Breaking the all-time wins record Saturday was a tremendous accomplishment for coach Christy Johnson-Lynch, more tremendous than she will admit or take credit for.

While she went through rough patches in trying to build the program, keeping the success rate up has been even more difficult.

“Now, it’s: we’re good; how do we get to be great?” Johnson-Lynch said. “We’re top 20, how do we get to be top 10? How do we win a national championship?”

Johnson-Lynch is now in her seventh season as coach of the Cyclones, and her career record stands at 136-69. Last season was only the second time in her tenure that Iowa State didn’t get past the first round of the NCAA tournament.

The Big 12 voted her coach of the year for the conference in 2009. That season, the team had a school-record 27 wins and made a Sweet 16 appearance.

Johnson-Lynch is known for getting the most out of her players. Altogether, they’ve garnered 10 total individual All-American honors. Former setter Kaylee Manns (2006-09) became the school record holder in assists under Johnson-Lynch’s tenure, and she finished as the only player in Big 12 history to have more than 5,500 career assists.

Outside hitter Victoria Henson’s (2006-09) game grew while under Johnson-Lynch as well. Henson finished with a school record 1,726 kills to go with 1,291 points.

Johnson-Lynch’s former coach at Nebraska, Terry Pettit, has identified three things that have made Johnson-Lynch into a successful coach.

“Her selection of assistant coaches has been excellent,” Pettit said. “She pays great attention to detail, and she has a presence about her that gives her an intuitive sense about people. That is a very important trait.”

Johnson-Lynch’s family grew along with the success of the program. She and her husband, volunteer assistant coach Joe Lynch, now have two kids. Their son, Jamison, is 2 years old and their daughter, Addison, will turn 1 in January.

Raising two young children provided an extra challenge for the two coaches once they were born.

“It’s harder on Christy because she doesn’t get to spend as much time with them as she’d like,” Lynch said. “It’s tough, too, now because our son is at an age where he’s such a mama’s boy. Every time she has a free minute, he’d need her.”

Lynch also acknowledges that when Addison was born, there wasn’t a whole lot of sleep in the household. If one child wasn’t awake, the other one was. Lack of sleep is one more thing to add to the list of factors in coaching college volleyball, no matter what the reason.

Over the past seven seasons, Johnson-Lynch has shown she has what it takes to lead this program and will do whatever is necessary to continue the winning atmosphere.

“She’s going to do whatever it takes to win,” Lynch said. “Whether it’s recruiting, watching tape, figuring out what we need to do as a team. She’s going to put in all the hours and she’s very easy to play for.”

Doing whatever it takes is something she has passed on to her players.

Senior outside hitter Carly Jenson is yet another player who has grown under the watchful eye of Johnson-Lynch.

“She’s made me a player. I don’t think I would have been if I didn’t come here,” Jenson said. “She’s an awesome coach. You can tell she genuinely cares about everyone as a person.”

Senior right-side hitter Kelsey Petersen has grown as a player, both mentally and skillwise in her four seasons with Johnson-Lynch. Petersen is just one more example of what can happen when you have confidence in someone.

“Christy has given me a chance to play college volleyball and not a lot of coaches did that,” Petersen said. “I think she was the only one who really believed in me. That’s a big reason why I came here. She means a lot to me with just all the faith she puts in me.”

Faith is perhaps another important thing in this story. Success, failure, heartbreak and triumph. These have been woven into the fabric that is ISU volleyball. All of these things have made Johnson-Lynch the person and coach she is today.

For each win she has recorded, there is yet another heart and mind she has touched. When an institution can find a person and a coach that can do both and make it look easy, the product is a winning combination, a winning culture.

“Christy is more than just a volleyball coach to Iowa State,” said ISU coach Bill Fennelly. “She is a big part of the culture here at Iowa State. Her passion for the sport and the way she teaches her players is really, truly inspiring.”