“Big Chief Triangle”: The 3-Middle Offense

There was a post on the Facebook group for Volleyball Coaches called “Volleyball Coaches and Trainers” asking about how you should manage an offense with three middles.  This is also known as a triangle offense and it became a great opportunity to whip out the old nickname for former NBA coach Phil Jackson who used a system called the triangle–and was so fanatic about its superiority he became known as ‘Big Chief Triangle’ (of course, once he won titles using it regularly…helped by having Jordan and Pippen…the name didn’t get used much after that).

Anyways, in terms of volleyball, the usual system is symmetric–when a player at a certain position moves to the back row, a player of the same position moves to the front row.  There are always two lefts, two middles, two rights on the court at all times (I am presuming a knowledge of normal types of substitution here and some knowledge of volleyball).  A symmetric system is easy to learn, easy to manage for both players and a coach.  On a court, it would look like this:

—-NET—– R1 – M1 – O1 O2 – M2 – R2 You can also switch the M1/L1 and M2/L2 together, but that’s still symmetrical.  The triangle looks significantly different while running a 5-1 AND with a 6-2:

—–NET—– O1 – M1 – O2 M2 – R1 – M3  –in this case the R1 would be the setter for the team.

You can see that we’re starting with one middle at the net, but alternating rotations are going to have two middles in the front row.  This creates some flexibility, but also some complexities with substitution management.  So–I figured I’d run through all 6 rotations and a way to manage a triangle offense (so in the future, please refer to me as “Old Chief Triangle Jim”…thank you).

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1st Rotation: —–NET—–—–NET—–—–NET—– O1 – M1 – O21 – M1 – O21 – M1 – O2M2 – R1 – M3  M2 – R1 – M3  M2 – R1 – M3  

There are two issues with this rotation.  The first is having two ball-control OH in the front row (O1/O2).  Depending on your opponent and their size, this may mean a weaker block against your opponent’s left-side attack.  It means one of the back-row middles needs to be a good passer or you have good defensive subs available.  Let’s put the libero in to serve here and a DS for M2.

O1 – M1 – O2 DS – R1 – LIB

When the opponent sides out, we’ll have three or four passers available, so we should have some good combinations available–depending how you move people around, you can also mix/match where the O1/2 hit.

2nd Rotation: —–NET—–—–NET—–—–NET—– M2 – O1 – M1 R1 – LIB – O2

To start with, we’re going to have to burn a sub to replace the DS and bring the M2 in to play front row.  Options available here depend on the hitter skills.  If the O1 is great out-of-system and passes well, she goes to the left side.  The catch is what skills the M1/2 have.  If one is a dominant blocker, you can put him on the right to shut an opposing hitter down.  On the other hand…if one of the middles is a great blocker and the opponent has an OPP who is a great hitter, you can leave a middle on the left to neutralize that player.  We don’t have a need for substitutions after a sideout in this rotation.

3rd Rotation: —–NET—–—–NET—–—–NET—– R1 – M2 – O1 LIB – O2 – M1

There’s no choice here about the front row–you’ve got the setter, a middle, and an outside.  The question is the serving and defensive ability of the M1.  If she’s passable, you can avoid a sub here and put her in the least likely spot for the opponent to hit to in the back row.  On serve-receive, the O1 would pull back and the M1 be hidden, so she wouldn’t be a liability.  The catch with this is that it limits flexibility with serve-receive.  The choice becomes LIB-O2-O1 or the use of a two-man serve-receive.  I don’t like limits and most hitters do better when they can focus on a single task.  I’m pulling the M1 for a DS (sub #2).

4th Rotation: —–NET—–M3 – R1 – M2O2 – DS – O1—–NET—–M3 – R1 – M2O2 – DS – O1—–NET—–M3 – R1 – M2O2 – DS – O1

Our libero is out for the first serve since the M3 is now back in.  We could leave her on the bench for the duration of O1’s serving–but that’s a waste of the team’s best passer.  After one serve, the libero goes in for the DS, so the back row is O2 – LIB – O1.  Either way, we should have a big block with the M2/3 patrolling the left and middle (or if you go old school left and right and set out of the middle…which could work with the right sort of setter).  The back row’s defense should be outstanding.  You have the two outsides plus a DS for the first serve and the libero after that.  Once in serve-receive, there should be multiple combinations possible for the hitters in the front row–and you also have two outsides in the back row with the possibility of running designated back-row attacks.

