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Colorado State volleyball coach gets coached up on dad skills

Colorado State head volleyball coach Tom Hilbert (left) shows assistant coach Luke Murray how to change a diaper.

In September of 2000, the Colorado State volleyball team was playing in the Golden Dome Invite in South Bend, Indiana. The Rams had just swept No. 22 Loyola Marymount and were excited to face the 24th-ranked hosts Notre Dame the following day. Tom Hilbert, the Rams head coach, was prepping for their match with the Fighting Irish when his former wife, Leslie, called him in a panic. Eight months pregnant with their first child, Leslie’s water had broken.

“The minute I found out my mind was off volleyball and it was on trying to get home for the birth of my daughter. And I did make it home and it was great,” said Hilbert. “It’s obviously a once-in-a-lifetime experience for a lot of people and you don’t want to miss it.”

After welcoming daughter Myles to the world, the Rams went on to put together a successful 35-5 season, winning the Mountain West title but falling 3-1 to No. 8 Penn State in the Sweet 16. After the conclusion of the season, Hilbert took a much-deserved paternity leave to hang with little Myles.

Nearly 18 years later, Hilbert looks back on that time in his life with smiles and stories. And he is enjoying sharing those things with his assistant coach, Luke Murray, as he prepares for his own son’s arrival.

“It’s been very surreal at times, actually seeing the images up there, like, wow. That’s a human being,” said Murray.

Murray has been with the Rams since 2014. He and his wife, Kendall, have always wanted to start a family.

The Murray's pose for a family photo pre-baby.

“We were obviously ecstatic. We had been trying for a while. It’s been a goal of ours to start a family, so we were obviously really excited. The hard part was not going out and shouting it from the top of the mountain kind of right off the bat.”

A few months later, they were ready to “shout it from the mountain”. Murray recalls telling the team that he had an announcement to make.

“I think that tipped them off pretty immediately. Emily (Kohan, the other assistant volleyball coach) was up, out of her chair and was just like, “Oh my God! You’re having a baby!”, so she knew as soon as I said that. And yeah, everybody was pretty excited.”

The couple invited the team to their gender reveal a few months later, where the expecting parents sprayed bottles filled with blue paint at each other’s white shirts with a group of loved ones cheering them on. A baby boy is on the way for the Murray family.

With the season quickly approaching, Murray and his wife are ready and waiting for their son’s birth. The crib was set up three months ago and the nursery is painted and organized from top to bottom. The couple completed their parenting and birthing classes, although he admits they had to do the expedited course due to their busy schedules. The due date is August 21st, but Murray hopes his son will make his grand arrival a bit sooner since the Rams first game is on the 24th.

Becoming a dad can be both exciting and overwhelming and Murray has a laundry list of questions and worries, from having a baby around the office to changing a diaper.

Luckily for Murray, he’s got Hilbert there to coach him up.

“It’s okay to bring a baby into the office. It’s okay to have to go home and do something. It’s okay to say no to a social event or whatever because you’re really doing the most important job in the world in raising a child,” said Hilbert. “And you’re going to make mistakes, but you just have to continue to follow through and pay attention to everything that you do.

***At the time of this interview, the Murray’s were still patiently waiting for their son’s arrival. Maxwell James was born a few days later on Sunday, August 12th. Both mom and baby are happy and healthy.***

Luke Murray poses with his newborn son, Maxwell James.

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