Donnie Wallace leaves Wichita State volleyball staff for private business

Donnie Wallace has resigned as assistant volleyball coach at Wichita State.

Wallace said travel time began to wear on him. Those demands for road trips and recruiting trips will increase with WSU’s move to the American Athletic Conference. Wallace grew tired of coming home and hearing about how his three children performed in sports.

“I just felt like it’s tough to justify all that (time away),” he said. “My kids are growing up and getting so involved in sports. I love (coach Chris Lamb) and I love the girls and I loved what I was doing. It was more about figuring out what it’s important to me.”

Wallace said he has taken a job in private business.

He spent three seasons as coach at Southwestern College. In 2009, he coached Collegiate to the Class 3A title. He played basketball at Goddard, Kansas State and Nebraska-Kearney.

Lamb agrees that the job’s demands for recruiting will change in the new conference. He expects to recruit more in conference cities and the American stretches to Connecticut and Florida. A recruiting trip to the east coast might require staying a week.

“We’re going to be flying more for recruiting than we ever have,” Lamb said. “You just sort of naturally find yourself recruiting in your conference schools backyards.”

Wallace spent three seasons at WSU, two as a volunteer assistant. He took over as a full-time assistant in 2016.

“I watched him grow as a coach,” Lamb said. “He was a lot of fun to be around.”

Lamb said he wants to hire a replacement before recruiting picks up in June.

This story was originally published May 14, 2017 at 3:47 PM with the headline "Donnie Wallace leaves Wichita State volleyball staff for private business."