By Bob Rose
 
WILSON, N.C. – The outdoor sand volleyball court in their front yard was the first tipoff suggesting that the Deppe family was different from their neighbors in Mukwonago, Wisconsin.

While they might not be as well-known as the volleyball made famous by Tom Hanks in the 2000 movie, Cast Away, the Deppe (pronounced Dep-EE) clan certainly has elevated the sport as a family affair at Barton College.
In terms of team chemistry, the Bulldogs have an added secret weapon: family chemistry.

Perched as the third seed in the Conference Carolina men’s volleyball tournament with a sterling 10-4 record (16-12 overall), Barton features the Deppe Trinity:  26-year-old J.T., a former Athlete of the Year as a star volleyball player at King University, serves as the Bulldogs’ third-year head coach; 22-year-old senior Seth is one of the greatest setters in Barton history; and 20-year-old sophomore Luke is a promising outside-hitter playing but still recovering from offseason shoulder surgery.

“I think we all know this is a once-in-a-lifetime situation,” said Seth, who recently was named Conference Carolinas’ Men’s Volleyball’s Specialist of the Week and ranks fifth in the league with 8.57 assists per match. “I'm really close with all my brothers.  When J.T. tells me I’m doing something wrong, I realize he’s saying it because he wants the best for me as a coach and as a brother.”

To fully understand the family volleyball legacy, one must go back to 1988-89 when the brothers’ father, Tom Deppe, played the sport at the University of Hawaii on Rainbow juggernaut teams that reeled off a combined record of 49-12 during his two seasons in Honolulu.  Tom also met his wife, Lisa, on the Hawaiian campus.

Little did the young couple realize that one day, the Deppe name would become synonymous with Barton volleyball.
Tom, now a financial advisor for a company that services the southeast region of Wisconsin, was once the head volleyball coach at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee.  Yet, despite his love of the game, he never pushed his sons to play his favorite sport.

“Probably deep down, Dad wanted us to play volleyball,” admits J.T.  “But he always let us do our own thing.  As kids, we would watch him play at Bradford Beach in Milwaukee, but we didn’t really know much about the sport.”

As a freshman at Mukwonago High School, J.T. played football, baseball, basketball and ran track despite being undersized at 5-7, 130 pounds. 

“I experienced a growth spurt to six feet during the summer going into my sophomore year, and with my dad’s suggestion and encouragement from a couple of friends, I tried volleyball and loved it,” he said.

He attended King University (Tenn.) and went on to become the third all-time career assist leader for Tornado teams that won Conference Carolinas regular-season championships (2018-2019), one league tournament title (2018) and a NCAA National Tournament berth (2018).  He also was a five-time Conference Carolinas All-Academic selection and earned his MBA from King in 2022.

J.T. began his coaching career as a volunteer assistant for King’s women’s volleyball team and Notre Dame Academy in Milwaukee.  He also coached the Milwaukee Sting AAU Club team.

Yet following his education, it appeared that J.T. was headed on a path to work in professional sports marketing.  He snared a job with his childhood team, the Green Bay Packers, working in an entry-level role in game entertainment.

“I had always wanted to get a job in the sports world, and it was so cool working at Lambeau Field,” he said.  “I had responsibilities for pre-game, halftime and post-game entertainment.”

However, volleyball kept calling.  In late November 2022, J.T. was staffing a Packers’ holiday party when he got a call from his brother Seth, then a sophomore on the Barton volleyball team.

“I asked him if he liked his job with the Packers,” recalls Seth.  “I told him that our coach had been let go and our season starts in two months (January).  I asked him, ‘do you want to coach us?’  The year before J.T. had turned down an offer to be our assistant coach but he took the Packers’ job.  I knew he would be a great coach because he’s one of the smartest players I know, he knew the conference and was one of the top players in our conference who was respected by everyone.”

Current players on the team were consulted by interim Athletic Director Brittany Woodhull-Smith, and soon afterwards, at the tender age of 23, J.T. Deppe was offered the head coaching job.  

The pull of volleyball was just too much.  He accepted the position.

“I remember that first week of practice,” said Seth, shaking his head.  “We had workouts every day except Sunday, when J.T. had one last day of work at a Packers’ game.”

Since then, J.T. has been the epitome of a program builder.  He inherited a program that had endured a 0-20 record the previous season.  Slowly, he has led the Bulldogs to respectability in volleyball circles.  His first team in 2023 improved to 5-19.  Last year, Barton came within an eyelash of a winning season, finishing at 12-13.  And now, J.T. fields a team with postseason aspirations, having won 16 of 28 matches including a 10-4 ledger in Conference Carolinas action.

“It’s cool to see our seniors experiencing this season,” said J.T.  “They were freshmen when this started.  They helped turn this thing around and it’s a credit that they all bought in.  This class took a chance on me when I was handed the keys as a 23-year-old kid.  It was great to see the team get their 10th conference win this year.  That was as many as we had combined the previous three seasons.”

Ken Tyler, Barton’s vice president and director of athletics, arrived several months after Deppe’s hire and he couldn’t be more effusive in his praise of the Bulldog coach.

“He’s just outstanding, but I can't take credit,” shared Tyler.  “They saw a lot of potential in a young coach, and he's done a great job.”

The school AD marvels how J.T. has navigated the challenges of program building and seamlessly incorporates his brothers’ dynamic in a winning culture.

