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AJC > Sports > UGA > Blog > Archives > 2007 > April > 28 > Entry
DEL.ICIO.USAll hail Suzanne Superior!
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
As much as UGA fans grew to hate arrogant, trash-talking, ultra-successful Steve Spurrier during his years with the Gators, we have our own version of him coaching right in Athens.
And Suzanne Yoculan just won her third consecutive national championship and eighth overall in her years at Georgia.
Don’t you love it?
Indeed, the Bulldog Nation has reason to be plenty proud of arrogant, trash-talking, ultra-successful Yoculan’s mighty Gym Dogs. The way Yoculan stomps on other gymnastics programs with her own version of the hobnail boots is reminiscent of Spurrier’s take-no-prisoners style. So we can well understand how the rest of the nation must feel about Yoculan. Heck, even a lot of Bulldogs fans aren’t particularly fond of her thanks at least in part to the in-your-face way she’s conducted her personal life.
But like Gator fans in Spurrier’s heyday, we live with the downside because the upside soars so high.
Yoculan, known for giving the opposition plenty of bulletin-board material, lived up to her brash reputation before Friday’s NCAA final and predicted flatly that if the Gym Dogs were victorious this year she expects to win a FOURTH consecutive national championship again next year. “If we win three, we win four,” she said. “That’s how I look at it, hosting nationals next year [in Athens].”
She’s indicated that she’s likely to retire after next season (though if she doesn’t get that fourth in a row, you’ve got to wonder if she might hang on another year or two so she can go out with yet another national title).
She’d be missed, no doubt. But the thing is, folks close to the UGA gymnastics program say it should survive losing Yoculan just fine. Associate Head Coach Jay Clark gets a lot of behind-the-scenes credit for UGA’s continued domination of women’s gymnastics and is the natural heir apparent.
But let’s give Yoculan the credit any head coach deserves for sustained success. On top of putting together a great staff and recruiting top talent, she seems to have a knack for getting her athletes mentally ready at the right time, with this year (when the Gym Dogs had to overcome injury problems) being a prime example.
Love her or hate her, you can’t ignore Suzanne Yoculan. She won’t allow it.
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Comments
By bigdawg
April 28, 2007 4:22 PM | Link to this
Gymdogs rock! Doesn’t matter what all the haters coming on this board think, UGA has its niche in the sporting world. …can’t help it if everyone is jealous and can’t accept our success
By Lane
April 28, 2007 4:22 PM | Link to this
Great coach, no doubt. Questionable character. Classic, when she referred to Donald Leeburn(?), as her fiance-problem he was married at the time. Chapter 2, Leeburn punches out a guy while walking their dogs-classic Leeburn. Leeburn, was behind hiring Goof, as head coach- if my memory is correct. Leeburn, also hated Dooley. Currently on the Board of Regents-guy is a thug.
By Tom
April 28, 2007 5:37 PM | Link to this
The best part was when asked how many titles this made in a row, she tapped her right hoof three times!
By Tom
April 28, 2007 5:40 PM | Link to this
Lane,
What I can’t figure out is this…..
What is the Board of Regents of the University System of Georgia doing with a liquor-selling sleazeball that doesn’t even have a college degree himself?
By Ol' Dawg
April 28, 2007 5:42 PM | Link to this
Lane,as a dawg we need to get our facts straight! Leeburn is no longer on the Board, his son is. He and Vince fell out of a good friendship over the Yoculan incident it is believed. Rightly so, I say. I know them both personally. By the way, he is still married and it is my understanding his wife will not give him a divorce. I don’t know that for sure, however. Now, about those great Gymdogs! When Yoculan came to UGA, she vowed a NC. Boy, was she confident-and right! If this, along with many of our lesser sports (such as non-revenue producing) continue, we will always have something to brag about as far as NC’s. She has created a dynasty. Boy, to take this away from the Gators is so sweet. They had a super gym team this year and I don’t mind saying I for one was worried. We can always be proud of being Georgia Bulldogs. We have confident professional people at many levels in athletics, and some of our coaches are just plain full of integrity! Now if we had a UGA President…………..
