It was business as usual for Russ Rose.

After just winning the 700th game of his career, he stood in front of 2,361 cheering fans, briefly swept his hand through the air thanking the crowd for their ovation, and quickly signaled for his team to exit Rec. Hall.

Rose thought nothing of his achievement. The reality that he had joined only five other coaches with more than 700 victories never concerned him.

"I don't really spend much time thinking about it," Rose said. "Penn State University has had a successful volleyball program the same as they've had successful gymnastics, wrestling and football teams for a long time.

"I just happened to have been here for a number of years and been a part of the development of this program."

But one might find it difficult not to credit Rose for what the program has accomplished under his leadership. In the three years before he took over for former coach Tom Tait, the Lady Lions failed to win more than 25 games in their three seasons.

Rose turned that around, never losing less than 26 games in any year since he arrived in 1979. His .851 winning percentage was first all-time entering the season, and it has only gotten better with this year's team starting 11-1. The accomplishments throughout his career have earned him three National Coach of the Year awards — something he has been nominated for 11 times.

Last season, his team reached the ultimate goal in collegiate athletics. After two straight runner-up finishes in the NCAA Final Four, the Lions won their first National Championship, sweeping Stanford in the final.

One could write a book with the accomplishments Rose has experienced, but he refuses to take the recognition he deserves.

"If you're an individual athlete and you get some awards, you're responsible for them," Rose said. "If you're a coach in a team sport, I don't see the correlation."

However, he does recognize the university for its part in helping him be as successful as he has been.

"I will not coach at another university," Rose said, "because I think the university has been very supportive to me and the program.

"There's better salaries out there and there is probably better perks, but this is the place where I am going to coach women's volleyball, and I won't coach it anywhere else."

That brings smiles to the Lions' supporters and, most of all, the players. The people who have been under his tutelage have benefited not only athletically, but also academically.

Rose has balanced the two to create a student-athlete environment most programs crave. On the court, there has been at least one All-American in 20 of his 21 seasons.

In the classroom, he has expressed the importance of a solid education, coaching 56 Academic All-Big Ten selections in nine years. These are the statistics that lead most people, and especially his players, to believe that Rose has more to do with the Lions' success than he admits.

"It's less of a reflection on us as it is a reflection on him and how successful he's been in his approach to the game," junior Amanda Rome said.

Fellow junior Katie Schumacher shared the same view. About the milestone, she even added a little humor, joking that perhaps the loss against UCLA in the first game of the season was not as bad as it first seemed. It did, in fact, allow Rose to win No. 700 at home.

The Lions coach, however, is just glad the whole thing is over. The questions about it will cease, the team can move on, and it will be business as usual this week as the focus will solely be on the Big Ten opener against Wisconsin.