Interview with Lynn Luna
This interview was conducted with Lynn Luna, one of Libby Johnson's players in volleyball and basketball. Luna later came back to Trinity, this time as a coach, and took over the women's volleyball and basketball program after Johnson's retirement. As a player, Luna was captain of the volleyball team where she received several awards including being chosen for the TIAA-All Conference first team in volleyball, TIAA-All Conference second team in basketball, and MVP in both volleyball and track (Trinitonian, 1980, p.10).
When asked about how Luna felt about Coach Johnson, she responded by saying that "she was an absolutely fantastic coach. She wasn't just into the sport, she was into the players". (L. Luna, personal communication, April 23, 2016). Luna also said that Coach Johnson was fair but she was able to get the most out of each person. There was never any tension on the team, either. In fact, Luna recalls the nickname, the girls would call Coach Johnson (although never to her face): Mama Libby (L. Luna, personal communication, April 23, 2016).
According to Luna, there was also never extra added pressure that Coach Johnson put on her girls. The only time Johnson would get upset is if the players were not playing up to their potential. Luna remembers a tournament the team went to at Lamar University her freshman year. They were playing UH of where they had a player who went on to play for the Olympics team. She would just go up to the net and spike the ball straight down, and Trinity's team did not know what to do so they stood there with their mouths open. This is one of the times that Luna remembers Coach Johnson becoming upset. (L. Luna, personal communication, April 23, 2016).
There were even times while Luna was a player that the status of the women's volleyball program was up for debate. Her freshman year, the entire volleyball team received a notification saying that the administration was thinking about cutting the women's sports program that year. So six or seven of the girls went into the university office and Luna, herself, told them that if Trinity does not keep the volleyball program, she will leave. She loved the school, but volleyball was the cherry on top for her. Fortunately, the school did not cut the program or Libby Johnson that year. (L. Luna, personal communication, April 23, 2016).