Building Champions: Coach Tullis, Slidell High, and the Pursuit of Volleyball Greatness

by: Mike Strom // GeauxPreps.com Contributor

There are no official Philosophy or Psychology classes listed on the Slidell High School curriculum next to Danny Tullis’ name.

But enter the school gymnasium on any given summer or fall day and prepare yourself for Professor Danny Tullis, better known for his exploits as a future Louisiana High School Athletic Association Hall of Fame volleyball coach who now directs the Lady Tigers.

“I have a phrase that I tell (our players) all of the time,’’ Tullis, a six-time state champion, said Monday. “‘Losers make excuses and winners make plays.’

“So we’ve got to learn to be the type of player that’s going to make plays and not make excuses for the plays that I don’t make.’’

The Lady Tigers apparently have been a quick study.

Currently ranked No. 1 for the first time in the GeauxPreps and Louisiana High School Athletic Association Division I power ratings, Slidell actually began this ascent last season during Tullis’ arrival from Pope John Paul II High School where this 51-year-old volleyball lifer spent a decade directing the Lady Jaguars to five state championships along with two other appearances in the finals.

Prior to Pope John Paul II, Tullis spent seven eye-catching seasons at Fontainebleau High School, his first major high school coaching stop, where he guided the west St. Tammany Parish program to its first Division I state championship in 2011 in addition to two other trips to the state finals.

For those not keeping score, those totals collectively read as six state championships and four state runner-up finishes in 17 seasons.

Add to that last season’s Division I state semifinals appearance by the Lady Tigers, in their maiden voyage under Tullis no less, and a clear picture of Volleyball Whisperer emerges.

“I tell the kids, you can come up with an excuse or a reason for everything that goes wrong,’’ Tullis said. “As an athlete, especially a volleyball player, if you learn to take the gray area out of it and you understand it doesn’t matter why, it doesn’t matter why we forgot to do this, it doesn’t matter why we didn’t win this point. All that matters is that we didn’t. So that when you don’t, you lose.’’

The Lady Tigers are taking heed to their new mentor, who also owns nine USA Volleyball national championships at the club level, including eight won coaching girls and one coaching boys. Tullis has been playing, coaching, and/or officiating volleyball since age 16, 36 years in all.

“I think that (Coach Tullis) has brought a lot of positivity (to the program) and he’s shown us that we can really be like that team that wins state and goes far,’’ Slidell junior setter Ava Labat said. “I think he’s brought a whole bunch of volleyball knowledge and intellect that we were lacking before because we have the same exact team as we had before.”

“You can really see the big difference from the coaching and all of the stuff that he does for us to help our team and all of the players. He truly cares about the players and he’ll do anything for us. I think we all know that.

“He knows the game of volleyball (so) well. He teaches it very well. We’ll go over things. He just coaches us so well and he’s such a great person who cares about the whole team.’’

“Volleyball is my passion,’’ Tullis said unabashedly. “I live for two things. I live for my family and volleyball. God, family, volleyball is what (the priorities are) in our house. So if you get me started talking about volleyball, I can talk to you for weeks. I just love it.”

“I think it’s such a great sport. It’s been very, very good to me. In my family, when I grew up, we didn’t have a lot of money or anything like that. Volleyball kind of saved me in the fact that it helped me decide what I wanted to be. It helped me be a better person and get the job that I have and the profession I have.”

“The guy that inspired me was a teacher and my junior high volleyball coach. Volleyball has done nothing but opens doors for me. (So) volleyball has been really, really good to me.’’

Tullis, in turn, has become one of volleyball’s top ambassadors.

The Lady Tigers, in turn, have ascended into a budding state power as evidenced by their stirring 25-21, 28-30, 25-22, 25-15 non-district match victory against four-time reigning Division I state champion Dominican on Tuesday at the Slidell gym,

The Lady Tigers are riding a seven-match winning streak following an 11-0 start entering Tuesday’s Dominican match in Slidell. The lone loss occurred last week on the road at Division I state finalist Mount Carmel where the scrappy Lady Tigers fell in highly competitive straight sets, 25-23, 25-17, 25-18. Mount Carmel is ranked No. 2 in the current LHSAA Division I power ratings behind Slidell while Dominican is No. 6.

