Hugh McCutcheon and David Dixon are native New Zealanders. McCutcheon came to the United States in 1991 to play volleyball at Brigham Young. Dixon came to the States in 1988 to play at Ricks College, a Mormom-affiliated junior college in Rexburg, Idaho.
McCutcheon played pro volleyball in Japan and Finland, before getting started on a coaching career in which he led to the U.S. men's team to a gold medal in the 2008 Olympics and the U.S. women's team to a silver medal in the 2012 Olympics.
Dixon went to Arizona State after two years at Ricks and was taken at No. 232 overall by New England in the 1992 draft. Eventually, the 6-foot-5, 340-pound guard became a long-term starter for the Vikings, and settled here with his wife Pam to raise a family.
McCutcheon is now in his second year as coach the Gophers. Dixon's daughter Tori gained most of her father's height -- she's a 6-foot-3 senior -- and is the star middle blocker for the Gophers.
"Dave's great," McCutcheon said. "We talk a lot, but not so much about volleyball. We have the New Zealand thing going, of course."
There will be a column in the Star Tribune print edition. The editors gave me a generous amount of space to use on the subject and I exceeded it (which isn't a first). McCutcheon returned a call on Tuesday morning after I already had offered too much prose for print, which is why we call this thing Patrick +.
Here's what the coach had to say about Tori Dixon:
"She's a stud. She's physical. She always has been that. She has made herself more efficient. She has more range; she's hitting with more power. She has added quite a few strings to her bow.
