Colin GayThe Columbus Dispatch
Mac Podraza remembers when reality hit in 2022.
The Ohio State women's volleyball setter was preparing for the Buckeyes' final matchup with Michigan, the team her best friend Amber Beals plays for. After Podraza went to the Wolverines’ hotel to say hello to her before the match, Beals followed up with a message.
“She sent me a text like, ‘Hey, last one. It’s been so fun,’ ” Podraza said. “And I remember breaking down in my car crying like, ‘Wow, there’s so many lasts that are finally happening.’ ”
To Podraza, this reality wasn’t a surprise.She knew the 2022 season would be her last at Ohio State.
She already had conversations with Ohio State coach Jen Flynn Oldenburg, knowing roster changes would have to be made with four freshmen signing with the Buckeyes in the 2023 class. She knew a decision would not have to be made until the end of the season, but had an idea that her path would lead to the transfer portal.
Podraza was not alone.
After Ohio State’s Elite Eight loss to Texas in the NCAA Tournament, Podraza and four other starters — Jenaisya Moore, Gabby Gonzales, Adria Powell and Kylie Murr — entered the transfer portal, ending their careers with the Buckeyes to find a chance with another school for their final season of eligibility.
But as she leaves, Podraza has nothing but love for Ohio State. She has no animosity for the program, saying she would remain a “Buckeye for life” even when she plays for another program in 2023.
And as she leaves, Podraza wants to make one thing perfectly clear:
“There is nothing wrong with Ohio State,” Podraza said. “Ohio State volleyball is just going to keep growing and keep climbing.”
Scholarship numbers lead to dramatic roster changes for Ohio State
This reality was not one Oldenburg wanted to face, either.
The NCAA gave all athletes impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic an extra year of eligibility, allowing teams to temporarily exceed the normal scholarship limit of 12.
But with the 12-scholarship limit returning in 2023, Oldenburg did not have room for her five starters who had an extra year of eligibility remaining, leading to a trade-off: to either keep the seniors and ask an already committed 2023 class that had been recruited long before the Buckeyes' Elite Eight season to walk-on, or to bring in those first-year players in the hopes that the seniors would be willing to return to Ohio State as walk-ons.
“It’s just disappointing that the NCAA went that route without looking at the full implications of what it means,” Oldenburg said. “And I don’t think that was intentional. … It’s not malicious. It’s just, ‘Everybody gets a fifth year. Hooray.’ Then what?
“It was the ‘then what’ that’s a lot to deal with.”
In the end, Oldenburg decided to stick with the four freshmen she had promised scholarships, and none of the five Ohio State starters chose to return without their transferring teammates.
It wasn't a decision Oldenburg wanted to make, either.
“As I look at the roster and go, ‘I can’t pick one. I can’t pick two,’ ” she said. “ ‘I don’t want to. I want them all.’ ”
Ohio State volleyball did not make its scholarship information available to The Dispatch.
Oldenburg knew 2023 was going to be different, even in the midst of a run at a Big Ten title in 2022. As a planner, it was something she couldn't help but think about.
But when she would think about the 2023 roster during the 2022 season, knowing what was coming, Oldenburg had to put into practice what her and the rest of her staff preached.
“When my mind would wander there, ‘Nope, nope, nope, stay in the now’ because that’s not fair to them,” Oldenburg said. “As much as I plan, and want to plan, I also need to be in the moment.”
Ohio State stays 'in the moment' through 2022 season
The final stretch of Ohio State's 2022 season is what Oldenburg is most proud of.
With the weight of impending but unknown roster changes weighing on the Buckeyes, while also bringing a four-match losing streak into the NCAA Tournament, the Ohio State coach said the team reset itself, putting everything else aside.
“They poured themselves into each other for the team, for this program, and made their mark on history,” Oldenburg said.
Sweeping both Tennessee State and USC in the first two rounds, Ohio State beat No. 2 seed Minnesota in the Sweet 16 to earn the program’s fourth-ever appearance in the Elite Eight.
After Ohio State ended its season with a loss to Texas, capping off the most successful season since 2004, Podraza remembers an emotional locker room, one where each player had the chance to reflect on the run the Buckeyes had just made.