“We’ve done really well,’’ Tullis said prior to the Dominican match of a season in which the Lady Tigers have overcome a series of nagging, minor injuries to five starters. “It’s hard to sneeze at 18-1 and we’ve got some really good wins. We’ve got some significant teams on our schedule that we’ve beaten. (But) we really, really want to pick up a signature (Class) 5A win against Dominican or Mount Carmel or somebody like that. Or even Country Day, a small school, but still a dominant program.

“We’ve got Dominican coming in and even though it’s during the regular season, I think getting a win against a team like that will give my kids a little more belief, which, I think, is the only thing we need. I think if they just believe in themselves, it’ll help them play more focused when they play.

“It’s not a necessity where if you don’t (win) you can’t possibly do anything else, but it would be very helpful going into the playoffs to have a win over one of those dominant programs.’’

Which brings the Lady Tigers back into Volleyball Philosophy 101 territory.

“It’s kind of like a team mentality,’’ Tullis said. “Everybody has to do everything that they can possibly do in order for us to reach our goal, which is to win the state championship.”

“At my school, it’s hard to really establish an identity set in two years. So the mindset that I’m trying to get established is that we play every single point and every single rally – and don’t just try to win the game – (but) try to win every single point that you’re involved in. That requires a heightened focus in order for you to do that. Sometimes we have it and sometimes we don’t.”

“When we played Mount Carmel, we definitely didn’t have the amount of focus it takes to beat a team like that. I’m not saying that we should have beat them. I’m just saying we did not have our best game. Now there were other times that we did not have our best game, but we were able to sneak by with it because we weren’t playing against (a team as good as) Mount Carmel.

“So if you’re playing one of the top teams in the state, you better be all dialed in. Which tomorrow we’ll be doing the same thing playing Dominican which is another of the top teams in the state.’’

The good news is that, in Tullis’ opinion, the Lady Tigers have all of the right stuff necessary for such a transition. In fact, it’s already happening.

“Even though Slidell hasn’t always been there (among the state elites) and these girls are experiencing this for the first time, we are absolutely capable,’’ Tullis said. “We have the talent. We have the capability. A lot of times we have the focus. It’s just (about) learning . . .  learning that every play I’m involved in, there’s things that I can do that can make me better. There’s things I can do that can make my teammates better. So it’s a I’m-all-in-for-everyone-and-not-for-myself mentality.”

“So what can I do to make the team better? Maybe it’s I don’t touch the ball. I always tell (the players) that great players affect the game without touching the ball. You can communicate. You can provide not only information about the other team but information about your team.”

“Like, hey, I’m going to get this, you get that. Hey, block this, so I can defend this. There’s all these things you can do as well as just being encouraging to your teammate and not being someone who pulls your teammate down. Be someone who pulls your teammate up.”

“I tell them all of the time, when y’all do something wrong, I’m going to get you. So you don’t need to get each other. You need to support each other while I’m getting on you for not doing what you’re supposed to do.”

“Sometimes, I think, that is harder for young kids. They tend to just flow with the mood that is happening at the moment instead of setting the mood themselves. So we’re trying to learn how to set the mood and be that player that affects the most important stuff, always being dialed in psychologically. And that makes the physical game so much better.’’

“(Coach Tullis) tells us to be successful that we need to have consistency,’’ Labat, the team’s quarterback at setter, said. “We need to have discipline and we need to have like maximum effort all of the time. I feel like I struggle with that and our players struggle with that.”

“(Coach) also preaches about positive attitudes and energy. Once we don’t have good energy and we like lose some points and we don’t have a positive attitude, that can like shift the whole entire way that the game feels and the whole mentality of the players.”

“But I think that he really preaches (doing things the right way) really well and I feel like it’s starting to stick in our heads and we know what we have to do.’’

Labat, a 5-foot-7 junior, is among eight Lady Tigers who started during last season’s 35-6 run to the Division I semifinals that ended with a loss to eventual champion Dominican. The Lady Tigers were a No. 4 seed following a breakthrough 32-5 regular season.

