Chris Green speaks out following resignation as UAA volleyball coach

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (KTUU) – Chris Green announced his resignation as head coach of the University of Alaska Anchorage volleyball program after 15 seasons in a surprise press release Monday evening.

Although Green says stepping down had been on his mind for the distant future — he did not expect to do so this year — but a disagreement with administration accelerated the timeline.

”I’ve always had that in the back of my mind, there is a time where I want to let new blood get into the system, so I had been thinking about it, I didn’t think that it would happen now, but here we are,” Green said Tuesday at the Alaska Airlines Center.

“I think not hosting the West Region volleyball tournament was something that I felt was disrespectful to the volleyball program,” he said, on what accelerated the timeline of his resignation. “The original decision to schedule a Shootout tournament on the same weekend, knowingly, as the West Region volleyball tournament was something that at least I should have been brought into that discussion. So I think that was really hard for me to take.”

After winning the Great Northwest Athletic Conference with a 27-2 record, UAA volleyball was tabbed the No. 1 seed in the West Region, which is rewarded by hosting the first round of the NCAA Division II tournament. However, the Great Alaska Shootout, a four-team, Division I basketball tournament hosted by UAA, was scheduled for the same weekend as the West Regional Championships, Nov. 18-19. UAA Administration and the NCAA were unable to figure out a way to host both tournaments at the same venue, the Alaska Airlines Center.

“Knowing in October that we had a shot — since we beat Western Washington — we had a shot to be the No. 1 seed, not being able to figure out how we could host both events in this beautiful facility. You know, I think, I don’t know that we worked hard enough to make that happen. And so that — and I don’t know, because I wasn’t privy to anything that was being done above me,” Green said.

The 2022 NCAA DII West Regional Championships were held at Western Washington University in Bellingham, where the top-ranked Seawolves were upset by No. 8 Chaminade in the first round.

“I think we lost out on the inside track for a national championship and that really burns. I’m a competitor,” Green said. “I think hosting a West Region here would have given us an advantage. And for those who say, ‘you don’t know that you would have won the West Region here,’ that is exactly right, we will never know. … I just feel something was stolen from this volleyball program.”

Green expressed his grievances to the administration in a meeting with Athletic Director Ryan Swartwood, with the meeting ending in Green’s resignation.

”I don’t know, I thought it was a cordial meeting with the athletic director and so I think it’s still OK,” Green said.

In addition, Green felt he was not allocated enough time to address his team and…