Sports
Former Airport star coming home to coach volleyball at alma mater
CARLETON — Janelle Nagy is coming home for her first job as a varsity volleyball coach.
After being named to replace Stephanie Miller as the head coach at Airport — her alma mater — Nagy immediately reached out to her former coach for help.
Barb Munch-Kohn, the most successful coach in school history, is coming on board as Nagy’s assistant.
“It’s great to be able to keep learning from her,” Nagy said. “She is a great person and has a lot of knowledge and experience. I learn something from her every day.”
Nagy was a three-time All-Region selection at Airport, graduating in 2012.
She went on to play college volleyball for three and a half seasons at Lake Superior State before finishing her career at Minot State in North Dakota.
She finished her final semester doing field work in Detroit for a degree in special education.
After graduation, she landed a job with the Monroe County Intermediate School District and was assigned to work at Airport.
“I knew coming back home that I wanted to get involved in the sports community,” she said. “Luckily, I landed in the Airport District.”
She loves her job.
“It’s hard work, but rewarding,” Nagy said.
After three years of coaching the junior varsity team at Airport, Nagy applied for the varsity job when Miller left after last season.
The school was happy to welcome her back.
“Coach Nagy has been a part of the Airport volleyball program in many capacities,” Airport athletic director Matt Beaudry. “She brings a tremendous commitment, knowledge, and passion to continue the history, tradition, and success of the Airport volleyball program. I look forward to watching Coach Nagy guide our volleyball program for many years to come.”
Being in the program has given Nagy a lot of insight into the team and the athletes.
“We’ve been a little more towards the bottom of the league,” she said. “We will be a rebuilding team, but she (Miller) definitely left me something to build off.
“We will have about nine seniors and eight juniors. There will be a lot of talent and a lot of potential.”
Airport’s run to the state softball semifinals this spring without a senior on the roster showed the kind of athletes Nagy will have available.
“I really want to see this team build and succeed,” she said. “We will work on our volleyball IQ and mental focus.”
Nagy hopes to replicate the kind of the success she enjoyed at Airport with Munch-Kohn as her coach.
“We won three Huron League and three Class B regional titles,” she said of her career. “We were 39-12-1 my senior year and lost in the state quarterfinals.
“I want these girls to experience that and see what it’s like when the gym is packed.”
In addition to Munch-Kohn, Nagy will draw on another big name from the school’s rich volleyball tradition.
“My sister Jessica (Romine) is moving back from Arkansas,” she said. “She’s a nurse so I don’t know if she will be there all the time, but she is going to help me.”