Iowa State volleyball coach Christy Johnson-Lynch likes to keep her practices on schedule.

However, sometimes a drill goes over the 10 minute marker she sets and players like to remind her that it’s been more than 10 minutes. Her husband Joe Lynch, a volunteer coach on the Iowa State staff, likes to give her some grief when that happens.

“Joe is like ‘come on Christy, 10, come on Christy, 10,’” said libero Hali Hillegas. “He is just holding up five fingers on each hand flashing them at her.”

While Lynch’s title might read ‘volunteer coach’, he is much more than that to the Iowa State volleyball program. He is the man behind the “Libero U” reputation Iowa State has earned over the years.

Lynch is in his 13th year as an Iowa State coach, he came to Ames the same year Johnson-Lynch did. His primary responsibility is defensive training, which encapsulates the libero position.

From 2008-2015, the Cyclones captured the Big 12 Libero of the Year award each season. During those eight consecutive seasons, Iowa State won 47 Big 12 Defensive Player of the Week honors.

While he made the three Iowa State liberos during that time span the best libero in the Big 12 (Ashley Mass, Kristen Hahn and Caitlin Nolan), he also made them into All-Americans. Under Lynch, Mass and Hahn were three-time All-Americans and Nolan was a two-time All-American.

“[Lynch] just has an elite understanding of the game and reading,” Johnson-Lynch said. “So, he shares that with [the liberos] and they kind of gain that over the years listening to him talk, working with him in drills they kind of gain that knowledge.”

Through his knowledge, Mass became the Big 12 record holder in career digs with 2,294. Not only that, but in 2012, the Cyclones were the only team in the conference to average more than 17 digs per set (17.53) thanks to Lynch’s coaching.

Lynch’s coaching helped build “Libero U.” However, he was faced with his biggest challenge last year building a new Cyclone libero in redshirt freshman Hali Hillegas.

At the time, Hillegas never played libero in her life. She was a hitter in high school. Thanks to his coaching and caring attitude, Lynch helped guide Hillegas to All-Big 12 Freshman honors.

“Initially it was him saying alright Hali, 10 passes, let’s go,” Hillegas said. “We are going to go right back, middle back, left back here, get six out of 10.

“It kind of went from there. Then, I felt like once I started to want to get better at that spot. I was like alright Joe, 10 here, 10 here and 10 here. I want to get eight out of 10.”

Although Lynch has built up the Iowa State program, he would not be one of the Cyclone coaches if it were not for Johnson-Lynch.

“Well, he was with me. We were together,” Johnson-Lynch said. “So there was not much negotiation going on.”

The two met through mutual friends. Lynch was the coach of the top club volleyball team in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. In fact, Lynch won the national championship for the 16 year old’s a year before he arrived in Ames.

The two became close and began dating during Johnson-Lynch’s numerous recruiting trips to Milwaukee to scout his players.

If it were not for their relationship, Lynch may not have left Milwaukee.

“It was hard for him to leave,” Johnson-Lynch said. “There were kind of some people that were upset with me in particular, stealing him away.”

In Johnson-Lynch’s mind, Iowa State is lucky to have a coach like Lynch on staff. She believes he could coach at any level: international, collegiate or high school. Lynch is that knowledgeable about volleyball. It’s not surprising to see why with the amount of experience he has.

Before Iowa State, Lynch was an accomplished player and coach with over 20 seasons as head coach of several prominent high school and club teams in Wisconsin. He claimed two state titles and eight conference crowns as coach and earned several honors as a player.

In 2005, Lynch cemented his reputation as one of the best prep coaches in the country when he won American Volleyball Coaches Association Prep Coach of the Year. He was inducted into the Wauwatosa East High School Hall of Fame for his work as coach in the summer of 2015.

As a player, Lynch played on the men’s volleyball team at University of Wisconsin Milwaukee. There, he started three seasons and served as team captain during two of them. He also earned second team all-conference performer during the 1993 season.

Not only did he see success as a collegiate player, but he also excelled in national play.

From 1994-2002, Lynch was a member of a United States Volleyball Association men’s team and earned a spot on the USVBA All-Rookie team in 1994.

“I think no matter what level he would coach at, he would be great,” Johnson-Lynch said. “He just gets the game. He played it forever, grew up around it. He just loves it and has a passion for it.”

What truly makes Lynch a good coach is that he makes the game enjoyable for the players. He is intense, but yet, he knows when to push and when to pull back a bit.

That is why the players and coaches around him respect him and enjoy working with him.

“He is just a funny guy in terms of personality,” Hillegas said. “But at times, he can get very serious.

“Other than that, whenever you ask him to do something that you want to work on, like ‘Hey Joe, I want to work on servicing. Can you serve me deep?’ There he is. He asks where you want him to serve from and where to serve too. He is there for you.”