None of this was planned. Not the revitalization of a sinking program, not the eight straight trips to the NCAA tournament, not the numerous All-Americans nor the hundreds of career victories.

Fortunately for Christy Johnson-Lynch, fate isn’t planned.

Christy Johnson, as she was known at the time, was once a household name for volleyball fans. After a stint with the U.S. Junior National Team, the Nebraska Cornhuskers’ star setter was making history in the mid ‘90s.

The Huskers captured three Big Eight crowns with Johnson-Lynch on the roster, including two during her years as a starter in 1994 and 1995. To this day, she still holds the top two school single-season records for assists per set with 14.18 and 13.90.

Her work ethic and the achievements it resulted in left an impact on the program that former head coach Terry Pettit still remembers 20 years later.

“She was obviously a great player and a very passionate one, too,” Pettit said. “Christy always took charge of her own development, putting in time before and after every practice. Even on holiday breaks, I’d come in and there she was, practicing.”

That hard work paid off in the form a 63-2 record as a starter and the 1995 national championship, the first in Nebraska’s volleyball history.

But soon, the former two time All-American setter found herself behind a desk, using her education degree to teach math to ninth and tenth graders at her alma mater Millard North High School in Omaha.

“I didn’t love it. It was just okay,” Johnson-Lynch said. “First year teachers have it tough. It’s not an easy profession and in my first year there, it was stressful and exhausting.”

The job wasn’t all bad though. When the final bell rang to send her students home, Johnson-Lynch got to grab her whistle and head to practice.

“I loved the volleyball part of it. That was the best part of my day,” Johnson-Lynch said.

Then, after just one season coaching her alma mater, seemingly out of nowhere, the phone rang. On the other end was John Cook, head volleyball coach at the University of Wisconsin, with an offer Johnson-Lynch could not pass up.

“I recruited her to Nebraska and she was a special player there, both in her leadership and ability,” Cook said. “She understood the idea of a winning tradition.”

The move to NCAA coaching was not seamless, though, as Cook recalled Johnson-Lynch had some struggles her first year on the job with the Badgers.

“She wasn’t quite ready that first year, but we were trying to build a program and she was a big part of that,” Cook said. “I felt it was worth hiring Christy because of all of the intangibles she brings. That’s what really makes a great role model [for players].”

Despite the rough transition, Johnson-Lynch knew she had found her calling.

“I completely happened into it, but after my first day on the job, I knew this was the profession I wanted to be in,” she said.

Johnson-Lynch quickly got past that learning curve. However, in eight seasons at Wisconsin, Johnson-Lynch helped lead the Badgers to a 212-54 record that included three Big Ten titles, three NCAA tournament regional finals and a spot in the 2000 NCAA DI Championship match.

But on Dec. 17, 2004, her phone rang again, and as is the case with many accomplished assistant coaches, Johnson-Lynch got plucked by another school for a head coaching vacancy.

It wasn’t just any school, though. It was one she had played at before, where she boasted an unbeaten record as a starter for Nebraska in her playing days. The school was Iowa State University.

Johnson-Lynch admitted at first she had some reservations about coaching for her old conference foe but quickly overcame them as the chance became more real.

“Oh, for sure there were [those feelings],” Johnson-Lynch said with a laugh. “I came and played here every year but I couldn’t tell you anything about the campus or the town. That part was ignorance, but it was also a little surreal for me…I don’t know what I had planned on, but coming to Iowa State just wasn’t in my plans until the opportunity seriously presented itself.”

The challenge Iowa State presented for Johnson-Lynch was huge. She was taking over a program that, in 32 years of existence, had lost more matches than it had won. The previous two coaches combined for just seven years on the ISU job and amassed a 42-164 overall record, including 8-112 against conference opponents.

A downward-spiraling program could not deter Johnson-Lynch, as she quickly began turning the Cyclones around. In 2005, Iowa State finished with a 16-15 record and tied for sixth place in the Big 12, the first winning record and highest conference finish in a decade. That’s when the Cyclones really started to take off.

“Some coaches come in and they get rid of a lot of players and it’s like everything is changing, but I didn’t feel like that was the thing to do,” Johnson-Lynch said. “I felt like, ‘I’ll come in and do what I do.’ We didn’t change everything overnight,”

In six of the eight years since then, Iowa State won at least 20 matches, the only exceptions coming in 18- and 19-win seasons. Each of those eight years, the Cyclones secured a bid in the NCAA tournament and twice advanced to the Regional Finals (round of eight).

Attendance has skyrocketed along with the team’s trajectory under Johnson-Lynch’s guidance. The ISU volleyball team’s attendance has ranked top-20 in the country seven years running. On Nov. 7, 2009, the team set a state of Iowa record when 10,203 fans packed Hilton Coliseum to watch Iowa State host Nebraska.

“The day we had 10,000 people at our match in 2009, that was one of the more special days I’ve had,” Johnson-Lynch said. “To see that many people supporting us was pretty cool. It’s not even just that one — when I look up and see 3,000 people I feel such a sense of accomplishment knowing we came from about 600 per night.”

Now just two months away from having spent 10 years in Ames, the ISU volleyball program is practically unrecognizable compared to the pre-Johnson-Lynch era.

With an overall record of 200-97 after Tuesday night’s win at South Dakota, Johnson-Lynch is the winningest coach in team history by more than two season’s worth of matches. As the tenth coach in ISU volleyball history, she owns 27 percent of its wins.

Having a winning record at 200 victories coaching the cardinal and gold puts Johnson-Lynch in elite company with former men’s basketball coach Johnny Orr and current women’s basketball coach Bill Fennelly.

“I certainly don’t feel like I’m the level of coach they are,” Johnson-Lynch said. “Those are legendary coaches, people that I look up to. I don’t know that I’m in their category yet, but hopefully I’ll get there.”

Though the achievements of her tenure at Iowa State are unprecedented, Pettit said it makes perfect sense in Johnson-Lynch’s case.

“It’s certainly not a surprise that she’s been successful as a coach,” Pettit said. “I don’t know that anyone could predict a former player would have the type of success she’s had with a program that was so dismal when she arrived, but I’m not surprised it’s been her. I’m very happy to see her come this far.”

Johnson-Lynch acknowledged that, while she has enjoyed an immense amount of success, she has plans for more — a Big 12 title and Final Four appearance among them.

As Johnson-Lynch and her coaching staff work towards those goals, she’s taking the time to reflect on how one phone call from, of all places, the middle of Iowa forever changed both her life and the ISU volleyball program.

“A lot of people ask me how I turned it around here and I always tell them there’s no secret,” Johnson-Lynch said with a smile. “We just worked really hard to find the right players to fit our program. It’s the hard working, down to Earth kind of person that comes to Iowa State.”

“Every day I’m reminded that I want to do this at the highest level. This is so much fun. This is what I’m born to do. This is what I’m meant to do — and that’s a cool feeling.”