Being on a bench is no stranger to Tyler Cleveland. After all, the former Stoughton athlete spent last year as an assistant boys' varsity basketball coach and freshman co-coach at Madison East High School, and also the head coach of the Vikings' freshman volleyball squad.
He'll now take his spot at the front of that bench after being named as the head coach for the boys varsity volleyball team for the Purgolders.
"I was pretty excited," Cleveland said after his appointment. "I've been looking forward to doing it for a couple months."
A self-proclaimed novice at the sport of volleyball, Cleveland is taking his cues from a pair of coaches he has tutored under, including his father Rich, who has been the head boys basketball coach at Madison East for 20 years. As the freshman volleyball coach at Stoughton, he also worked under longtime Vikings head coach Kim Monsen.
Sitting next to his father on the Purgolders bench last season also helped Tyler get a feel for how to handle himself when he got his chance to be in the lead role this year.
"After watching him for about 10 years that I can remember, just his teaching aspect of the game," Tyler said of his father. "He finds things that are wrong and he corrects them. He's not going to be a guy who screams at a player on the floor, he brings them over and talks to them and corrects it.
"That's kind of how I was this last year. Just his overall approach to the game is what I'm looking for."
Cleveland takes over for a squad that has struggled in recent years, but he is excited to help mold this team and possibly bring a level of respect to the Purgolders spikers.
"It hasn't been the best of things over last five or six years, I figured I'd take it and there's nothing to lose," he said. "I want to turn it around over the next year or two. Building up the program - that's pretty much my goal."
That's a tall task for the soon-to-be 20-year-old college student, who is attending Madison Area Technical College and plans to attend the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater to pursue an education degree and continue to grow as a prep coach.
"Coaching and teaching have been what I wanted to do for a while," Cleveland said.
His youth may give him a bit of an advantage when dealing with the adolescent athletes that will be in his charge next season.
"I can relate to most of what they're all going through," he said. "They have questions - it kind of feels good that they can come to me and talk to me, and I understand what they're saying and going through."
Cleveland was a two-year starter for the Stoughton boys basketball team. He's now ready for this next step in his young career.
"This is what I want to do in my future; I want to be coach, I have for a long time," he said.
