting to evaluate and bring in some of the best talent in the country is going to be so fun.”
“There are so many great things about coaching young women that I find rewarding,” continued Tori. “I do think my absolute favorite thing about being a collegiate volleyball coach is getting to be in the gym everyday – whether it’s practice, pregame or match time. There’s nothing better than helping girls reach their full potential.”
Tori previously served as a volunteer assistant at her alma mater, Texas A&M, and before that, she played a year of professional volleyball for SCU Emlichheim in Emlichheim, Germany.
“This will be my 3rd official year of coaching collegiately, and one of the things I find most rewarding is giving the girls an opportunity that lasts beyond the X’s and O’s. Many girls don’t want to play professionally, and part of my job as a coach is to give them an experience. I think it is so important for these young women to leave better than they came – morally, physically and mentally. Being a student athlete is hard, and learning a good work ethic during their playing careers really sets them up for success.”
Tori admits, though, that parting with her former team will be tough.
“The hardest part of leaving Arkansas State will definitely be leaving the girls. I have never met a harder working group who are so invested in the team and the program. I think that group was very special, and something I can only hope to find anywhere else.”
And will we see Tori scouting in gyms at Lake Highlands High, RISD and area schools? After all, she says, she learned much here.
“Texas has some of the premier talent in the country,” Tori told me. “We actually have two incoming freshmen for the 2017 season from Texas, one from the Dallas Metroplex. There is no shortage of talent in the state, and I fully intend to take advantage of all of my Texas ties, both in RISD and the Metroplex.
“I think being an athlete at Lake Highlands taught me a lot about winning. Coming from a winning culture helps develop a certain competitive mindset that has helped me not only with my playing career, but within coaching, too. I am still really close with [former Lake Highlands Volleyball Coach] Cory Williams, and I value our friendship a lot. She was a huge part of my success by believing in me from the start.”
Collegiate volleyball is a fall sport, and Ole Miss conference matches are live-streamed on the SEC network. And Tori has a message for her Wildcat friends and neighbors.
“To any Lake Highlands fans out there: I absolutely love being from LH, and I am so proud to come from such a supportive community. I have been very blessed to get to work in the SEC, but it didn’t come without a lot of hard work, which I think is something that LH can really identify with. I hope that I can represent the community well, and I hope everyone can send up a good luck ‘hotty toddy’ for me on game days!”