“‘We did this,’” Podraza remembers saying to her teammates. “‘We did a lot to be proud of. Let’s continue this that we’ve built. We said we wanted more. We said we wanted more all year. We wanted to get to that Elite Eight, and we did it. Now keep going.’”
In the days following Ohio State’s 22-win season, changes came immediately.
Oldenburg met with each of the seniors individually, and Moore, Murr, Podraza and Gonzales told her that they would be entering the transfer portal.
Powell's path was already set. Having to start her graduate program in January, Oldenburg said Powell entered the transfer portal early last semester and that the Ohio State coach helped "find her a great home in Clemson."
Podraza said her meeting brought many tears. But it was a decision Podraza felt at peace with, knowing the legacy she left behind.
All the strides Ohio State volleyball made, Podraza said, made her more comfortable taking a step back, telling Oldenburg it would not be the last time she would be in her office.
“I left the program better than I found it, and I’m OK taking this step away and handing the reins to whoever is next,” Podraza said. “I will continue being their biggest cheerleaders and keep watching the legacy that we left continue to grow and develop and change over the years.”
'They will be ready at some point'
After Ohio State’s loss to Texas in the Elite Eight, Oldenburg didn’t have enough time to hold a meeting with returning players.
When reports rolled in about teammates entering the transfer portal, all the Ohio State coach could do was send an email to her team that was scattered across the country for winter break, writing where the program stood, about the shoes that needed to be filled and the work that needed to be done.
Oldenburg said she didn’t get a sense that other members of the team considered transferring because of what was happening, calling it a testament to who the players are, their commitment to one another and their commitment tothe program’s future.
Starting with Grace Egan and Mia Tuman, two early enrollees from the 2023 class who will later be joined by freshmen Eloise Brandewie and Lauren Murphy, Ohio State has begun the process of responding to last season’s call to do “more," a mantra both the 2023 and 2024 recruiting classes have bought into.
But Oldenburg knows it will take time for the freshmen to transition into college volleyball.
“No one knows the work that’s needed to accomplish those goals,” Oldenburg said. “Anybody that says they do, they don’t. Like, you come in and you get punched in the face a little bit … just the speed of the game and expectations and the people around you, the level of play. But they also know what they signed up for.
“They will be ready at some point.”
With these spring practices also being the first for current freshmen Chelsea Thorpe, Zaria Ragler and Anna McClure, Oldenburg said she and her staff will be doing a lot of teaching to help players hone the skills needed for the fall.
And when it comes to upperclassmen like Emily Londot and Rylee Rader, Oldenburg is waiting for a new crop of leaders to emerge to fill the roles of players like Murr and Podraza.
“The younger group had so much gratitude for the seniors and just leadership and things they’ve learned from them,” Oldenburg said. “Just take a deep breath and go, ‘All right, now it’s our turn. Let’s see what we can do. How can we make our mark following in the footsteps of really great people?’”
Mac Podraza prepares for next steps
After the 2022 season was over, Podraza and a group of Ohio State seniors went to a dining hall on campus for dinner.For Podraza, it was a moment of closure, that last point before many scatter to new programs around the country for one final year of eligibility.
That year was something Podraza knew she was going to take no matter what, viewing it it as an opportunity to experience something new. But the recruiting process is taking awhile to get used to.
“We haven’t done this since we were 13 years old getting recruited for the first time,” Podraza said.
This time around, Podraza feels much more confident. She knows what she wants from a program and knows what she can bring to the table. She wants to learn new techniques from other coaches, starting the process of eventually achieving the goal of playing overseas.
But there are moments of doubt for Podraza through the recruiting process even after her phone started to blow up within five minutes of her entering the portal.
“It’s a little bit of imposter syndrome,” she said. “I’m like, ‘These schools that are world-renowned that people know from all over the place are reaching out to me.’”
Podraza knows what she did at Ohio State. She knows she helped rejuvenate a program to a consistent Big Ten contender, helping build a foundation that is set up to continue even as she goes to another program.
Ohio State will keep growing and climbing. And it will be one of a number of programs, Podraza said, she will keep an eye on next fall.
“I think our mentality is really like I’m going to get five new schools to cheer on next year,” Podraza said.
