It's little known up on The Hill that Beth Launiere, Utah's volleyball coach, spent the past summer as sidekick for beach volleyball legend Karch Kiraly while both were coaching the U.S. National Team.

"Especially in Brazil," said Launiere. "So many people wanted his autograph and his picture, I ended up being his autograph agent."

She was the go-between for Kiraly as "even head coaches from other national teams wanted his picture and autograph," said Launiere. "He is a super guy."

In her own right, Launiere is a super coach. On Sept. 25, she chalked up her 400th win, against none other than arch-rival BYU, at Crimson Court. Then a month later in Provo, her Utes bested the Cougars again, coming back from a two-game deficit to win the match in five games.

That was win No. 405. Saturday night, at 7:30 at Crimson Court, the Utes will wrap up their home slate with a game against Wyoming at Crimson Court.

Over 20 seasons, Launiere has led her team to 10 NCAA appearances, was named MWC coach of the year in 2004, 2006 and 2008 and guided the Utes to two Sweet Sixteen appearances. Her winning percentage calculates to a cool .649. Not a bad body of work.

Launiere's Utes won a school-record 28 matches in a season in 2006, including a school record 25 straight. And that was after Kim Turner had graduated.

Turner was Launiere's first All-American and maybe the Utes' best player ever.

"(Kim) was always falling down," recalls Launiere, "and getting in situations where she could get injured. She was an amazing volleyball player but she was the biggest klutz."

Of course, Launiere was hoping her star volleyball player was not going to get injured.

"Kim was always stressing me out," said Launiere, "that she was going to get injured. But she never missed a practice her entire career."

Launiere remembers her first recruit, Linda Byington, out of Ricks College.

"She chose us over a lot better programs," said Launiere. "In those early years, it wasn't easy. Getting recruits to buy into a program that only won one match the year before, uh, I'm not exactly sure how we did that but we did. I had to sell myself at that time."

Which wasn't hard.

Launiere tutored under good mentors at Illinois for two years and at Ferris State for three years before that. Both programs went to the Final Four.

Still, she was only 26 when Utah's Fern Gardner hired her.

"They took a chance on a very young coach," said Launiere.

"We hired her when she was just a young kid," said Utah athletic director Chris Hill. "And she has grown to be a nice coach for us."

Originally from Grand Rapids, Mich., Launiere stayed home and attended school at Aquinas College, where she played both softball and volleyball.

When asked about her coaching philosophy, Launiere stresses teamwork.

"We make it about the team here," she said. "I have expectations that the team has respect for each other. We try to create a culture that is a cooperative environment. I feel like we are all in it together. From the manager, to me, up through the administration."

Speaking about this year's (15-10) team, Launiere says, "What this year's team does really well is they win a lot in tight situations. This team is so much about being battle savvy."

e-mail: wjewkes@desnews.com