Liz Hewitt retired in 2003 after 26 years as the head volleyball coach at Bend High.

But since then, she has not spent much time away from Lava Bear volleyball. When Kristin Cooper was hired as head coach in 2007, she called Hewitt to ask if she could help as an assistant. That was the start of a coaching relationship that has lasted more than 10 years and has been filled with lots of wins and lots of laughs.

Cooper and Hewitt helped lead Bend High to Class 5A state titles the past two years and are overseeing the program’s step up to 6A this season.

“It’s been great,” Hewitt says. “I can honestly say I wouldn’t have been here this long if it wasn’t for Kristin. We work well together … she’s just a fun person to work with and be with and I’ve watched her grow over the last 10 years. It’s been a great journey. Of course, two state championships, that was great to be a part of.”

Hewitt started out at Bend High in 1977 as an assistant volleyball coach and PE teacher. She moved up to head coach the following season and embarked on her long tenure.

She led the 1979 Lava Bear team to the consolation trophy at the state tournament, and the 1995 team was the undefeated champion of the Intermountain Conference.

“We had to go up against the Central Catholics, Barlow and Gresham …” Hewitt says. “You just knew you were really going to have to play out of your mind to beat those powerhouses.”

When Hewitt retired in 2003, she lasted about one year before returning to coach volleyball. A friend who was the vice principal at Bend’s Pilot Butte Middle School talked her into coaching the team there. That lasted for a couple of years before Cooper took over at Bend High and called Hewitt at the urging of then head football coach and later athletic director Craig Walker.

“It’s something I’ve done for so long, that it’s … I mean, I love it,” Hewitt says. “I love the coaching and the teaching. And it’s not like a full-time commitment. I come in about 2:15 or 2:30 (p.m.), so I have my whole morning. I can golf, play pickleball, and do all of that. So it works in just fine.”

Hewitt — who is originally from Hawaii and makes a point to visit friends and family there at least once a year — says she is not a complete volunteer and she gets a “slight payment” for her coaching. She says she is working on a “year-to-year” basis now, but she has decided every summer to return as an assistant coach.

The Bend High team this season features many new and unproven players after the program won the 2016 and 2017 state championships in 5A. Also, the competition figures to be stiffer in Class 6A. The Lava Bears are currently 10-3 overall and 5-2 in the Mountain Valley Conference, which includes Bend’s Mountain View and Summit high schools and five Salem-area schools.

“You get a group like this year, there’s a lot of new faces and it’s a different scenario,” Hewitt says. “I wanted to come back this year and work through it together.

“It’s fun and I couldn’t have asked for a better system to work in. (Cooper) just had to build the program back up and it’s just comfortable.”

Cooper is nearly moved to tears when she reflects on how supportive Hewitt has been during their time coaching together. She has leaned on Hewitt’s extensive experience as she has blossomed into a successful head coach in her own right, leading the Bears to championship heights while raising three kids, now ages 10, 7 and 4. (Cooper’s husband is Bend High head baseball coach and assistant football coach Kevin Cooper.)

Cooper says that often she will call or text Hewitt late at night for advice when issues arise.

“Liz is amazing,” Cooper says. “She’ll talk me through it, and she’ll tell me how she handled it. Sometimes I’ll take the same path and sometimes I’ll try my own way and no matter what I do she’s supportive of it. So it’s really nice to have somebody there that’s been through it all. She knows when to push me and she knows when I need my space. We have fun together, which makes it really easy. So I have the knowledge and the support, but we also have a great friendship. The girls (players) feel that and it makes the whole program come together.”

Hewitt is in charge of coaching serving for the Lava Bears, and Cooper says the veteran assistant has a calming influence on the players. She brings a welcome sense of humor when things get serious and players and Cooper start to feel pressure.

“When I get in that mode Liz will be there to make me laugh,” Cooper says. “The girls need to feel that relaxation. You play your best when you’re having fun, and you coach your best when you’re having fun. We have hand signals and things we do when we start feeling the pressure, and that relaxes us and relaxes the girls.”

Kim Sustare, a young assistant coach for the Lava Bears, says Hewitt offers much volleyball wisdom after more than 40 years of coaching the sport.

“She’ll see things way before they happen and know how to fix it,” Sustare says. “Every day I learn things from her.”

The bottom line, Hewitt says, is that she keeps returning to coach each year simply because she enjoys it.

“Kristin has put together a good staff, from freshman through JV, and we all have fun,” she says. “I think that makes it a lot easier for the girls to see how much fun we have.”

— Reporter: 541-383-0318,

mmorical@bendbulletin.com