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behind the scenes DIRECTOR OF WOMEN'S BASKETBALL OPERATIONS SARAH HOLSINGER Growing up just 90 minutes from U-Hall in Luray, Va., the daughter of a basketball coach, first-year director of women's basketball operations Sarah Holsinger always wanted to be a Wahoo. She never imagined the trip would take 5,600 miles. But when Joanne Boyle left Cal Berkeley to accept the head coaching position at Virginia, she asked Holsinger to join her in Charlottesville. "With the family being so close, it blows my mind that of all the jobs Coach Boyle takes it's Vir- ginia," Holsinger said. "I've been a diehard Virginia fan since I was a little girl, so it was a different in- vestment for me in this job. I had always dreamed of coming to school and playing basketball here. UVa was my school." In her role as director of operations, Holsinger has a full-time job serving as travel agent, admin- istrator and general manager, according to Boyle. "Sarah says to me that her job is to make my job easier, and that's exactly what she does," Boyle said. "She's been with me for six years and she takes everything other than X's and O's off my plate. "She's got great vision; being in the business for six years she anticipates everything com- ing down the road, from scheduling to travel to camps to my calendar. She is always two steps ahead." The job entails lots of late nights and week- ends, with the primary focus to take care of the behind-the-scenes minutia, allowing the staff to focus on coaching and recruiting. "The DBO [director of operations] handles the budget, team travel, hotels, flights and meals, works with our equipment manager and Nike with ordering and issuing gear, summer camp director, supervises a group of 10 team manag- ers, and serves as a liaison between the other departments like marketing, compliance and the ticket office," Holsinger noted. Holsinger got her start in operations at JMU in 2003 where she worked with Virginia assistant coach Kim McNeill. When McNeill moved from the University of Richmond with Boyle to the Pac-10 in 2005, she recommended Holsinger for the director of operations position. "I went out there thinking I'd be there a year or two and head back east and use this as a step- ping stone, and two years turned in six," she said. "I'll never forget; it was Friday the 13th of May 2005. I have vivid memories of that plane trip out there with my one-way ticket thinking, 'What have I done?' "For me it was absolutely life-changing. It was probably the best thing I could have ever done. I think I had been on a plane two times before I went out to Cal. Growing up, small-town girl, we hopped in a van and went to the Outer Banks and that was our vacation. There was no flying for the Holsinger family." For many, the decision to return to her home state, close to her parents who still live in Luray, may seem simple. It wasn't for Holsinger. Her father, Jamie, advised her to take the emotion out of the decision. "It was pretty black and white what I needed Holsinger, a native of Luray, Va., has a full-time job serving as travel agent, adminis- trator and general manager. PHOTO BY ANDREW SHURTLEFF 10 ◆ CAVALIER CORNER to do for my career," Holsinger said. "It was bit- tersweet because I had really grown to love the West Coast, and after being out there six years and not having any family out there, my friends became my family, so it was a harder decision than I thought it would be." But for Holsinger, she's now where she always expected to be. — Greg Waters