With great success comes great opportunity and assistant volleyball coach Erin (Coach Mac) McClanahan is experiencing that first hand.  McClanahan has accepted the position of head volleyball coach at Prosper High School starting next year.

After three years and three state titles, McClanahan was presented with an opportunity that she decided she could not pass up.

“I found out about this position when their assistant superintendent contacted Ryan Mitchell (Leopard head volleyball coach) and then he contacted me and asked me if I was interested in the job,” McClanahan said. “So I initially heard it from him and after sleeping on it I decided that I was going to apply for it so that’s when I contacted Prosper.”

Mitchell, who brought Mac on as his assistant in 2009, knew immediately that she was a good choice for the position.

“Someone had emailed me and asked if I had any good people that I knew that would possibly be interested in that kind of job and so the first one that I thought of was Coach Mac,” Mitchell said. “She’s done a lot for this program and she’s ready to take on a program of her own if she wanted to and so I just sat down with her and we talked about the pros and cons and and I encouraged her to apply.”

After applying, McClanahan was soon contacted about an interview.  Several interviews later, she was offered the position.   McClanahan believes the opportunity would not have come about were it not for the success of the Leopard program.

“From what I was told, a lot of head coaches applied, collegiately and high school,” McClanahan said. “Winning says a lot whether you’re head coach or an assistant so I think having three consecutive state titles to my name helped me a lot.”

The program at Prosper, while it used to be comparable to the Leopard program, will present some challenges for Mac.

“Prosper’s volleyball program back when they were 3A they were consistently the second best team in 3A,” Mac said. “Unfortunately they met Lovejoy in the Regionals. This past year in 4A they didn’t make the transition quite as successfully as we did. They went 21-18 overall but unfortunately they went 5-9 in district. Two of the top 4A teams in the state, Frisco Centennial and Frisco High are in their district but I do think that I have an advantage because this past year we played both of those teams in Regionals so I do know ways to beat them.”

With so much of her own success, McClanahan has faith that with what Mitchell has taught her and the experiences that she has had, she can be successful at Prosper.

“Ryan Mitchell has been a huge mentor to me. In addition to winning three state titles, he basically taught me everything that I know and I know that I’m going to take a lot of things that he’s done here at Lovejoy and implement them at Prosper,” McClanahan said. “I do know that at Prosper I have the ability to take them to places they’ve never been before but I know that if or when we reach those goals that I will owe all of that to Ryan Mitchell and the staff and the admin here at Lovejoy.”

The sentiment McClanahan feels towards this school and the Leopard program is reciprocated by her colleagues, students, and players.

“I’m really sad she’s leaving because she is such an asset to the program but I’m so happy for her getting to coach her own program at Prosper,” junior volleyball player Molly Lacey said. “But it’s going to be such a great experience for her and I’m just very happy for her.”

And while Mitchell is losing a key assistant from his staff, he knows it is time for McClanahan to take over her own program.

“I mean we’re obviously going to miss Coach Mac she’s been here for three years and we’ve won three state titles in the last three years,” Mitchell said.  “She’s brought a lot of really good knowledge of offense and offensive systems and she’s really good at building relationships with the team and so she was a good counterbalance to me and we worked really well together so that’s really going to be missed.  But I’m excited for the opportunity for her to take what she’s learned here and then also do some of her own stuff in Prosper. I just think that when you get someone like Erin who’s so talented she’s going to be hugely missed. I know a lot of the girls are sad and I’m sad as a coach but I’m also really happy and excited for her. It’s a big step in her career and opportunity for her to make her own name for herself. I’m happy for her.”