By Pago Pago
April 28, 2007 6:10 PM | Link to this
At last, UGA now has a team that can beat the gators!!!!
By bigdawg
April 28, 2007 11:12 PM | Link to this
Pago, its not the first team to beat the pesky Gators: Don’t forget about Women’s bball, men’s and women’s tennis, Women’s golf
By Gen Neyland
April 28, 2007 11:38 PM | Link to this
Womens Gymnastics…
Back in the 90’s when I lived in MSP, our local high school Girls Gymnastics team won backtoback state championships. My wife taught at the high school. She often told me about the intensity involved, the aches and pains, the ace bandages these girls wear, not to mention morning practices begining at 5AM on school days, and the pride they had in what they did…I can only imagine the work of the ladies at the college level…Congrats to the UGA Women’s Gym Dawgs and coaching staff…
By Pago Pago
April 29, 2007 10:20 AM | Link to this
Yes, I forgot. But not living in The DAWG Nation, I don’t get many scores other than the Gator Bowl…
By Outhouse DaWg.
April 29, 2007 12:12 PM | Link to this
Bill- you realize you just wrote a piece about womens gymnastics? Unless you are talking about their tight butts, please turn in your man card immediately. My god, what has the nation come to?
Also, suzanne is guilty of adultery. Man, I’m so proud.
go dogs.
By Cuz
April 29, 2007 1:10 PM | Link to this
What do you mean turn in your man card. I have been a fan of the Lady Dawgs b-ball team since I was in school over 20 years ago. Andy Landers has kept a cosistent program just unable to get that proverbial NC.
Now we have the incredible three peat Gym Dawgs. Man this group is awesome. Courtney Kupets besides being one of the greatest gymnasts ever attending UGA is also cute as a button. I wonder how many offers of marriage she has gotten so far.
Congradts for the National Championship Gym Dawgs. You make the Bulldawg Nation proud. Go Gym Dawgs.
By Bryan G.
April 29, 2007 1:35 PM | Link to this
Ol Dawg…you are wrong. Don Leebern is still on the Board of Regents unless the Board’s website is playing a funny joke on me. He was reappointed by Sonny Perdue.
I like Yoculan and she’s doing a great job for UGA, but Dooley was right to get p** about her situation with Leebern. It’s shady and reeks of conflicts of interest.
By P-Dawg in Tulsa
April 29, 2007 1:39 PM | Link to this
Congrats GymDawgs!!!
Yoclan is an excellent coach and recruiter. As for her putting down other programs, thats not admirable. However, we all want a winner(not neccessarily at all costs though). As for her personal life, lets leave it personal. Sex and relationships aren’t for any of us to JUDGE, get over yourselves. If a legal issues come up over this we can make judgements all day, until then….. 8 going for 9/ 3 in a row going for 4/ thats AWSOME!!! Thank you Yoclan and team. Go DAWGS!!!!
By yankeedawg
April 29, 2007 3:58 PM | Link to this
Met her at the Augusta Bulldog club event last May, She is the one I would want on my side in a fight!!! She needs to give the before game talk to the football team!
By Cuz
April 29, 2007 5:00 PM | Link to this
Yankeedawg are you in Augusta also? I have a UN observation post here on the west bank of the Savannah to monitor the henhouse across the river.
By MrWrestling#2
April 29, 2007 6:09 PM | Link to this
Say what we will about Suzanne but could you imagine the adoration we would bestow upon a football coach with three NC’s in a row. Heck, I even remember sitting at the Florida game this year wondering, how long is it to Gymnastics season. Congrats to the Gymdogs and the coaching staff for being champs for the third year in a row.
By MadMerf
April 29, 2007 11:19 PM | Link to this
Congrats to Suzanne and the Gym Dawgs for making us proud. Yankeedawg, I’ve met her on a couple of occasions at the Savannah Bulldog Club, and I must say her perfume nearly knocked me down each time! I remember the first time I heard her speak I thought, “Whoa! check out this chick”.
