Ray Bechard can still remember the phone call 27 years later.

The voice on the other end of the line belonged to Terry Marshall, the superintendent of Lewis High School. Marshall had a question for his newly-hired men’s basketball coach.

“Ray, would you ever consider helping out the volleyball program?” Marshall asked.

“Umm, probably not,” Bechard remembers saying.

“Well, hey think about it,” Marshall said.

Not to be deterred, Marshall called Bechard back a week later.

“Ray,” Marshall said, “I really need you to do this.”

“Well,” Bechard remembers saying, “What do you mean by help out?”

“I need you to be the head coach,” Marshall said.

“You know you’re talking to a guy with no experience in volleyball.” Bechard said.

“I understand,” Marshall said.

That’s how Ray Bechard became Coach Ray Bechard in the fall of 1980. Fast-forward through three coaching jobs, a bevy of accolades and 868 career wins, and it’s beginning to look like Bechard made the right decision.

Bechard has spent nearly three decades coaching, teaching and molding young people. It’s a job that requires a life-time of riding buses, watching film and sacrificing sleep, all while adhering to the coaches code that says the glory always goes to the players.

It’s not surprising to find out that after a career filled with milestones Bechard’s finest one to date happened with little fanfare. On Saturday, Sept. 1, in front small crowd inside Jenison Fieldhouse in East Lansing, Mich., Bechard etched his named into the Kansas volleyball record books. After a 3-1 victory against Missouri State, Bechard notched his 151st career victory at Kansas. He passed former coach Frankie Albitz for the most career wins by a Kansas volleyball coach. Not bad for a guy who wasn’t interested in coaching volleyball.

Growing Up Grinnell

Travel 300 miles west of Lawrence past Topeka, Salina, Russell and Hays and you will run in to Grinnell. With its rural background and population close to 400, Grinnell has always been more of a K-State town. Except for the Bechard family.

“I got in to some scuffles growing up because of that whole thing,” Bechard said, “But we all grew up loving the Jayhawks.”

Bechard was the fifth child in a family with seven kids. He didn’t have to travel very far tp polish his developing athletic talents.

“We lived in a small three bedroom house, so there was always competition before you got out of the house.”

Bechard could walk outside and play baseball in the summer with the neighborhood kids. In the fall Bechard played football. In the winter he had basketball and spring brought track season.

“Even though the town was small there was always a baseball game in summer and the gym was always open.” Bechard said. “There was always an opportunity to play something.”

Bechard’s skills earned him a spot on the basketball team at Barton County Community College in Great Bend. After two years on the team, he headed to Ft. Hays State University. Bechard earned a master’s degree in Physical Education.

Back To Barton

It didn’t take long for Bechard to have success at Lewis High School. The volleyball team won a pair of conference titles during his first three seasons. In 1983 he left Lewis High School to return to Barton County as an assistant women’s basketball coach. Bechard’s volleyball career was put on hold.

Two years later the phone rang again. The head volleyball coaching job at Barton County was available. Bechard was wanted for the job.

“Both jobs that got me started, I kind of fell into a little bit,” Bechard said.

Bechard’s record at Barton County is astonishing even today. In 13 seasons Bechard posted a 716-60 record with 12 top-five finishes at the National tournament.

Bechard still has a tough time wrapping his head around the numbers. “We just got kids that were very competitive, mostly from western Kansas, who grew up with good work ethics,” Bechard said.

Dana Foss, assistant athletic director at Barton County since 1975, remembered the buzz that Bechard brought to Barton County.

“We had great crowds,” Foss said. “And when his teams went to nationals, the whole Barton community would be glued to the radio.”

When Bechard left Barton County to take the head coaching job at Kansas in 1998, Foss said there was a definite sense of sadness in the community.

“He was a real joy to be around,” Foss said, “Whether it was in the classroom setting while he was teaching or on the court at practice.”

Landing In Lawrence

Ask Bechard whether the decision to leave Barton County for Kansas was a difficult one and he won’t take long to answer.

“It wasn’t,” he said. “But it was a difficult decision emotionally for our family because we lived in the community for 15 years.” Bechard said he had already decided before the interview that if he got the job he’d take it.

Bechard’s tenure at Kansas has a long list of benchmarks. In 2003, his sixth year at Kansas, Bechard notched his 800th career victory and his 100th at Kansas. The program reached NCAA tournament for the first time ever. Kansas finished 2003 with 22 victories and upset perennial power Long Beach State in the first round. Kansas returned to the NCAA tournament in 2004 and 2005. In 2004 the team came within a point of beating Washington to advance to the Sweet 16.

Kansas missed the tournament last season and Bechard suffered his second losing season last year when the team finished 10-19.

“I want to get this program to where it’s respected nationally,” Bechard said. “So we’re a consistent program in the upper echelon of, not just the Big 12, but the NCAA tournament.”

Junior middle blocker Natalie Uhart has seen a lot of different coaches throughout the years. Uhart, a Lansing native, began her career at Long Beach State before transferring to Kansas for the 2006 season.

“There are a lot of times when your coach is just your coach, and you don’t really go in talk to him about anything else.” Uhart said. “I can go into his office and I can bother him, act like his kid sometimes. He has a positive outlook on everything.”

Bechard’s recent milestone is not only a credit to coaching talents but to his outstanding longevity as well. Bechard is firmly into his 10th season at Kansas and it doesn’t seem like a stretch to imagine Bechard as the coach program ten years from now.

“I’m amazed that it’s been that many years already, I don’t feel that old,” Bechard said. “But I know we’ve done it the right away with kids who have had a great balance of athletics. We’ve been fortunate to win more matches than maybe previous teams have.”