2009 All-Time Great Coach: Sue Gozansky

Sue Gozansky
2009 All-Time Great Coach Award - Contemporary Division

Sue Gozansky overcame a youth void of organized athletics for women to become a successful collegiate athlete and later a Hall of Fame coach. In the process, she served in many pioneering roles in advancing women's athletics, and volleyball in particular, through her administrative and coaching skills.

Despite attending Ganesha High School in Pomona, Calif., during an era when it and many other high schools did not offer sports for girls, Sue became an accomplished student-athlete at Cal Poly Pomona where she was a five-sport letterwinner at Cal Poly. She earned back-to-back athlete of the year awards after lettering in volleyball, basketball, badminton, softball and track and field.

Sue did not spend all her time playing sports while at Cal Poly. She excelled in the classroom, receiving a degree in physical education/social sciences in 1968.

After a brief stint with the U.S. Women's National Volleyball Team in 1970, Sue resumed her collegiate volleyball and basketball careers at UCLA while studying for her master's degree in kinesiology. She later went on to complete her master's degree in 1975.

At the same time, Sue's four-decade long coaching career took off as well in 1970 after accepting the head volleyball and tennis coach positions at University of California at Riverside. During her early years of women's sports at the school, Sue served as the primary representative for women's athletics at UCR and represented the Highlanders at the first Association for Intercollegiate Athletics for Women (AIAW) delegate assembly in 1971.

When the NCAA started to officially recognize women's sports in 1981, Sue served on the first women's volleyball committee. In 1990, she was recognized by the NCAA for 10 years of accomplishments and dedication to NCAA Division II volleyball.

As much as she pioneered women's collegiate volleyball from an administrative role, Sue also made her mark as a collegiate volleyball coach at UCR. At the conclusion of the 2008 volleyball season, she announced her retirement from the Highlander volleyball program after 39 years in Riverside. At the time of her retirement, Sue had the second longest tenure among volleyball coaches at the NCAA Division I level, trailing only UCLA Head Coach Andy Banachowski's 40 years with the Bruins.

Along the way, Sue collected 680 wins in 1,215 collegiate matches as a head coach. She also helped the Highlanders navigate from the AIAW Small College ranks to NCAA Division II and finally the NCAA Division I level.

Under Sue's tutelage, the Highlanders won three national titles, including the 1977 AIAW Small College Championship and the 1982 and 1986 NCAA Division II titles. At one point during her coaching career, Sue helped the Highlanders to 20 consecutive playoff appearances from 1973 to 1993. She was voted the California Collegiate Athletic Association Coach of the Year five times. Sue compiled 612 of her career wins in 989 matches at the NCAA Division II level.

However, Sue also led the Highlanders' transition from NCAA Division II to NCAA Division I and the Big West Conference starting in 2001. In 2005, UC Riverside tallied a team-record 16-11 record as a Division I program.

And what might get lost in Sue's coaching career is a five-year tenure leading the men's volleyball program at UC Riverside.

Sue has had the opportunity to draw up Xs and Os on the international level as well. She has coached at the Olympic Sports Festivals as well as the USA Volleyball Women's B team consisting of players being considered for roster spots. Further, Sue served as head coach of both the men's and women's volleyball teams for the quadrennial Maccabiah Games in Israel in 1981, 1985, 1989 and 1993.

Sue has also given back to the sport of volleyball as a coaching mentor. She is a cadre member of the USA Volleyball Coaching Accreditation Program and a certified instructor for the FIVB. In the spring of 200, she concluded work on her second book - the "Volleyball Coach's Survival Guide" - which is used as the textbook for USA Volleyball's CAP Level II course. Sue first work - "Championship Volleyball Complete Book of Techniques and Drills" - is also a top seller.

Sue coached the Kingdom of Tonga men's and women's national teams in preparation for the Mini South Pacific Games in the summer of 1997. Sue has been a clinician at over 100 coaching clinics in more than 35 countries, including China, Germany, Dominican Republic, Spain, Malaga, the Island of Dominica and Belize. She visited Grenada as part of a program to get volleyball re-introduced into the secondary school curriculum, followed by trips to the islands of St. Kitts, St. Lucia and St. Vincent in 2006 and St. Croix and Antigua in 2007.

Throughout her career, Sue has been recognized by her tremendous accomplishments. In 1981, she was honored with the Cal Poly Outstanding Alumnus Award. In 1986, Sue was again honored by her alma mater with induction into the inaugural class of the Cal Poly Athletic Hall of Fame. She was named to the NCAA Division II Women's Volleyball 25th Anniversary Team in 2005. And in 2006, the American Volleyball Coaches Association called Sue's name as part of its Hall of Fame class.

Sue Gozansky, a pioneering women's volleyball coach who has provided opportunities for hundreds of young women to enjoy our sport in the United States and abroad.