Q&A with Jamie Davis, in his last week as CEO of USA Volleyball

Jamie Davis’s last day on the job as the CEO of USA Volleyball is Monday. 

His replacement will be announced this week.

Interestingly, after Davis announced he would not continue with USAV, the opportunity arose for him to take the same job with USA Water Polo. So he’ll moving from the courts to the pool in October.

Davis, 58, took over at USA Volleyball after the 2106 Rio Olympics, in January 2017, replacing Doug Beal. We caught up with Davis last week:

VBM: Thoughts about it as you wrap up?

Davis: I’m extremely proud of what the team has been able to accomplish over the last eight years. When I look back at the organization and I look at it now, I think it’s in a much healthier place and on really solid footing and I’m hopeful the next CEO will be able to build on this foundation to take it to even greater heights.

Our membership went from 339,000 members in 2016 to 435,000 members this past membership season. That’s up just over 30 percent. Over the two (Olympic) quads we won four golds, one silver and one bronze, we’re in the healthiest financial shape we’ve been in, we weathered COVID and came out stronger.

And, when you look at volleyball, the sport itself, in the United States, the sport is just booming. It’s just healthy across the board, the growth of the sport is continuing, we’ve got three pro leagues that are now going to be in the United States when LOVB launches in January as the third.

I’m just really proud of the work the whole team has done. It’s not me. It’s the whole team and I’m really proud of what we’ve been able accomplish.

VBM: You referenced COVID. That was a time when you had to do layoffs and firings and really pare back. That had to be hard.

Davis: COVID was the hardest thing I’ve had to address in my entire professional career. We did everything we could to not do what you just mentioned, to not have to lay off or furlough employees. We did it with complete transparency. 

What we did when COVID hit was we started monitoring our cash flow. It was all about cash flow at that point. Every week we would update the team on how we were doing on cash flow, and we were telling them, these are the things that we’re trying to keep and if this doesn’t happen, these are the consequences that might have we didn’t. No one knew what COVID was at that time, so we were hoping to be able to still get some of our championships off and our qualifiers off. 

But as the shutdown happened, and those (events) weren’t able to happen, a lot of our revenue and cash flow comes in from there. We got to a point when, unfortunately, it was, it was one of the worst things I ever had to do with my professional career. We made the decision that we did have to do some paring down, layoffs and some furloughing of employees,

VBM: You didn’t bring everybody back, but you’re able to bring some people back.

Davis: We weren’t able to bring everybody back, but in that process, we were able to restructure a little bit and possibly become more efficient in certain things we do, and we’ve continued to grow. And now our head count at USA volleyball is larger than it ever was before. Even pre-COVID. 

VBM: One of the things that happened while you you’ve been there has been the boys juniors have become disenchanted and a lot of them have gone over to AAU. What are your thoughts about that and how to how does USA volleyball get that back?

Davis: Boys has been a challenge for us. There’s no doubt about that, and it’s something that we’ve tried to tried to address and we’re going to continue to try to address. It is a priority for us, and it is not something that we are taking lightly. And we’ve tried to institute a bunch of new things, to be attracted to the boys clubs, to be able to bring them back, and we’ve made some progress in there, but I’m hopeful that we’ll continue, that the organization will continue to take it as a priority and continue to do more more things for the boys clubs and the boys athletes in order to try and attract them back.

VBM: What other things do you hope that the next CEO does to keep the momentum going and or addresses problem spots?

Davis: I hope the new CEO will come in with an open mind and listen to our constituent groups. One of the most important things I’ve tried to do throughout my entire time at USA volleyball is listen. Try to listen to our clubs, try to listen to our national teams, try to listen. And that means the coaches and the athletes, try to listen to our regions, try to listen to our board, and to take all of that in and then try to make the most informed decisions for the overall organization and the sport. 

And at times, you get conflicting opinions from different groups. If you think about it, every dollar you spend on one area that gets grassroots is a dollar you’re not spending on national teams. And everything you spend on national teams you are not spending on grassroots. So if you are from the one of those constituent groups, you’re not often happy when something is being done in the other area, because everyone would like more, and that’s human nature. 

So you really have to try and listen, look for trends, and ultimately make decisions that you believe, that the next CEO will believe. This is what I’ve tried to do. I hope the next CEO will do the same, make decisions that they believe will best benefit the organization, the sport, the athletes, the membership and all of our constituents.

VBM: Do you have any regrets, or are there any projects that you wish you’d been able to take on but just couldn’t because there wasn’t enough time or money or energy?

Davis: I regret the situation that has occurred with the boys. You mentioned them. I don’t think that was all from USA Volleyball, by any means. I think a lot of it actually started in a certain region and then kind of got some momentum. 

So it’s something that, as I mentioned earlier, I’m hopeful that the new CEO and the team will be able to rectify. But overall, if I look at the big picture, I’m very, very proud of everything that we’ve accomplished, because I believe that the plusses have far outweighed the negatives overall for the organization. 

And I believe in when you come in as a CEO, that you want to try and leave the leave the organization better than you found it. And I believe I’ve done that, and I also believe you want to leave it on a solid foundation, so the next leader can leave it better than they found it. And I’m hopeful and believing that that’s also the case.

VBM: I’ve teased you before that you wouldn’t know a water polo ball from a hockey puck, and when you took over this job, I might have teased you the same way and said you wouldn’t have known a volleyball from a hockey puck. And I know personally how big of a fan and aficionado of the sport you’ve become, and how much you care about the USA teams you’ve grown close to.

Davis: I came into the sport — very transparently — that while I had a business background completely in sports my entire career, but volleyball expertise was not part of my portfolio. 

I have grown to absolutely love the sport, embrace it, and am truly going to be a fan for life. I go into water polo with the exact same mentality. I went and watched four matches at the Paris Olympic Games, and was just energized by the excitement, the athleticism of the sport. 

I don’t come in as an expert, but hopefully I can come into water polo, bringing fresh eyes and fresh perspective like I did the volleyball, to be able to help work with the team there, to be able to grow the momentum that they have and have hopefully similar success that we’ve been able to achieve at volleyball.

VBM: And what a perfect note to end this with and post the picture of you and me watching an Olympic water polo match together in Paris:

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