STARKVILLE — Starkville High School volleyball will have a new face at the helm next season.
On Wednesday, the school introduced Meghan Mullane as the Yellow Jackets’ next head coach.
Athletic director Greg Owen spoke highly of Mullane during his opening remarks, talking about what seemed to be a fully comprehensive search process to fill the role.
This season’s head coach, Haley Maughan, was with the team for one season before not returning for the 2023 campaign, so the focus of this search was not only to find a qualified candidate but someone for the long term.
“We’ve talked about that, about it being a commitment to sustained success,” Owen said. “That’s what we’re looking for, so our hope and confidence is that this is not a bridge, but this is someone that will be here and invest in our program and in the community.”
Mullane comes into the Jackets program with experience — not just coaching in the sport but playing at a competitive level through high school.
Currently in Jackson with her husband, which will be short term as the family will be settling in the area in the coming months, Mullane is making the trek to Starkville from Houston, where she most recently coached at Stratford High School in the Houston metropolitan region.
She brings college athletics experience with her, as she was a four-year starter in softball at West Texas A&M.
Mullane also played softball through high school and coached softball at Stratford. Her choice in coming to Starkville was an easy one. Not only did her sister attend Mississippi State and enjoy the region, but everyone she’s talked to has spoken highly of the area.
“I’m so excited,” Mullane said. “I’ve heard nothing but wonderful things about Starkville in general, but Starkville High School particularly. I don’t think anyone has said anything other than that it’s one of the best public schools in the state.
“The opportunity to be at Starkville along with the opportunity to coach volleyball, something that’s a huge sport in women’s athletics, to bring some of the excitement that I have for the sport to the area, it’s an unbelievable opportunity.”
The Jackets have fallen short in the MHSAA playoffs in the past, unable to break through and compete against some of the best teams in Class 6A.
Mullane will be tasked to change that, and in her six years coaching at Stratford, she was able to see great growth, something she hopes to translate over to the Jackets.
“I was able to work with two programs, softball and volleyball, and both of those programs were in a transitional period,” Mullane said. “By the time we took over, the girls needed some new energy, new life breathed into them.
“Last year when I watched them, they were area finalists, and they didn’t even get to the playoffs the first two years we were coaching.”
Once fully settled in Starkville, Mullane will get on the ground running and start putting the pieces together for Starkville as a new era of Jacket volleyball has begun.
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