Doug Reimer’s winning formula was never about winning

For nearly three decades, the sounds of another UBC women's volleyball season have been familiar to Doug Reimer.

The squeak of shoes on the hardwood at War Memorial Gym. Volleyballs ricocheting off the floor. Players laughing through warm-up games before practice shifts into something more serious. New faces learning the expectations of one of the country's most successful programs, while veterans help shape another team's identity.

This fall will be no different. Reimer is entering his 30th season as head coach of the Thunderbirds, a milestone few university coaches ever reach. During his time at UBC, he has turned the university’s women’s volleyball team into the most accomplished in U Sports history, winning 10 national championships with the Thunderbirds, including a record-tying six consecutive titles from 2008 to 2013. His journey includes five U Sports Coach of the Year awards, a stint as head coach of Canada's women's national team and induction into the Volleyball Canada Hall of Fame.

But, to the players who have spent years under his guidance, the championships are rarely the first thing that comes to mind.

“Caring,” said incoming fifth-year setter and captain Issy Robertshaw. But it’s not just that he cares about the program and the team as athletes. To her, what really matters is that he “cares about [us] as people more than [as] volleyball players.”

Incoming fifth-year middle Jocelyn Lenarcic arrived at a different answer, though one that points in the same direction. “Dedicated,” she said. “He has dedicated so many years to the program and to volleyball … [I'm] just so grateful for how much he puts into our team and how much he cares.”

Those descriptions reflect something Reimer has spent decades trying to build — not simply a winning volleyball program, but an environment where student-athletes can grow as both players and people. To Reimer, success starts with asking the right questions — “is this an environment … people want to be part of and [one where] they feel safe?” — and reminding his players that “we get to do this; we don't have to do this.”

It is a philosophy that seems obvious to him now, but it wasn't when Reimer first started coaching. Growing up, volleyball wasn't always the plan. Like many kids, he gravitated toward almost every sport he could play. Basketball was his favourite, and for a while, it looked like it might become the sport he pursued most seriously. Then, something changed.

A new volleyball coach arrived at his school, introducing both structure and enthusiasm to a program that was still finding its footing. Reimer found himself drawn to the sport almost immediately. “[That coach] really helped build up our school because we didn't really know that much about the sport,” Reimer said. “That helped propel me into really wanting to do volleyball.”

The game suited him. A setter with size for his position, Reimer developed into a two-time all-Canadian at the University of Victoria, earning the school's top student-athlete award along the way. Even then, though, playing volleyball wasn't the only thing occupying his attention. He started by coaching boys’ and men's teams in B.C., and while still playing at UVic, Reimer was also asked to help coach a local girls' high school team. Through these experiences, he discovered that teaching the sport brought him almost as much satisfaction as playing it.

After graduation, rather than continue his playing career, Reimer became the assistant coach of the UVic’s women’s team. He preferred to coach them over the men’s program. “That seemed to make more sense than trying to coach my teammates from the year before” — a decision that led him to coach women’s volleyball for the rest of his life.

His first big opportunity arrived sooner than expected. Just two years after joining the coaching staff, UVic’s head coach left for another job, leaving the program scrambling to fill the vacancy just weeks before the season. “It was August,” Reimer said. “I think UVic was stuck with me.”

That August was UVic’s lucky month, as the university stumbled onto one of the country's brightest young coaches. In 1985, his first season leading the Vikes, Reimer guided the team to a perfect 15–0 conference record, a Canada West title and CIAU (now U Sports) Coach of the Year honours. Looking back now, however, he laughs at the idea that he was already an elite coach.

“I won in the very first year I was head coaching,” he said. “But there's no way you could say I was the best coach in the country.” At the time, he was still trying to convince himself — and maybe his players — that he belonged. “I was so young and just so worried about knowing enough and trying not to look bad in front of the athletes.”