“It was kind of like an uphill climb,’’ Tullis said of the first season in 2023. “We were learning every day, what we needed to do, how we needed to do it. We got better and better and better as the season went on and I think we surprised some people at state.’’

“It was a really great experience,’’ Labat, the junior setter, said. “Slidell High had not been past the quarterfinals or reached the semifinals in a long time. It was a great experience because none of the girls on our team have ever been that far in volleyball before for a school. I think that we learned a lot from it.

“The pressure was on us and I feel like people really underestimated us when we played Dominican (in the semifinals). But we tried our best. Like in the first set, we didn’t do that well, but then we showed up and showed what we could do in being there.’’

Outside hitters Reagan Robinson (5-7, Sr.) and Demoni Lewis (5-8, Sr.), middle hitter Ava Barduca (5-10, Jr.), right side hitter Addyson Dowell (5-11, Jr.) and libero Emma Kate “E.K.’’ Spilling (5-5, Jr.) join Labat as the full-time returning starters while middle hitter Caylin Bergeron (5-9, Jr.) and defensive specialist Justice Kingston (4-11, Sr.) are the other Lady Tigers boasting starting experience.

Setter/serving specialist Callie Ezell (5-6, Sr.) and defensive specialist Caylee McGovern (5-6, Sr.) complete a potential 10-player rotation.

Labat leads the Lady Tigers with 495 assists while Barduca is tops with 153 kills and 30 blocks and Robinson ranks first with 213 digs and 16 aces. Labat also has 96 digs, 20 blocks, and 13 aces and Robinson has 80 kills and 17 assists.

Lewis ranks second on the team with 147 kills and 15 aces and third with 111 digs. Spilling ranks second with 132 digs and is tied for third with 13 aces while Bergeron ranks second with 27 blocks. Dowell has 72 kills and 19 blocks. Kingston has 83 digs and is tied with Spilling, Labat, and Ezell with 13 aces apiece. Ezell also has 16 assists.

“We control the ball really well,’’ Tullis, now 53-7 in two seasons at Slidell, said. “We’ve played at a high level. We’re not a big team. Nobody’s over 6-foot tall, so it’s all about ball control for us. Our focus all of the time is about passing, controlling the ball, serving well. We’ve got to serve accurately and aggressively.

“I thought when we played Mount Carmel, I felt like serving was our weakest aspect that day and passing, which usually are our strengths. So we need to get a little bit better at blocking and (merging) the conjunction of blocking and defense, like the coordination of those two things, like they are together.

“Like we block a certain way to force a ball a certain way to defend a certain way. Well, with teams like Mount Carmel, Dominican, Country Day, Hannan, and St. Thomas More, they run quick systematic stuff and make it difficult to decipher. So it isn’t just about, ‘I’m going to stand right here every time.’ You’ve got to kind of read a little bit and get a feeling and an understanding of where you’re going.

“Because a lot of my girls don’t have a lot of high-level club experience the way those (other) girls do, it gets harder. So we had to use the season last year to learn that stuff and the season this year to try to remind them a little bit.

“If I’m being honest, I think some of the injuries we had earlier made it difficult. There were days when kids weren’t even practicing. We were just trying to keep them healthy enough to play in the games.
“For us, if we control the ball and we serve the ball accurately and aggressively and consistently, I think we have a chance. Because a lot of your success in volleyball has to do with how well you can take the other team out of their system, which is absolutely done by serving accurately.

“If you just serve it easy right to the libero or right to the best passer on the other team, you’re going to be in trouble. You’re not going to have a lot of success.

Honing the ability to serve and receive are Tullis’s basic tenets.

“That’s my thing all of the time, win the ball, control battles,’’ Tullis said. “Serve the ball well and receive the ball well, and you can win any match you ever play. Break down in those two things and you’re going to be in trouble.

“Like, for instance, for lack of a better explanation, if you’re really big, you don’t have to control the ball as well as somebody who’s really small. Because sometimes if you’re a big team or a big jumping team with big, strong hitters, you just give that hitter the ball and the other team can’t do anything about it. And that’s just it.

