Where Are They Now: Fran Kalafer, Volleyball

A former tennis player at SUNY Cortland in the 1970s and an incredibly successful head volleyball coach at Smithtown East High School, Fran Kalafer became the third head coach of the Hofstra volleyball program and the first head women’s coach at Hofstra University in 1981 after three years at SUNY Stony Brook and quickly established herself as one of the best coaches in all of Division I volleyball.

From 1981 to 2005, Kalafer posted a 590-316 record at Hofstra and picked up numerous conference and regional coaching awards, including receiving the Tachikara/AVCA District I Coach of the Year award in 1999. Under her coaching, the Pride won the conference championship 14 times and made five trips to the NCAA Tournament.

Not only did the team have success under Kalafer, but also numerous Hofstra players earned individual accolades. Three Hofstra players were named AVCA Regional All-Americans, 13 were named CoSIDA Academic All-District, and two were named CoSIDA Academic All-Americans.

Kalafer was recognized by the AVCA in 2001 with the AVCA Founders Award, which honors individuals who have been involved with the advancement of the sport of volleyball through playing, coaching, publicity, administration or management. Kalafer was further honored by the organization when she was a part of the inaugural AVCA Hall of Fame class in 2003.

After serving for 25 years as head coach of Hofstra volleyball, Kalafer retired in July 2006. With 612 wins from coaching at Hofstra and Stony Brook, Kalafer was 11th among active coaches in Division I prior to retiring. She was inducted into the Hofstra Athletics Hall of Fame as an individual in 2007 and as a member of the 1995 Hofstra volleyball team that qualified for its first-ever NCAA Tournament in 2015.

Fran currently lives in California and is still involved with volleyball. She continues to cheer on the Pride and watches their games however she can.

What made you end up becoming the coach of Hofstra volleyball?

There was an opening for a coaching position at Hofstra, and at the time, they didn’t have a full-time women’s coach. They paired tennis and volleyball together in order to establish the position. Eve Atkinson was Hofstra’s Athletic Director at the time, and I don’t remember if I contacted her or if she contacted me, but I brought my one copy of my résumé that I had printed up from a printing place and they interviewed me up-and-down. It was a long process, but eventually I was chosen for the tennis/volleyball head coach position.

Coaching at Hofstra and being at the University was a lot of fun for me. We had good facilities, the people were terrific, and the campus was growing at that point. So the move to Hofstra, for me, was a fun and exciting time, and I think I was able to show that excitement towards my players and to recruits.

How did it feel being the first full-time women’s head coach at Hofstra?

That was pretty important, to me and to my overall plan for working and in terms of being able to do what I loved. I didn’t set out to be a pioneer in so many different ways and areas, but that was something I had done my entire career dating back to my time at Smithtown East High School. When I was first interviewed for the position, it was for a combined position as head coach of women’s tennis and volleyball, and they said to me the position was “10 percent and 90 percent volleyball,” which I can’t do. To me, you either do 100% of something or you don’t do it at all.

It was unique for a woman to be a full-time coach during that time, and I was very pleased with that.

Do you have a favorite memory from your time at Hofstra?

That’s a tough question. Looking back, it was really the student-athletes. I was so fortunate to be able to recruit so many great people, and as a result so many are still in contact with me. I’m not on Facebook and I do some e-mail, but one way or another they find me. We had a mix of local kids, international student-athletes, and student-athletes from the West Coast, and we were able to bring the best out of them while helping them grow into terrific, responsible people.

When I think of somebody or we’re talking about one of my former players, we come up with so many stories that make us laugh. It has so much more to do with things that happened on the court, but mostly it was things that happened on the way to the match, or at meals, or just being together. 

With this whole Coronavirus, we were able to get on some Zoom calls with former players. Jess Levy, who was a player of mine from 2002 to 2005, was able to get together a whole group of probably 15 or so on the call, and we all had such a great time not only seeing each other, but we were able to come up with all kinds of different stories about each other.

Along with athletic ability, what sort of qualities in a recruit were you looking for while coaching at Hofstra?

Part of my quest in recruiting was getting people who were athletically gifted but also academically gifted, as well, because that would help in terms of getting the student-athlete qualified for some additional funding outside of athletics. We had a player named Kristine Keigan, and one of the reasons why I recruited her very strongly was because she was first in her class. It turned out that she was a terrific athlete, and she could hit the ball a ton. I got to the point where that was a very big part of not only Hofstra’s standards, but my own standards and scope, because I really wanted to be able to communicate with a student-athlete on not just volleyball but things going on in the world. 

We were also recruiting players for not who they are, but who they could become. I remember being at a junior national championship in Texas, where everyone walks around and recruits. It had been a very long day, and Elaine Roque, our assistant coach at the time, said to me ‘let’s go watch this team, there’s a player on there that you would like,’ and I’m thinking there’s no way we’re getting a player from Hawaii. But we go over and we’re five courts away and I see this person moving so gracefully on the court and I go ‘Oh my God, is that who we’re going to look at’? It was Shellane Ogoshi, and we only had one scholarship to fill.

After the match, we speak with her coach, who happens to be her father, and I introduce myself and her father says ‘We’ll take it.’ He knew about Hofstra and where we were from because they had visited at C.W. Post and they knew all about Long Island. She was an incredibly special player and person.

You received the AVCA Founders Award in 2001 and were then a member of the inaugural AVCA Hall of Fame class in 2003. What did it feel like to receive that distinction from volleyball’s governing body?

It was a wonderful honor. For me, it was a part of what I did and I was just lucky enough to be recognized for all I did while coaching at Hofstra. I felt as though, at the time, being a representative from the East Coast was a very cool honor. I fought for the East Coast to receive national recognition at that time, because there was more emphasis placed on schools from the West Coast. The fact that they recognized me for being considered among the top of the profession and the sport was truly a great honor.

I used to say to the team that any award you receive is not an individual award, because without the team you would not receive that award. And I felt and still feel that I wouldn’t have gotten to where I am or received that tremendous award without the coaches and the players. 

How did it feel to be inducted into the Hofstra Athletics Hall of Fame twice?

It was a terrific, wonderful honor. It was 2007, and I had stopped coaching the year before, so it was pretty nice to have the athletic department, the Pride Club, the University acknowledge me. And so quickly after I left! So I guess there’s no getting away from Hofstra.

It was an honor, truly. I came back for the induction of the 1995 team that made it to the NCAA Tournament for the first time, and that was even more fun because I got to see some of my former players.

What does it mean to you to be a part of the Hofstra family?

Being part of a family is wonderful, even if we don't get to choose. Being part of the Hofstra family was something I happily chose. I will always cherish the relationships with my colleagues and my players at Hofstra. I am particularly grateful for Cindy Lewis, Stephen Gorchov, Elaine Roque, Beth Parr Parisi and Christine Moore Newins for their tremendous support.

What is some advice you would have for a current Hofstra student-athlete?

I would say probably more importantly than athletics is to stay on top of your academics. First and foremost, if you want to be a student-athlete, there are a number of academic requirements that need to be met to stay on the team and remain eligible. When we would go on recruiting trips or when we’d look over potential recruits, we wouldn't consider someone who wasn't academically eligible, no matter how good they were on the court.