In honor of Belmont Athletics 75
th season, BelmontBruins.com will profile a student-athlete alumnus each month during the academic year.
Our first profile is of volleyball alum Andy Palk Wyley '96. Andy was a setter for the Bruins from 1993-1997. During her time at Belmont, she was a three-time All-TCAC performer and finished her career with 2,688 assists, which still ranks fourth all-time in program history. Andy later served as an assistant coach for the program for three seasons.
BelmontBruins.com recently talked with Andy about her Belmont experience and her current life here in Nashville.
What years did you play at Belmont?
I played volleyball at Belmont from 1993–1996 and was a four-year letterwinner, captain, setter, and, very proudly, the first recruit for Belmont's first-ever volleyball team.
I played all four years for our founding head coach, Traci Corey. After my playing career, Traci asked me to stay as a graduate assistant and later assistant coach while I earned my master's degree.
Sometimes I walk around campus now and barely recognize it. I was there when we were the Belmont Rebels, when chapel was required, when there was a track in the middle of campus, and when running sprints up Bernard Avenue was part of practice. I am not sad that particular hill is gone!
I also played volleyball before rally scoring, before the libero, and when we still had a serving box. Matches could last forever. Our team even sang the National Anthem before home matches.
It was a different Belmont - and I love seeing what it has become.
Why did you choose Belmont?
I wish I could say I had some grand plan, but I really didn't know much about Belmont when I was recruited. I was coming from a small town, Belmont had only recently become a university, we were still NAIA, and the volleyball program didn't exist yet. But I remember my first tour of campus. It was beautiful, it felt right-sized for me, and I loved learning that Belmont had originally been founded by women. Most of all, I loved the idea of helping build something from the beginning. And I really wanted to be on the court – being the first setter, on the first team – odds were in my favor. Traci took a chance on me, and I was honored to be chosen.
What is your fondest athletic memory at Belmont?
Winning the 1995 TCAC Championship has to be at the top of the list, especially when I think about where we started.
Our first team was truly built from scratch. Some of our players had never played competitive volleyball. We recruited women from campus because we needed enough bodies to scrimmage, and sometimes our coaches had to jump in. We had a makeshift dressing room created from an equipment/utility room, washed our own uniforms (at least that first year), practiced at 6:00 AM due to scarce gym time, and traveled on a very tight budget.
None of that lowered Traci's expectations.
During our first season, she handed us a binder filled with handwritten offensive plays and expected us to learn a fast, sophisticated offense. As the setter running a 5–1, I remember looking at all those combinations and truly thinking if she thought we could do it, we could.
Then, in 1995, this little program we'd pieced together won a championship.
Who had the biggest influence on you during your athletic career at Belmont and how?
Traci Corey. No question.
Traci was tough, fearless and intensely competitive. She had played at Fresno State and competed at an extraordinarily high level, and she brought that mentality to a brand-new NAIA program that had very few resources.
What I appreciate most looking back is that Traci never allowed the limitations of our program to determine the size of her expectations for us. She taught us the game at the level she understood it, expected us to compete, and put us in situations where we could see what excellence looked like - even when we weren't remotely ready for it.
What is the most valuable thing you gained or learned from your time at Belmont?
Belmont made my world bigger - intellectually, spiritually and personally.
I arrived pretty sheltered and naïve. And my faith was small minded.
Belmont challenged that.
My course work opened up new ways of thinking. I became interested in perspectives and experiences very different from my own. Through professors like Dr. Simpler, I began to understand that God is love. That sounds simple, but it was transformative for me. Belmont didn't give me all the answers; in many ways, it taught me to be less certain, more curious, and more open to grace.
Belmont was exactly the right size for that transformation. It was big enough to expand my world but small enough that I was still known. Professors noticed when you missed class. Coaches cared about who you were beyond your sport. There were people around me who wanted me to succeed.
I came to Belmont wanting to continue my athletic career. I left with a much bigger understanding of the world, other people, myself and God. I'm not sure I could have asked for anything more valuable.
What advice would you give to current members of the volleyball team?
First: embrace all of it.
The wins and losses. Great matches and terrible ones. Friendships, heartbreaks, injuries, long practices, bus rides and uncomfortable moments. Be young. Take it all in.
Volleyball is the ultimate team sport. Be a great teammate.
When you step on the court, give it everything you have. Compete. Play every match like it is your last.
I'd also tell them to take ownership of their place - on the court, on their team and within Belmont. Be proud of the program you've inherited and understand that, for a little while, it belongs to you.
Support the other athletes. Show up for the university. Take care of the people coming behind you.
Leave it better than you found it.
I look at Belmont Volleyball today - including its own practice facility! - and can hardly reconcile it with the 1993 program. But that's the wonderful thing about being part of a team: you inherit something from the people before you, add your piece to it, and then hand it to someone else.
Who was your favorite professor and why?
This is a hard one because so many professors shaped my experience.
Dr. Simpler stands out because his religion and theology courses had such a lasting impact on the way I understand faith. Debbie Hoffman, who led the Social Work department, was another important influence.
What I remember most, though, is the culture of the faculty. Belmont's professors genuinely cared. They knew their students. If you didn't show up, someone noticed. For a young person finding her footing, that kind of accountability and care mattered enormously.
I also can't talk about my Belmont education without acknowledging the Athletic Department. I'd be remiss if I didn't mention support of the great
Betty Wiseman and so many others who created a community where student-athletes felt known and supported.
Heather Copeland, who is now an Associate AD, was our athletic trainer and one of my dearest, longest friends.
Those relationships were as much a part of my Belmont education as anything that happened in a classroom.
Where do you live now?
I live in Franklin, Tennessee. I've stayed close to Nashville, which means I've had the remarkable experience of watching Belmont change and grow over the past three decades.
What is your occupation and what does your position entail?
My undergraduate and master's degrees are both in Social Work, but most of my career has been spent in business continuity, crisis management and risk management.
Over the last couple of years - what I like to think of as my "second half of life" - I've moved into consulting. I'm now Vice President of Client Success & Operations and a virtual Chief Information Security Officer (vCISO) with Bullseye Compliance, a cybersecurity and compliance consulting firm based in Franklin.
We help organizations understand and manage cybersecurity, privacy and compliance risk while also helping lead our client relationships, internal operations and the continued growth of our firm.
And since I have no idea who might be reading this, I'll add one shameless plug: if your organization needs cybersecurity or compliance support, give us a call!
Tell us about your family.
My husband, Kyle, and I have been incredibly fortunate to build a big, wonderfully extended version of family around us.
We weren't able to have children of our own, but we have seven nieces and nephews we adore, godchildren we take very seriously, extended family we're close to, and friends and neighbors who have become family along the way. We hope we've had the privilege of encouraging, loving and investing in a lot of lives around us. Our house is usually full, and that's exactly how we like it.
I'm especially proud of our niece Davey and her volleyball career that wrapped up last season with a trip to the Nationals. After all these years, it's still hard to sit and watch – but certainly enjoyed watching her compete.