“J.T. still has a lot of that player mentality,” said Tyler.  “He’s very competitive and he still likes to mix it up with his brothers.  I’m pretty sure J.T. is the only coach of any sport at any level in NCAA athletics coaching two of his siblings. But it’s not a gimmick. All three of them are just terrific. In their roles, we’re lucky to have them at Barton.”
  Like most successful leaders, Tyler also praises J.T. for his human touch.  And gives credit to everyone involved.

“J.T. is not only a good volleyball coach but has high character. He had a strong belief he could handle this unique situation in a positive way.  He’s fair not only to his brothers but to all the other players on the team.  It helps that Luke and Seth are just fine young men who are liked and respected by their teammates.”

For the youngest brother Luke, the decision to join J.T and Seth at Barton was an easy one.  As he explains, his recruitment started well before J.T. was named head coach:

“Since Seth was already here, I made an official visit during my junior year in high school.  I basically made the decision right then.  Even though I didn’t sign the papers until J.T. got the job, I pretty much had already set my mind to going to Barton.”

Thrust into a brother reunion, Luke adjusted to the roles of player and coach quite quickly.

“At first it was interesting,” he admitted.  “I needed to see him as a coach first, then as a brother.  Not talking back was the toughest part.  But after a couple of months, I could see that J.T. just wanted the best for all of us.”

Compared to Seth, J.T. did concede that Luke being the youngest presented a few extra hurdles.

“First, the guys already knew him,” J.T. pointed out.  “They weren’t going to question any nepotism. But for myself, I knew it would be more difficult coaching Luke.  Seth is the middle child and mature.  I had coached his age group.  Luke is the youngest child.  I like to tell him ‘you had everything easier.’  And there are things brothers poke fun at each other about all the time.  It just took Luke a little bit longer to realize that it was his coach, not his brother, being critical.”

One area where all three Deppe brothers are in agreement is their appreciation for the support shown by their parents during these college years.

Lisa Deppe, a former graphic designer, now runs a–you guessed it–volleyball company called Frisco Mo that manufactures merchandise and gear for club teams around the country.  When Luke enrolled at Barton, she and Tom decided to purchase a home near the campus.

Both J.T. and Seth live in a three-bedroom home, but they insisted that Luke experience at least a couple of years on campus, living in the dorms.  And of course, Mr. and Mrs. Deppe take full advantage of using that third spare bedroom every time they visit.  Lisa hasn’t missed one of her sons’ home matches and Tom almost has a perfect attendance record.
Luke is well aware when his parents are in the stands.

“They can get pretty loud.  I think they’ve toned it down some now, which is good, since it’s the last thing you want to hear!”
J.T. speaks for all of his brothers and acknowledges how proud their parents are of the Deppe Trinity.

“It’s super cool. They have a large sense of pride about what we're doing. When you have kids 26, 22 and 20, there are not many places where you can see all three at the same time.”

As one might imagine, family meals at the near-campus house is always a highlight of their parents’ visits. Luke particularly enjoys his mother’s cooking.“My mom’s a great cook,” he said.  “When they’re here, it’s a home-cooked meal every night.”
  Luke’s journey the past few years has not been without adversity, however. He began to experience shoulder pain at the end of his senior year in high school, which continued into his freshman year at Barton. The injury was eventually diagnosed as a torn labrum and he underwent surgery, missing the fall semester of training.

“It really sucked,” Luke said. “I was allowed to start playing after winter break and it’s been exciting to play volleyball again without pain.  But I still don’t have 100 percent strength yet and it will take some time and a lot of rehab”

Luke, an accounting major at Barton, said having a big brother as your head coach has truly been a blessing.

“J.T.  understood when I was in pain,” he explained. “I remember earlier in the season when the shoulder bothered me in a match he said, ‘I can see you are hurting.’  He told me to take off the next night’s match against Belmont.”

For J.T. and Seth, their relationship also carries over to being housemates. While they respect each other’s privacy and schedules, the two older brothers enjoy the time they can spend together.

“It’s just me and him,” said J.T. “We see each other a lot, but I have my normal work hours and try to get my workouts in.  The cool thingfor me is I left for college while he was starting high school, so I missed the majority of the crucial years of growth. We’re both adults now, but it’s cool to be living in the same environment together.”

While Luke has two years remaining at Barton, next month Seth will graduate with a sports management degree and MBA in strategic leadership. He wouldn’t mind following in J.T.’s footsteps with an initial marketing or finance job in professional sports, preferably with the Green Bay Packers. 

Tyler, the Bulldog’s athletic chief, doesn’t see any downside to the Deppe’s unique arrangement with the volleyball team.

“Just the opposite,” he said. “It’s just terrific because the whole family is so solid.

Lisa and Tom are a volleyball family through and through. They’re so supportive and loving together.  They’ve really poured everything into Barton volleyball and really the community.”

The Bulldogs’ AD commends J.T. for how he treats his brothers and their teammates equally, and that’s why it all works.

“J.T. gets on his brothers when they need a kick in the rear but he loves them and gives them the same quality coaching he gives all his players.  Anything they’ve gotten, a starting position or whatever, they've earned.  There’s never any favoritism.” 
But there’s no denying the bloodlines.

“Honestly, if you watch a match, you would be hard pressed to recognize who the brothers are,” Tyler continued.  They have a job to do with their teammates.  But after a big win, the hug with Seth and Luke may be a little more meaningful.”

As it should be.

Bob Rose is a longtime sports public relations executive who has worked for the San Francisco Giants, Oakland Athletics, the NFL Cardinals, Cal, Stanford and other organizations. Bob works with the Conference Carolinas office to help tell the stories of the tremendous student-athletes, coaches and administrators in Conference Carolinas.