Th ursday, Octobe r 13, 2011
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The I th a c a n 2 3
Bonded by sport Married coaches for Bomber teams separate work and personal lives as they lead teams to victory
Rick and Kim Suddaby pose for wedding photos in Aug. 1988 outside Muller Chapel and their Watkins Glen home. courtesy of Rick and Kim Suddaby
From left, Gymnastics Head Coach Rick Suddaby and his wife Kim Suddaby at a practice Monday in Ben Light Gymnasium.
michelle boulÉ/the ithacan
By nate bickell staff writer
When Rick Suddaby got his first head coaching job at Ithaca College in 1986, he asked his girlfriend, Kim, to help out when she could. Rick had known Kim since he was graduate assistant coach of the SUNYCortland gymnastics team. The two married in 1988 in Muller Chapel and have been coaching the college’s team ever since. Rick and Kim Suddaby are one of three married couples who coach teams together at the college. Men’s crew Head Coach Dan Robinson also met his wife, Becky, when she was an athlete on the women’s crew while he was coaching at the college. Becky is currently head coach of the women’s crew. Dan Wood is head coach of the women’s golf team, and his wife, Sandy, is a volunteer assistant. Though all the coaching couples lead different teams, they have all overcome their own obstacles in balancing work and personal lives. Rick said coaching with his wife works well because the two have established who is in charge at what times. “You’ve got to have the lines drawn,” he said. “Whenever we disagree, I win in the gym, and she wins at home.” Rick and Kim met when Kim competed
on the gymnastics team at SUNY-Cortland and Rick was a graduate assistant. Rick said he gave up being the assistant coach for the Red Dragons so that he could have a relationship with her. While Rick has remained head coach for the Bombers since 1986, Kim has served as a volunteer assistant, paid assistant and even as a rival coach for the Red Dragons. Kim said the two organized an event between the two teams in 1990 to build the players’ competitive spirit. “There’s always been a rivalry between Cortland and Ithaca, and it was pretty negative,” she said. “We ended up having a volleyball tournament between the two teams, and we got them to get to know each other and make it a positive thing.” But when Kim started working alongside her husband, she could not be a paid assistant coach for the Bombers because of the college’s nepotism rule. The rule forbade a relative from supervising another relative to avoid any conflict of interest or favoritism, but an exception for Kim was made two years later. Becky Robinson said she enjoys working with her husband, who she married 16 years ago, because they get to see each other every day.
From left, Sandy and Dan Wood, coaches of the women’s golf team, pose for a photo on a golf cart before practice Tuesday at the Country Club of Ithaca. michelle boulÉ/the ithacan
“It’s good that we work together because if we didn’t, I don’t think we’d see each other often,” she said. The husbands and wives have familiarity with each other, which helps them communicate well with their teams. Dan Wood said he can anticipate what Sandy is thinking in many situations. “I don’t have to spend any preliminary time saying ‘Well what do you feel about that, or what do you think about this,’” he said. “I Men’s and women’s crew Head Coaches Dan and Becky Robinprobably know 90 person at the 2009 New York State Rowing Championships. cent of what she thinks courtesy of dan and becky robinson before she even has to Dan Wood said he and Sandy work say it.” Dan Wood was born and raised well as a coaching couple because they in Ithaca, but he did not meet Sandy can delegate tasks to each other and split until he was touring on the PGA circuit up responsibilities. “We avoid clashes by splitting up the in Florida. She was a physical education teacher in the area. The two decided to duties,” he said. “She is more of a short move from Florida to Ithaca after Sandy game specialist while I’m more the full had retired because they wanted to help swing guy.” Graduate student Justine Picciano said establish a collegiate women’s golf team in a small town and give their relationship a there is usually an entertaining atmosphere at practice with Rick and Kim, but new beginning, Dan Wood said. “Ithaca College was the first college to they each bring their own coaching styles offer us a job where we could work together to the table. “Rick is more, ‘This is what you’ve got and start from scratch,” he said. Conflicts have arisen for the couples to do and let’s get it done,’ and Kim brings when it comes to making decisions for the flavor and the fun by playing music that their teams. Kim said she and Rick were gets us going,” she said. Kim said she and Rick’s respect for one split over the selection of the sixth and final gymnast that would compete on the another is what has kept their coaching balance beam at the national champion- relationship working for more than two decades. He said having Kim in the gym ships in 1998. “I was 100 percent for one person, and with him has helped him to maintain his he was 100 percent for the other person, enthusiasm for coaching. “She is so fun and happy to be here,” he and I said ‘You’re the head coach, so what said. “Sometimes I get into a lull because you say goes,’” she said. The decision to put Liz Horne ’00 in the I’m here all the time, but because she is competition worked out for the best, as the only part time she comes in with all this Bombers went on to win their first and only energy, and so then I try to emulate that as a coach.” national championship in gymnastics.