Pitt Volleyball has quickly risen to perhaps the most successful program in the university’s athletic department. Dan Fisher assumed the head coaching role in 2013 as the program transitioned from the Big East to the ACC.

Fisher’s seven year run has been widely successful with six seasons of 23-wins or more, including back-to-back 30 win seasons over the past two years. He has guided Pitt to four straight NCAA Tournaments and three ACC Championships in a row.

Pitt spent much of the 2018 and 2019 seasons ranked among the top-10 teams in the country. The Panthers have built up a strong program while playing in an outdated venue.

Fitzgerald Field House was built in 1955 and the historic venue is a bit cramped to put it mildly. The facility is not stocked with the proper equipment or space to house three athletic teams at the present time. On Tuesday, Pitt Athletic Director Heather Lyke announced the plans for ‘Victory Heights’ a comprehensive plan to improve the university’s athletic facilities.

The crown jewel of the project is a brand new 3,500-seat arena to replace Fitzgerald Field House and be the new home to Pitt Volleyball, Wrestling, and Gymnastics.

For one of the fastest rising volleyball programs in the country, the new facility should only further that growth.

“I just think volleyball has raised the awareness of how you can be successful at Pitt and start to field something,” Lyke said on Tuesday. “I really feel in order to sustain that level of success we’ve got to match the investment from a facility standpoint.”

Fisher carried the program into the ACC and has quickly built a national brand. He’s heard about facility improvements before from past athletic directors, but when Lyke took over he could tell something was going to actually happen.

“Most athletic directors want to rebrand and build new facilities, and I’ll say this: it became really clear about a year in that Heather was going to be able to pull this off,” Fisher detailed. “So it’s cool to be here today and let the whole world know what we’ve been talking about behind the scenes.”

The Victory Heights improvements will also give suitable practice space for the volleyball program and an overall better experience for Fisher’s players. The arena will sit adjacent to Pitt’s Petersen Events Center, the home to the basketball programs. His program will now sit next to perhaps the center of campus, and he believes moving from the Field House to a more central location is going to be beneficial.

“I think it’s going to be huge,” Fisher said. “I walk it everyday and so when you’re in the Petersen Events Center coming from lower campus it’s another mental hurdle to walk all the way up to the field house. I just really think this is going to connect the campus a lot better.”

The biggest impact may be felt on the recruiting trail. Fisher noted he’s built a strong program without many top-50 caliber recruits, and the new facility should help open the door to more elite talent. In fact, he believes the new home for his program will be the best in the conference immediately.

“I think it’ll be the best for volleyball, yea in my mind it’s going to be great,” Fisher said.