After scary health ordeal as a player, Savannah Rennie returns to Cal as assistant volleyball coach

BERKELEY, Calif. — A bouquet of bright yellow sunflowers recently arrived at Savannah Rennie’s office from a friend at USC who supported her through a life transition last year. “I feel like there’s moments, it’s like a roller coaster of like there’s weeks it feels like this was so long ago especially experiencing things as a coach,” she said. “Knowing Savannah from 14 or 15 and then coaching her for a couple years, it was obvious that she had a coach’s mentality because of the way she played the game and approached the game, the questions that she would ask the coaching staff and just the way she applied herself from practice to the games,” former Cal coach Rich Feller said. “I think I probably said to her, ‘You’re going to be a coach someday’ and I don’t know if she responded, ‘yes, no kidding’ or ‘nah, I never will’ but I’m glad to see she’s out here doing it and living her dream and continuing her career.” So many cheered Rennie during her ordeal — like decorated volleyball stars Karch Kiraly and Kerri Walsh Jennings — and she has plenty of new fans today. “Savannah is a very passionate, driven and caring person.. She would walk to the ends of the earth for those people that she cares about and has a view on life that is completely different from any other 26-year-old that I know.” Having already dealt with seemingly a lifetime’s worth of health battles, Rennie figures she will most certainly have great fortune well into her 80s and 90s.