Suzanne Yoculan to Retire Following '08-'09 Season

Gym Dogs celebrate third consecutive national title (image: Georgiadogs.com)

Legendary Gym Dogs Coach Suzanne Yoculan announced her plans to retire at the fall Athletic Association Board of Directors meeting (Source: ABH). Long time assistant Jay Clark will replace her. The only way that she would be more entertaining to me ... if she coached football.

The self proclaimed Darth Vader of Gymnastics is quotable and a stone cold winner. In March 2006, she was interviewed by Paul Finebaum for his radio show. I did my best to transcribe that conversation. The notes are below.

During the interview, she talked about her personal rivalry with Sarah Patterson at Alabama. Paraphrase:

Paul Finebaum: It always seems like Sarah Patterson comes off as the goodie two shoes and you're the evil one. In wrestling terms you're the masked woman, and she's Shirley Temple.

Suzanne: The media started some of it. I'm definitely more spontaneous than Sarah. Even in press conferences, she's more calculated, protective and careful, and I'm more spontaneous.

Sometimes I'll stick my foot in my mouth, but I say what I feel. If I think my team is unbeatable or whatever, I'll usually say so. There have been some times where we've beaten them and she has said things about equipment, the bars, or judging or whatever.

Whatever, winners make adjustments. So we go back and forth alot, and I probably fuel the fire more with my comments. She's able to keep her Shirley Temple persona, but if you listen to who says what a lot of it starts in Alabama.

I don't mind being the Darth Vader team of the SEC. In fact, 10 years ago we made the decision to just embrace that Darth Vader image, and we wear black everywhere we go on the road. We're an aggressive, confident team. That's our style. That's my style. I like enthusiasm. I like excitement. We've won a lot of championships because of that.

I don't believe in failure. I'd rather go out on a limb now and have it break once and a while than to never go out there. That's just my approach. It's offensive to some people, but it wins for Georgia. So I recruit athletes who can embrace going for it.

We're like Steve Spurrier vs. Georgia. No one in Georgia likes Spurrier because he beats us a lot. (PWD: Inferring that no one in Bama likes them b/c they never beat Georgia anymore).

Sarah is more of a southern lady than I am. She does and says the right thing, and has better manners than I do. But that's not my style. I say what I think.

I respect her. She's had the same challenges at Bama that I have had at UGA.

I don't use nouns when I can use verbs. I don't call my team "underachievers." I say that they are "underachieving." I don't call Sarah Patterson a "loser," I said "don't gripe about losing." I don't hate anything but cauliflower and turnips.

I have never had a girl transfer away from Georgia in my entire career. What other coach in any sport at any school can say that?

The entire interview was a blast. I also did a tongue in cheek article about her feud with Patterson in Feb. 2006. You can find it here. I could do without the off the field non-sense, but her success on the mats and in the classroom are undeniable.

PWD

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