In her 23 years, Kaycee Grochow spent no shortage of time around coaches.

Grochow, a Rugby native, now has a chance to be a head coach herself.

Bishop Ryan recently hired Grochow to lead its volleyball program, and she’s excited for the opportunity.

“I’m really excited,” she said. “I’ve been growing up around coaches my whole life. It’s nice to have that background.”

Grochow has six years of experience coaching volleyball, including the last four as an assistant at Ryan.

That familiarity should help with a team that has had three different coaches in the past four years.

“That’s nice,” Grochow said. “Especially for the girls, since there’s been such a high turnover. They already know me and how I operate.”

She inherits a team full of athletes, many of whom competed on the Lions state championship girls basketball team last winter.

“They’re very, very athletic,” Grochow said. “It’s always fun to work with good athletes.”

Grochow graduated from Rugby High School in 2007, and will graduate at Minot State in December with a degree in early childhood development and elementary education.

She also spent two years at Bismarck State College and coaching volleyball at Mandan Middle School.

Grochow said it will be strange when the Lions go up against her alma mater on the volleyball court.

Her father, Scott, is Rugby’s athletic director and coaches both football and track and field.

“It’ll be strange,” she said. “We really don’t ever see Rugby unless it’s at tournament time, but it’ll be strange.”

She said the Lions will be hard-working and team-oriented.

She pointed to Grand Forks Red River head coach Carolyn Olson and Thompson head coach Lisa Strand as two coaches she’s modeled her own style after.

“You just have to take one day at a time and learn from everything,” she said. “To have success, you have to help them out with everything. Not just volleyball, but life in general.”