While experience eventually quieted those doubts, he didn’t learn everything on the job. Reimer credits his university coach, Bob Harrison, as one of the most influential mentors of his career. Just as significant, however, was another coach who taught him the kind of leader he never wanted to become. This coach, whom he encountered outside of his time playing high school or university volleyball, made a young Reimer think to himself, “if I keep coaching, I'm not going to treat people that way.” To him, the negative encounters influenced his coaching philosophy just as much as the positive ones.

Rather than believing success comes from being the loudest voice in the gym or demanding unquestioned discipline, he realized: “that wasn't me. I couldn't — I wouldn't — be able to consistently coach that way, even if that brought more performance.” Instead, Reimer became increasingly convinced that athletes performed best when they felt supported and when they trusted the people around them, starting with their coach. That belief would become the foundation of every program he led.

It would also become the reason many players kept choosing UBC. By the time the championships arrived, Reimer had already decided what kind of coach he wanted to be.

Reimer's coaching career carried him across the country before it brought him to Vancouver. After his success in Victoria, he coached Saskatchewan's Canada Games team to a gold medal before taking over at the University of Winnipeg. There, he led the Wesmen to the 1993 CIAU national championship while earning back-to-back CIAU Coach of the Year awards and quickly establishing himself as one of the top coaches in Canadian university volleyball.

When UBC came calling in 1994, the decision wasn't just about volleyball — it was about home. As a Kelowna native, Reimer had always hoped to return to British Columbia after spending five years in Saskatchewan and Manitoba. UBC offered that opportunity, even if it meant joining his alma mater’s longtime rival, as a proud University of Victoria alum. "It was really kind of the only other chance to get back to B.C.," he said.

Three seasons later, another opportunity arrived. Volleyball Canada hired him as the full-time head coach of the women's national team, and Reimer left UBC for the chance to coach the country's best players on the international stage. During his tenure, Canada finished second at the NORCECA Olympic qualifier for the 2000 Sydney Games and placed fifth at the 1997 Summer Universiade in Sicily. The experience broadened his perspective, but also challenged many of the assumptions he had developed as a university coach.

Unlike at UBC, where athletes arrive as first-years and gradually develop over four or five seasons, the national team brings together experienced players who have already spent years under different coaches, systems and philosophies. There was little time to teach.

“You don't actually have that much development time with them compared to a university program,” Reimer said. “You're having to compete right away.”

The international game also exposed him to a faster, more physical style of volleyball. Watching the world's best players changed the way he thought about tactics, defensive systems and the speed of play. More importantly, it reinforced something that had little to do with strategy. The best teams weren't simply the most talented — they had the strongest team culture.

When Reimer returned to UBC for the 2000–01 season, those lessons came with him. His wife had accepted a job at the university, making the return to Vancouver feel increasingly like home. But that feeling wasn’t just about the city, it was the university as well.

“I liked the chance in post-secondary to work with players [that are] student-athletes, for that four- to five-year period,” he said. That opportunity to help shape young people, rather than simply coach elite athletes, became what motivated his career.

Today, that philosophy is visible before a single serve is hit. Every season begins with conversations that have little to do with volleyball. Instead, the Thunderbirds spend time discussing what kind of team they want to become. They talk about communication, trust and the standards that will define the group long before the playoffs arrive.

Robertshaw says one idea comes up every year: “psychological safety.” The goal, she explained, is to create an environment where every player — whether a first-year recruit or a fifth-year veteran — feels comfortable speaking up, asking questions and contributing to the team's success. “I don't think that exists on every team,” Robertshaw said. “A lot of teams have their group of players who have been on the team for four or five years, who everyone listens to … [but] on our team, everyone feels comfortable to say what's on their mind in order to make the team better.”

That culture doesn't happen by accident.

Before the season begins, players spend time together away from the court — trips to the beach, outdoor activities or team bonding events designed to help newcomers feel included before play even starts. By the time the first whistle blows, many of the relationships that carry the team through a long season have already been built.

