Becoming a head coach is something that Patrick Hiltz has always wanted to do.

Nicholls State’s new volleyball coach has 18 years of experience, and he said he will integrate all of the coaches’ styles that he has worked with to develop his own.

“I’ve worked with a lot of different coaches, and every coach that you work with gives you an opportunity to learn a different way of doing things,” Hiltz said. “While doing that, I’ve developed my own style, and this is my opportunity to do my style to get things done.”

Hiltz described his style as entertaining. He said he believes that if it is all business and no fun, nobody will want to do it, so it is important to enjoy your time while working hard.

“I like to have fun,” Hiltz said. “You have to have fun in order to get through the dog days in August.”

Hiltz comes to Nicholls after spending the last year as an assistant at the University of Louisiana at Monroe under head coach Earnest Vasquez. Under Vasquez, Hiltz said he learned how to think outside of the box and will try to implement some of Vasquez’s strategies into his coaching style.

As for the team he inherits at Nicholls,  the club has eight seniors and accumulated 18 wins last season. Considering the success that the team had last season, Hiltz said he is not looking to make major changes to the team’s style.

“I’m not going to come in here and try and reinvent the wheel,” Hiltz said. “They had their most successful season last year since 2002. Why would I want to change a whole lot? If we can tweak a few areas and change the focus on a few areas, we should be fine. The biggest thing that I want to do is put the focus on defensive ball control.”

He said that inheriting eight seniors might be worrisome to most new coaches, but he said that he has talked to most of the seniors and thinks they will have good leadership and take what he is trying to sell them.

“I think that if they do, it’s going to be a system and style that works for them, and my goal is for them to have their most memorable season here,” Hiltz said.

Because Hiltz has coached at various clubs around the country, he said he has a lot of connections that will help him when it comes time to recruit. Hiltz has connections in California, Nevada, Arizona, Texas, Louisiana and Alabama.

He said he has a lot of contacts with junior colleges, but he would always take a freshman over junior college players because he can develop them for four years.

With his recent hire during the offseason, those contacts will come in handy as he begins to recruit for Nicholls.