Bill’s comparisons to Spurrier are right on, her antics are pot-stirring and she certainly backs it up. It will be a sad day in Georgia (not just Athens) when she retires. Not looking forward to it, no sir, but I imagine more than a few rival coaches, from Alabama to UCLA, will be partying down when she goes.
I’ll never forget the Fitzringer girl performing a cocky floor routine on ‘Bama’s home stage to an Alabama song, mocking the Tide girls and enraging the Tide fans. It wouldn’t surprise me if Suzanne had something to do with that.
Suzanne has done to the sport of women’s gymnastics what Pat Summitt has done with women’s basketball. She has personally put the sport where it is today. Her show is a hit, she is the ultimate promoter and recruiter, she started the controversial indoor fireworks thing before competitions, and the Steg is always packed, raising more than a few eyebrows from opponets who aren’t familiar with such crowds.
I remember three or four years ago when top ranked UCLA entered Athens for a #1 vs #2 showdown. The favored Bruins were loaded with talent, olympians galore, and UCLA barely won on a near perfect night for both teams. The atmosphere was electric, and the comments from the visitors were flattering following “one for the ages”. One UCLA girl was quoted as saying, “Gosh, what did they have, ten thousand? I know they’re Georgia people, but it’s nice to perform in front of a real crowd”. Another Bruin said that if she lived on the east coast, she would definitely be a dawg. “I can see why these girls come to UGA,” she says, “this is really intense.”
As impressive as this season was, it doesn’t compare to last year’s, when the dawgs went undefeated. They competed against nine of the final top twelve teams, which proves that Yoculan isn’t afraid to schedule the best.
This group may not be undefeated, but it sure is sweet to deny those gators in any sport. I’m not sure who’s coming back for UF next year, but the Gym Dawgs will no doubt be favored for a fourth consecutive NC in 2008. Yoculan rocks, and for those haters out there, they can just “stick it”.
GO DAWGS!!!!!!!!
By YANKEEDAWG
April 30, 2007 8:06 AM | Link to this
Yes Cuz I’m one of those damm yankees that move south and never leaves. I have lived in Augusta since 1978. Fell in love with the Dawgs from my first game. That’s after being born and bred a fighting Irish fan, an an Alum of Rutgers.
By Cuz
April 30, 2007 2:32 PM | Link to this
Yank, I never consider anyone leaving the frozen tundra for the Sunny South a damyankee. I think any Northerner staying where it snows in April a damfool yankee. If you enjoy cold brews I will buy you one sometime. I have lived in Augusta since 1959 with six or so years in Athens persuing beer, women and song. Funny, woke up one morning and they gave me a degree and a road map to get out of the city.
How about that Rutgers 2006 football team. They were fun to watch.
By dawghare
April 30, 2007 5:52 PM | Link to this
Thanks Bill for writing about the Gym Dawgs, though I find inclusion of Coach Yoculan’s personal issues to be unnecessary. It’s an apt comparison between her antics and those of Coach Spurrier, but let’s leave her personal life out of it. That isn’t what earned the program its eighth national title. The gymnasts earned that, and Yoculan was the one who got them to Athens and coached them up to where they are today. Also credit the excellent assistant coaches and support staff.
As for turning in your “man card” as Outhouse DaWg suggested, I have never understood such sentiments from Dawg fans. Hey Outhouse DaWg- if you only care about football and being a bandwagon fan of men’s basketball, fine, but don’t p** on the parade of Bulldog fans who would dare to recognize a national title in one of the so-called “lesser sports.” Appreciating any athlete who sweats and bleeds Red and Black is hardly worth turning in any masculinity credentials. Men’s figure skating? Absolutely. Go ahead and throw your man card in the shredder. But don’t denigrate us or UGA athletes like the Gym Dawgs. When the team shines as they did Friday in Utah, let them have their day in the sun.
