When thinking about success as a coach, some immediate names pop into my head; for example Bill Belichick of the New England Patriots, or of course the great Vince Lombardi.

Both are great names in football, but after considering the dominant season of the El Camino women’s volleyball team, I looked back at all the success it has had and I have come to the conclusion that coach Le Valley Pattison is the Belichick of EC coaching.

I find Pattison’s success and composure on the sideline to be very Belichick-esque; add to the fact that she brought a state title to EC as a player and coach, and you get one of the greatest volleyball coaches to do it.

2014 was Pattison’s 24th season as coach and she had 14 conference championship titles under her belt at the time, according to the EC website.

Since then, she has added two undefeated-seasons in the South Coast Conference and her current overall record is 454-130, with the 2015 playoffs still to come.

Pattison is one of the many great EC coaches to bring state and conference titles to the sports here at the college; with big names like John Featherstone (football coach), Corey Stanbury (water polo/swim coach), Sharkie Zartman (previous volleyball coach) and more.

The way she handles the team when it plays is incredibly soothing to watch because even when the ladies in blue and white struggle to close out sets there’s never a sideline panic.

It’s a fact that the cool, calm and collected Pattison sits on her chair and waits to see if her squad needs to regroup; expecting that most of the time her team will end things themselves.

Pattison’s names will forever be in the history books of EC sports and her achievements as a player and coach will be talked about years after she departs.

With one last thing, I will say that the strength of the current team’s freshmen, the coaching staff and eventually future recruits – I’m calling it now – by 2017 she will amass 500 total wins as a coach.