Inductees

Back in her tucked-away office hangs a display that reads, “I learned to win by learning to lose – that means not being afraid of losing.”

For Missouri State volleyball coach Melissa Stokes, it’s a reminder of her third season on campus. Of her 21 seasons on campus, that was the only time the Bears finished with a losing record and drove her nuts.

“It was the best thing that could have happened to me,” said Stokes, who had played or coached on winning teams since high school. “It made me realize – don’t take success for granted.”

With unflinching determination, Stokes not only regrouped from that 11-20 season but took Bears Volleyball to even greater heights, and the Missouri Sports Hall of Fame is proud to recognize her work by inducting Stokes with the Class of 2017.

Overall at MSU, Stokes is 464-222 (.677 winning percentage) and has led the Bears to nine of their 12 NCAA Tournaments, the most recent in 2016. She is the Missouri Valley Conference’s all-time winningest coach, and now has 271 league victories. She set the record in September 2011 in a week when she won her 200^th MVC match and her 350^th overall victory.

Stokes added her 400^th career victory in 2014, becoming the 46^th active head coach to reach that milestone. She also joined only three other active coaches to have 400 wins in less than 20 full seasons.

Since the year 2000, Stokes’ program is 393-165 (.704).

However, Stokes credits many others for the success – players, assistants, past coaches she worked for and other coaches she sought advice from.

Among them is former MSU volleyball coach and MSHOF inductee Linda Dollar, who at a national convention in 1995 encouraged Stokes to apply for the Bears’ open vacancy, which Dollar created by retiring after 23 seasons. Stokes was 26 years old.

“All I heard (in the industry) was ‘Linda the Legend.’ They said, ‘You are stupid. Why would you take that job?’” Stokes said. “But you’re so young, you want to go conquer the world.”

Stokes had known only success. She was a standout athlete at Granite Hills High School in El Cajon, California, where she is now in its Athletics Hall of Fame. After graduation, she played key roles in six NCAA Tournament berths – two as a record-setting player at San Diego State and four as an assistant at the University of Idaho in the early 1990s.

In fact, many friends figured Stokes would take an assistant role at the University of Washington when the Missouri State job opened. But Stokes interviewed for the MSU opening on a day when the basketball Lady Bears packed a home game. There, she also met athletic director Bill Rowe and senior women’s administrator Dr. Mary Jo Wynn – both now MSHOF Legends.

“I take 24 hours before I make any coaching decision, but I got to the Denver airport and called Linda,” Stokes said. “I just had a gut feeling about where it was I was supposed to be.”

Of the key decisions Stokes made over the first five years at MSU, two shaped long-term success: She urged Dollar to stay connected to the program, and began to build recruiting statewide.

Dollar became a mentor after then-Idaho coach Tom Hilbert, who had groomed Stokes for a head-coaching role. Meanwhile, Stokes’ recruiting strategy moved away from the West Coast and centered on Missouri —  and, in 2005, got a boost locally with the addition of volleyball to the Community Olympic Development Program.

All of MSU’s NCAA Tournament berths under Stokes have come since 2003. The Bears also have finished at least second in either the MVC regular season or tournament in 12 of the past 16 seasons. Missouri State also has won at least 20 matches in 17 of the past 18 seasons.

The Bears also are two-time Valley regular-season and two-time Valley tournament champions under Stokes, a two-time Valley Coach of the Year and a Region Coach of the Year. She has guided eight All-Americans, 74 All-Valley selections and 52 players of the week, plus the program has produced four Academic All-Americans and 61 All-MVC scholar athletes.

Stokes, part of numerous committees with the American Volleyball Coaches Association, recently led a $150,000 fundraising effort toward the installation of maroon seats at Hammons Student Center.

“I never thought I’d stay at Missouri State more than five years,” Stokes said. “And I had opportunities to move away, but this is a special place. I still feel like there are things we can do.”