Sarah and David Patterson were in Athens, GA getting ready to coach their Alabama team at NCAA Championships last week when they got a phone call that their 16-year old daughter got in a minor fender-bender back in Tuscaloosa.
Both Mom and Dad were “busy”.
Most female gymnasts have both at least one male and one female principle coach. But how many have married couples as coaches?
More than I would have guessed:
… Spouses coaching on the same staff appears to be a winning formula considering that five of the 12 teams that reached the NCAA championships (2008) work with the person with who they are joined with in holy matrimony.
The others are Utah with coach Greg Marsden and assistant Megan Marsden, Arkansas with co-coaches Mark and Rene’ Cook, Oklahoma with coach K.J. Kindler and assistant Lou Ball and Oregon State with coach Tanya Chaplin and assistant Michael Chaplin.
Minnesota, New Hampshire and Towson are among other programs that have a wife and husband coaching team …
All in the family for many top programs – Online Athens
The Pattersons make a great case study.
“Winning is not a sometime thing; it’s an all the time thing. You don’t win once in a while; you don’t do things right once in a while; you do them right all the time. Winning is a habit.”
-Vince Lombardi
… If anyone has mastered the habit of winning that Lombardi was talking about all those years ago, it’s Sarah and David Patterson. During their 29-year career coaching the Alabama gymnastics program, they have created a legacy of success in the gym and the classroom that is unequaled in collegiate athletics. …
Under their direction, Alabama gymnastics has gone to 24 consecutive NCAA Championships, winning four and finishing in the top six 23 times. The Tide has also finished in the ‘final four’ an NCAA-best 21 times.
Coaches: The Pattersons – Gym Tide
Gymnastics Coaching.com 