“Well, when you’re not big like that, if the other team knows exactly where the ball is going to be, your chances of being successful are not very high. So the better you block, then the less you have to defend. The better you attack, the less balls they get up in the air when they’re playing defense, and the less time you actually have to defend.

“So not being big, we’ve got to be better. And that’s been the staple of a lot of teams in Louisiana. If you just really, really work on serving the ball and controlling the ball and having discipline, and, like I said earlier, not trying to win the game, not trying to win the set, not trying to win the match, (but) try to win every point that you play. If you learn to play with that focus, it’s just different. It just makes it so much harder to beat you.

“Also,’’ Tullis adds, “cutting down on unforced errors. We need to cut that down a little bit. We’re still committing a few too many errors that aren’t forced by the other team. Like attacking (the ball) in the net or out of bounds or just like shanking an easy pass. We’re still having little hiccups here and there psychologically that we don’t need.’’

But there still are plenty of positives to which to point as the Lady Tigers begin pursuit of the District 6-I championship they shared last season with Mandeville and Fontainebleau.

Slidell opens league play at Northshore at 5:30 p.m. on Oct. 10 following the non-district home matches versus Dominican and Pearl River this week on Tuesday and Thursday respectively and an Oct. 8 road trip to Country Day.

Tullis is in a much better place personally as he has learned to accept the tragic loss of his son Christian to an automobile accident two years ago on Nov. 11. The timing of the younger Tullis’ death coincided with Pope John Paul II’s advance to the 2022 state volleyball tournament where the Lady Jaguars had just advanced to the finals earlier in the same evening.

This epic tale of triumph followed by tragedy devastated the entire Tullis family, Danny and wife Diana, daughters Ansley and Ali, and younger brother Collin.

Ansley and Ali played for their coaching parents Danny and Diana at Pope John Paul II, have played collegiately, and now coach the sport. Ansley is an assistant at Pope John Paul II and Ali is an assistant under her father at Slidell High.

“We have been trying everything in our power all year to get to this point,’’ Tullis said after Slidell defeated Sam Houston in the 2023 state quarterfinals at the UL Cajundome to advance to semifinals. “And (the Cajundome) is the last place I saw Christian alive last year, in the stands, on this court.

“But the support I’ve gotten – like (from) Pope (John Paul II people) coming back to watch (Slidell play a state quarterfinal) – and the support of the coaches has been amazing. It helped me learn that (volleyball is) just a game and that life happens around the game.’’

Christian Tullis’ death also resulted in his father’s exit from Pope John Paul II where constant visual reminders of where his son attended school and played sports proved to be more consequential than Danny and Diana were prepared to handle.

As timing in life would have it, the Tullis’ departure from Pope John Paul II was followed by the volleyball coaching vacancy at Slidell High.

“I left Pope John Paul because my 16-year-old son (Christian) got into a fatal car accident,’’ Tullis said Monday. “He got in an accident on the way home from the (state) semifinals that we were playing. He went to his girlfriend’s house for a little while and then he got into an accident on the way home from her house. It sucks. But it is what it is, you know.’’

Danny and Diana Tullis and their remaining children grow stronger with each passing day, buoyed by their new Slidell High family led by Principal Larry Favre and a host of others.

“My principal, Larry Favre, he is amazing. He is an amazing principal to work for,’’ Tullis said. “My school, my assistants, and all of the kids, football, basketball, baseball, softball, soccer, everybody has been incredibly supportive, because it has been really, really good.’’

The Lady Tigers are learning and have come to embrace a family-first approach as well.

“I think that (the players are) really close and I also feel like that really helps us on the court with our team chemistry,’’ Labat said. “We’re a team that we talk with each other. We’ll go places together. And I really feel like that we all just trust each other.”

“We just try to include everybody. We have team dinners. We always have little get-togethers for our team and I feel like that can help us be a better team on the court and better friends off of the court.’’

Which ultimately is hoped, if not expected, to translate into a brighter bigger picture. 

“I just feel like (people) should know that we’re coming,’’ Labat said. “We’re one of the better teams in the state now and we’re really coming in hot to win the state championship.’’