Don’t get me wrong- I’d LOVE to see a NC in the money sports (and yeah, it really frosts me that in his second season Meyer’s Gaytors went 12-1 and got to play for the national championship but the 12-1 Dawgs in Richt’s second season got to play a run-of-the-mill FSU team) but I enjoy every championship our athletes win, both conference and especially the NC’s. Hell, even the equestrian team got into the act, even though the NCAA doesn’t sponsor their championships yet.
When Georgia athletes win championships they make all Georgia fans, even the ones who couldn’t care less for their sport, look good. The Gym Dawgs matched the women’s swim team as winners of a three-peat. I don’t care what sport, one NC is difficult, let alone a three-peat. And lest we forget, we have four more great opportunities for NC’s in golf and tennis. When they come through let’s hear it for them, too. And give ‘em credit- the other sports and their championships sure make passing the time between football seasons a lot more fun.
GO GYM DAWGS! Sic ‘Em for a fourth!
By Kendall
May 1, 2007 6:33 AM | Link to this
Next National Championship….Mens Tennis. Now if CMR can just get us one in football, I will be a most happy man.
By dumb dogs
May 1, 2007 10:43 PM | Link to this
Bill, has it gotten so bad that you have to report on gymnastics now? You honeslty never cease to amaze me!
By Bryan
May 2, 2007 1:35 AM | Link to this
I actually live in Lake city Fl. just about 30 minutes from the epicenter of evil Gainesville. I grew up in Tallahassee but was born in Moultrie Ga.
Having to spend time around these idiots here in Florida there was no bulldog fan more happy then I was when I saw that we had won our 3rd straight NC congrats to the gymdawgs they have earned this cheers.
By Jay
May 3, 2007 6:02 PM | Link to this
No one cares about gymnastics. Sorry.
By Bill King
May 3, 2007 6:10 PM | Link to this
The folks who pack the Coliseum for their meets would disagree with you.
By MovieTall1
May 3, 2007 11:27 PM | Link to this
Congratulations Coach Yoculan and the Lady Gym Dogs! I hate the Gators more than any other school, and have my whole life. Now, I can rub all these idiot Gaytwat fans collective noses in the dirt. I don’t care if Yoculan does trash talk, as long as we can beat Florida and Tennessee in anything! GO DAWGS! CLASSY UNIVERSITY, TEAMS, STUDENTS, COACHES, ALUMNI! F* the Gators! THEY ARE LOSERS!
By Bayou Tiger
May 4, 2007 12:04 PM | Link to this
To the moric Gator fan who laughingly boasted safety Reggie Nelson would get drafetd “way ahead” of LSU’s LeRon Landry: We know that you are gramatically challenged judging from your prose; however, did you watch the NFL draft or have somebody read the selections to you? GEAUX TIGERS!
By Hdawgkee
May 8, 2007 12:34 PM | Link to this
Congrats to the Gym Dogs for another great season. Bringing another national championship back to Athens is a great thing, and all of the Bulldog nation is very proud of what you Gym Dogs have accomplished.
By Dave Hasselhoff
May 9, 2007 6:00 AM | Link to this
You folks are pathetic….I guess when you’re Florida’s B*** in major sports, you gotta reach for anything you can find…..
By will
May 10, 2007 11:45 PM | Link to this
Her personal life is none of yours, mine or anybody else’s business. Her coaching record speaks for itself. All those championships, not finishing lower than 3rd in the nation for like 20 years straight… if they don’t build a statue in her honor at the very least a facility should bear her name in the future. The greatest coach in UGA history, period.
By Salty Dawg
May 11, 2007 4:13 AM | Link to this
Any guy who dismisses women’s sports obviously has no respect for women and has never dated one. What they do is awesome and I am 100% proud of them for their accomplishmnet.
BTW, 2006 is the last time UF beats UGA in football for quite some time. Urban Myth is simply UF’s version of Larry Coker.