Filed Under Coach, Friend, Family

Santiago Restrepo has had dozens of talented volleyball players in his 20-plus years of coaching, but he saw something special in Kelly Files while at Southern Mississippi. Files is one of the top players in Golden Eagles history, but Restrepo also was drawn to her for multiple reasons.

“I've been telling everybody, 'I just wish there were more Kellys in the world. That everybody needs a Kelly. She's just so gifted with people. She's so charismatic, so giving, so loving,'” Restrepo said.

Files, pictured here as a first-year assistant at OU, came to Norman from Southern Miss along with Restrepo in 2004.

Restrepo took over as Southern Miss coach in the spring of Files' junior year. When her playing days were over, Files served as a graduate assistant and assistant coach at her alma mater and then followed Restrepo to OU, where she was named associate head coach in 2011.

Files finished her career with the Golden Eagles ranked among the Top 10 in several statistical categories. She was a four-year starter and led the team in kills, service aces and blocks her junior and senior seasons.

“Right away, my first year of playing for him, we just clicked,” Files said of Restrepo. “He's been one of my best friends since then. That's how it was right from the get-go. The fall of my senior year I said something like, 'I don't know what I'm going to do with my life.' He was like, 'OK, let's dial it back a little bit. How about you be my graduate assistant next fall?' It took me about one minute to say, 'OK, perfect.' That was kind of the defining moment, him taking a chance on me in a different role. For me, it defined the next 14 years.”

Last Friday, Files and Restrepo completed their 15th and final season together.

On Dec. 12, Files and her 3½-year-old daughter, Charlotte Lee, will relocate to Azerbaijan to live with their husband and father, Brandon, who is being promoted to the rank of major and will serve as a Bilateral Affairs Officer with the Oklahoma National Guard and the State Department.

"I've been telling everybody, 'I just wish there were more Kellys in the world.'"
— Santiago Restrepo

Files leaves as the longest tenured assistant coach in the program's history and the fourth longest tenured coach at OU in 2015 behind Jan Ross in women's basketball, Melyssa Lombardi in softball and Cale Gundy in football.

In Files' tenure, 77 student-athletes played volleyball for the Sooners, amassed 221 victories and made eight NCAA Tournament appearances.

“She has a very strong work ethic and is extremely gifted as a person,” Restrepo said of Files. “That's probably why I asked her (to be an assistant coach) right away. Her qualities are her personality and her ability to communicate with people. She just loves everyone and welcomes everyone into her world.”

It was Restrepo who introduced Files to her future husband when she coached and played alongside Brandon's younger sister at Southern Miss. Kelly and Brandon also have a stepson, Brandon.

Their time apart as a family had become too grueling and Files knew after the couple welcomed “Charlee” in 2012 that a move overseas was inevitable. Other than tending to her daughter, Files said she is uncertain how she'll now occupy her time.

Kelly and daughter Charlee will move to Azerbaijan this month to reunite with husband and father Brandon.

“For me, it's going to be a challenge,” Files said. “I haven't done anything else. This is kind of my first rodeo in that regard. This is the first time we'll all be together over there, so I don't know what to expect. I have no idea.”

Good news arrived when Files discovered there is professional volleyball in Azerbaijan. “They have a very, very good professional league,” Files said. “There's a lot of good Americans playing over there right now. I can't imagine being away from it (volleyball), so I'm sure I'm going to look into it. To what degree, I don't know. It's going to be awesome just being a spectator to see how they do things over there at a professional level. Plus, I love working with young kids, so if they have some type of youth (league), I would love to help. I don't have any expectations because I don't know what to expect. Take it day-by-day, I guess.”

After Files committed to moving overseas, she decided to inform the Sooners of her decision on the first day of preseason practice.

“Telling them was kind of a relief to get it off of my chest,” Files said. “I didn't want to go through the whole season thinking about it and obviously wanted them to know what was going on with the process of it all, so I told them the first day.”

Despite the advanced warning, many team members have yet to express their feelings toward Files.

“That was really, really tough when she told us,” said redshirt junior and All-Big 12 selection Madison Ward. “I went through the whole season not being able to talk to her about it. I have yet to go into her office and tell her good-bye and tell her what she's meant to me. She's just a joy. That's the best way to describe her. She's a joy to have as a coach, as a friend. I can't have a conversation with her without laughing about something. She's so funny, has a really good sense of humor and sees life in such a beautiful way.”

Those heartstrings are being tugged in both directions.

"She's just a joy. That's the best way to describe her. She's a joy to have as a coach, as a friend."
— Madison Ward

“The sentiment is the same for me,” Files said of saying good-bye to the Sooners. “It's kind of one of those things that's so hard to even talk about. My relationships with the girls and everyone are just so real. That's what makes it hard.”

Files frequently filled the role of liaison between the players and Restrepo.

“Oh, she is so much of that, and that's a good thing, too,” Ward said. “She'll side with him (Restrepo) on things where he might not budge, but she'll send the same message to us with a little bit more grace. Maybe it's because she's a woman, I don't know, but she's a bit more sensitive to where we're at as players. I've been really grateful for that. When I struggled or didn't understand something when I was a younger player, if I went and spoke to her directly, I could get a better grasp on it. She could wrap the message in love a little bit better.”

Restrepo fully acknowledges Files' tender touch with players. It was one of the primary reasons he hired her and both freely admit they didn't agree on all subjects and tactics.

Files: “He created an environment for me to be myself, for me to always speak my mind and give my thoughts and my opinions. I'm a very opinionated person, so I felt free to be myself. That's why I think it worked for so long.”

Restrepo: “I want everyone to have their own opinion and not copy their opinions from others. That's why I trusted her 100 percent.”

Files was honored along with the OU seniors following her final match on November 27.

Files turned down several potential job opportunities to stay with Restrepo and the Sooners. “It wasn't the right time for her and her family when other jobs opened up,” Restrepo said. “I'm very appreciative of everything she has meant to me and our program.”

Restrepo said he fully understands Files' decision to leave after this season. “That's OK, because it's about family and that's what we're all about.”

Perhaps nowhere in OU athletics has family taken on a greater meaning than in volleyball. Javier was the youngest son of Restrepo and wife, Heidi. Diagnosed with leukemia at age 2, “Javi” received a bone marrow transplant from older brother Diego. The cancer went into remission, but eventually returned. Chemotherapy treatments also damaged Javi's liver. A liver transplant was a success, but the leukemia returned and Javi's bone marrow was infected. After a two-year battle, Javi passed away at age 4 on July 31, 2009.

For 11 months, Files filled in as interim head coach while Restrepo tended to Javi and his family.

“I had been with Santiago for so long, I know how he thinks,” Files said of trying to keep the Sooners on track in Restrepo's absence. “I know how he wants things done. It was very seamless. It wasn't ideal because he was gone, but it worked.”

Files' efforts during an extremely trying time for Restrepo and the program did not go unnoticed. She was honored by the American Volleyball Coaches Association as 2008 Division I National Assistant Coach of the Year.

“It's hard to express your feelings when you've been through so much together,” Restrepo said of Files. “She is definitely going to be missed around here.”

Players Mentioned

Madison Ward

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