For Reimer, those moments aren't separate from performance. “There is a direct link between athlete wellness and performance,” he said. “Healthier people can achieve more. People that feel safe in [an] environment will learn more in the long term.”

Away from practices and matches, Robertshaw says Reimer is constantly checking in on players' lives outside volleyball. He asks about classes, makes sure first-years are adjusting to university life and often turns to veteran players to ask whether younger teammates feel like they belong. “He wants to know about you as a person beyond just being a volleyball player,” she said.

Lenarcic has noticed the same thing. “He isn't just looking at you as an athlete. He cares about what's happening in your personal life and your academic life as well,” she said. “I've had coaches in the past where they haven't really taken the time to care about you on that level.”

Still, that care doesn't come at the expense of competitiveness.

Practices remain demanding, detailed and carefully planned. Robertshaw describes Reimer as methodical, building sessions around a handful of specific objectives before transitioning into potential in-game situations that challenge players to execute under pressure. But every practice begins the same way — with a competitive warm-up game to dissolve stress and foster enjoyment.

Lenarcic hopes that tradition survives long after Reimer eventually steps away from the program. “We're there to work hard,” she said. “But at the end of the day … it's important to have fun and love what you're doing.” That balance extends within the games themselves.

During difficult matches, Reimer rarely resorts to anger. Rather than raise his voice during breaks in the action, he smiles and reminds the team to take a breath. “It's more of a calming timeout,” Lenarcic said. “He knows when to have more of a calming presence.” Robertshaw has experienced something similar.

If frustration starts creeping into her game, Reimer doesn't immediately point out technical mistakes. Instead, he tries to understand what she's feeling before helping her reset. “[He] has a good balance of … knowing when to push you and [when to] … give you that boost of confidence and remind you that you are a good player.” It is an approach that may seem understated from the outside. Inside the program, however, players believe it has become one of the biggest reasons UBC has remained at the top of Canadian university volleyball for so long.

“[It’s] really just his focus on people,” Robertshaw said. “We have such a great group of girls wanting to be great volleyball players, combined with a really knowledgeable coaching staff who cares about the players … it's a really great environment for people [and] for our players to grow and get better at volleyball and just become better people.”

The results eventually followed the culture Reimer had spent years building. In 2008, the Thunderbirds finally reached the top of U Sports women's volleyball. It had been three decades since UBC's last national championship, though the program had come close before. There were silver medals, bronze medals and heartbreaking losses that left the team searching for the final step.

Then came a snowstorm in New Brunswick. The national championship tournament was nearly disrupted by a blizzard, but UBC still took the court against the University of Montréal in the gold-medal match. The Thunderbirds found themselves pushed to the edge, facing match points in a tight fifth set. In the end, they survived.

For Reimer, the victory was memorable not only because it was another championship for his résumé, but because of what it represented for the school. "I won a national championship in Winnipeg, which was great … but for UBC and the program, that was a critical step,” he said. The championship changed the team's belief in itself — once the Thunderbirds proved they could win on the biggest stage, they kept doing it.

The following season, UBC repeated as national champions. Then, in 2009–10, the Thunderbirds produced one of the most dominant seasons in U Sports women's volleyball history, finishing with a perfect 25–0 record, holding the No. 1 ranking throughout the campaign and capturing their third consecutive regional and national title. From there, the dynasty continued.

Between 2008 and 2013, UBC won six straight national championships, tying the U Sports record and winning four Canada West titles. More championships followed in 2017, 2019, 2023 and 2024, cementing the Thunderbirds as the winningest program in Canadian university women's volleyball. Those wins were only possible because, according to Robertshaw, one of Reimer's greatest strengths is knowing how to prepare his teams for the moments that matter most.

