FORTVILLE — Looking back, Eric Bulmahn can only scratch his head.
When his daughter, Jaclyn, was a sophomore at Mt. Vernon, the longstanding club volleyball coach was approached to fill-in, short-term, as the Marauders new head coach.
Time sure does fly.
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“This interim gig has really extended out,” Bulmahn laughed. “It was supposed to be a couple of months. I was just supposed to take over for the summer.
“When (former MV athletics director) Greg Roach hired me, he said, ‘Hey, I just need you to take over for a couple of months. But, my hope is that you’ll be here a long time because I know you have daughters coming up, so that should get me at least six years.’ I remembering saying, ‘Nah, there’s no chance of that.’”
Apparently, Bulmahn was wrong, and it’s been a win for the Marauders since he took over in 2014.
Bulmahn has led Mt. Vernon to two Class 4A sectional titles in 2015 and 2016 and a top-three finish in the Hoosier Heritage Conference in four of the past seven years.
His team reached the sectional finals this fall after taking third in the HHC to finish the season 22-5 overall, leading to Bulmahn’s 2020 All-Hancock County Volleyball Coach of the Year distinction, as voted upon by area coaches and the Daily Reporter.
“The girls, they just played a very consistent game. If nothing else, we outlasted our opponents until they made an error,” Bulmahn said. “One of the nice things about the group we have now is they can play all the way around. They have good ball control, so they just out ball controlled the other team most of the time and add in a little firepower.”
The combination in addition to chemistry and consistency equated another 20-plus win campaign, which marked the sixth since Bulmahn took over the program.
The Marauders have won 24 or more matches five times, including 29 in 2015, but this season had its own set of adversities.
Losing the team’s primary setter, Victoria Bulmahn, Eric’s daughter, to graduation, Rylee Ugen was inserted into the lineup, and she kept the Marauders’ offense going with 11.9 kills per set and a hitting percentage at .229.
Senior leader Claire Ertel, a Florida Gulf Coast University commit, and Bulmahn’s youngest daughter, Cecilia, a junior, powered the offense with a combined 738 kills, but it was a collective effort, especially early on.
Ertel was forced to miss the beginning of the 2020 season due to COVID-19 contact tracing quarantine, which propelled juniors Tatum Fitzgerald and Delaney Bowser into the mix immediately.
Their contributions along with a strong junior core group of Macy Lyons, Ugen and others echoed the program’s culture. One that was initiated from Bulmahn’s first day.
Having his daughters, Jacyln, Victoria and Cecilia involved in the program through the years hasn’t hurt either, being both a father and a coach.
“It has it’s positives and it has it’s negatives. The positives is you know what influence they’re getting. You know the leadership and the example setting they’re getting, but the negatives are that you affiliated with the head coach and sometimes you get extra scrutiny,” Bulmahn said. “But, they learn to grow from that.”
So has Eric, after Jaclyn graduated in 2016, then Victoria in 2019 and now Cecilia, a soon-to-be senior, in 2021-22. The catalyst behind his development, he admits, has been his wife, and Marauders assistant coach, Monica, who played competitive volleyball at IUPUI.
Eric played at Ball State before becoming a club coach the past two-plus decades. He begin instructing with Circle City after serving as an assistant at Ball State under Don Shondell and he also officiates collegiate contests.
Coaching the high school level has been a progression, though, but a beneficial one for his family and the program with 171 wins compared to 54 losses in seven seasons.
“This year, I stayed seated during most of the matches. I didn’t get up unless I had something to instruct, so Monica is a good counterbalance and keeps me looking at it the right way and keeps encouraging the girls and reminds them of what they need to do as opposed to yelling at them for not doing something,” Eric Bulmahn said. “That coaching style worked best for this group for sure.”
They’re desire to be their best is a byproduct of offseason training and the example set by Bulmahn and his family. It’s a matter of maximizing talent, Bulmahn emphasizes, and letting the players do what they believe they can.
“Whenever you have your pin hitters that our outside and left side they can put a high ball up and let them do something with it. You’re at a huge advantage because even if you don’t pass the ball perfect, you can still get them something they can swing at,” Bulmahn said.
“It’s having players that want to continue to want to learn. Myself wanting to learn and constantly talking with college coaches or friends in the game, asking for input is important.”
Overcoming the program’s sectional roadblock in HHC rivals and multiple-state champion New Castle and Yorktown, among the other powerhouse programs in 4A, is a matter of the process inching the Marauders closer to their goal.
“It took me a little bit to learn how to coach the high school team. I’ve always done club where you have six months to work it out. High school, you have 10 days and here’s your first match and the season is over in eight weeks,” Bulmahn said. “So, if the players don’t train in the offseason, then you’re at a big disadvantage. Where this program has really come is that almost everyone plays club in the offseason.
“I guess the place we need to take the program is that we’re that team where people will say, oh, my gosh, we have to face Mt. Vernon.”