5th Rotation: —–NET—–O2 – M3 – R1LIB – O1 – DS—–NET—–O2 – M3 – R1LIB – O1 – DS—–NET—–O2 – M3 – R1LIB – O1 – DS

The DS returns for the M2 to serve (sub 3).  The rotation lacks flexibility in the front row since you have one of each position there.  You can probably guess that this is a rotation where you want a stronger middle hitting.  Notice the back row though–once again, about as strong as you can make it.

6th Rotation: —–NET—–—–NET—–—–NET—– M1 – O2 – M3 O1 – DS – R1

This is where we’re going to get a little complicated.  The libero comes out for the M1.  She sits out one serve, then we’re going to bring her back in for the DS.  That makes our lineup: M1 – O2 – M3 O1 – LIB – R1 When we get the sideout, we’re going to return to Rotation #1, right?  But if we go back up to that, you’ll see we have the libero at right back/serving.  This is where managing substitution rules is important.  The libero can automatically be moved to the serving rotation when that’s her ‘slot’.  She moves to that slot and is replaced by whomever she came in for.  That gets us back to Rotation 1 with the DS at left back…and that means I didn’t need to actually start with the M2 on the court initially (I knew that–but figured it would help show how the triangle works).

With a 5-2 offense–>it works the same as the 5-1.  That’s because the two setters are swapping out in the same spot.  Everyone else remains the same.

A 6-2 becomes more complicated if the setters aren’t able to hit.  You will want to put the setters so that things go:

OOO1 – M1 – O2  –>  M2 – O1 – M1 –> O3 – M2 – O1 –> M2 – R1 – M3  –>  R1 – M3 – O2 –> M3 – O2 – R2 –>

M3 – O3 – M2 –> O2 – M3 – O3  –>  M1 – O2 – M3 O2 – R2 – O1  –> R2 – O1 – M2  –>   O1 – M2 – R1  (then back to the 1st rotation)

For the triangle to work with a 6-2, you really need to have a third quality outside hitter.

ADVANTAGES OF THE TRIANGLE: The system gives quite a bit of match-up flexibility.  You can line up blockers to neutralize opponent hitters or your hitters to capitalize on your opponent’s defense.  It’s also going to give one rotation where the team’s three best passers are all in the back row together.

DISADVANTAGES: For the system to work, you have to have multi-talented players.  You’ll need middles who can hit/block at two spots along the net, outsides who can play on the left or right interchangeably.  You also are going to have the libero on the bench for an extra ball twice every six rotations.  Depending on the quality of your other passers, that could be important over the long haul OR leave you with an unavoidable bad matchup.

PERSONAL: I’ve used the triangle before, but I found there was one other disadvantage to it, something that doesn’t show up on paper that, in my opinion, is more significant than the volleyball theory.  Players are unfamiliar with the system–it goes against years of instruction.  It requires attention to detail.  While using the system I felt more like a traffic controller than a coach.  I didn’t think it let me do a great job keeping focused on the ebb/flow of the match–and I didn’t have an assistant at the time capable of managing the traffic OR how to change things tactically within the match.

If you don’t have an assistant capable of helping manage the triangle’s substitution patterns, I don’t recommend the system.  At most levels, the opponents won’t be paying attention to what you do–they are having enough trouble with their own systems.

Instead, for Americans and our rules with 15 subs (or NAIA and its infinite substitutions), the solution may be to apply the triangle tactically.  Rather than use it across all six rotations, consider substitutions that allow you to use it for a single rotation–something to take advantage of a specific moment in a match.  That may prove far more effective, especially since it won’t force players far out of their comfort zone.