She points to the 2023 season, when the Thunderbirds were eliminated in the Canada West playoffs, but earned a spot at the U Sports Championship as tournament hosts. Despite coming in as the second-lowest seed, they won the national title on their home court. To her, it wasn't an isolated run. Time and time again, Reimer’s teams have found ways to peak when the stakes are highest, something she attributes to the environment he has built. “A lot of success in that is because of the culture and people feeling like they can trust each other and rely on each other to perform in those big moments,” she said.

But even after building a dynasty, Reimer refuses to reduce success to trophies. When asked about individual recognition, including his five U Sports Coach of the Year awards — the most ever won by a women's volleyball coach in Canada — he immediately shifts the conversation back toward his athletes.

“Anytime your peers support you, that's a nice honour,” he said. “The success of the student-athletes, trying to maintain good, healthy relationships and then building, developing [them] to get to performance. That's honestly the key thing.”

For Reimer, championships are moments, but culture is what lasts. That mindset has allowed him to continue adapting through four decades of coaching. Volleyball today looks almost nothing like the sport Reimer played in the 1980s — the introduction of rally scoring changed the rhythm of matches, the libero transformed defensive systems — players became stronger, faster and more specialized.

This is true off the court as well. Athletes now have access to resources that were unavailable earlier in Reimer's career: strength and conditioning coaches, mental performance specialists and a much deeper understanding of recovery and wellness. With that comes higher expectations.

Players begin training at younger ages, compete year-round and navigate pressures from social media that did not exist during Reimer's playing days. Rather than resist those changes, Reimer has adjusted alongside them. To him, while advances in sports science have given coaches more tools than ever before, the real challenge is translating that knowledge into something athletes can use — helping players balance physical and mental recovery, he believes, remains one of coaching's most important responsibilities.

But that willingness to keep learning may be one of the biggest reasons for his success. It is also why he has remained motivated. Not every season has been easy. At different points throughout his career, Reimer has considered stepping away from coaching entirely. During his time at Winnipeg and after his stint with the national team, the demands of running a program began to take their toll.

Coaching, especially at that level, can become all-consuming. Before integrated support staff became common, much of the responsibility fell on the head coach alone — recruiting, administration, training, planning and everything in between. Reimer considered a different path, one that would have taken him back to his academic interests in history and political science, and thought about becoming a teacher while coaching only on the side.

But he stayed — and part of that was because of the people. The athletes continued to remind him why he chose coaching in the first place. Today, he also credits the support system around modern university programs, including assistant coaches and sport professionals who help share the responsibility. “One coach can't cover everything,” he said.

After 30 seasons at UBC, Reimer understands that eventually someone else will lead the Thunderbirds. He does not expect that person to coach exactly as he has — every coach brings a different perspective, personality and philosophy.

What matters to him is that the foundation remains. He hopes future generations continue attracting student-athletes who want to succeed both academically and athletically, players who have high university goals but who also want to be better players. “You hope that the program maintains a high enough level that you continue to attract the people that want to achieve that way,” he said. “That's the most important thing.”

For Robertshaw, those lessons are already extending beyond volleyball. Years from now, she will remember the national championships she won. But more importantly, she will remember the players she won it with, and how Reimer built a team where everyone understood their role and felt valued. “If everyone contributes in their role, no matter how big or small, it's going to help our … collective success.”

Lenarcic hopes the same ideology remains long after Reimer leaves — not just the preparation, and not just the competitiveness, but the joy. She will remember the small traditions like the warm-up games, the laughter during practices and the moments away from competition that made the team feel like more than teammates. “I feel like a lot of the time people can lose the love of their sport when they come to university,” she said. “[But] Doug does a pretty good job of keeping that within his practices.”

In the long run, that may be the most lasting part of Reimer's legacy.

While the championship banners will tell the story of a coach who won more than anyone in Canadian university women’s volleyball, his players tell the story of why. After three decades, Doug Reimer's greatest achievement may not be the championships he built. Instead, it’s the people who leave UBC believing they can build something themselves.

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