The 2008 Alabama Gymnastics Guide Section III The Coaching Staff 48-55 2008 Guide to the Crimson Tide 58-59 2008 Crimson Tide Bios 61-75 Roster Breakdown 56-57 Crimson Tide at a Glance 60 Support Staff 76-81 Coaches Sarah & David PATTERSON Significant anniversaries are meant to be celebrated, and this year Sarah and David Patterson have two reasons to look back over their past accomplishments and celebrate. This season is their 30th coaching the University of Alabama Gymnastics team and it is also the 20th anniversary of the Crimson Tide’s first NCAA Championship. “I think it’s very rare that someone discovers what they were meant to do, their life’s work, at the age of 22,” Sarah Patterson said. “I think I was very fortunate to be in the right place at the right time. In my adult life, I’ve only received a paycheck from one place and I think that’s pretty neat.” While Sarah Patterson started with the Crimson Tide seemingly the day after graduating from Slippery Rock University in 1978, David Patterson started coaching Alabama even before he gradu- ated. “To be able to find something that you really love to do, and to be able to make a living doing something that can make a differ- ence in people’s lives, and to find it at such a young age was really a blessing for me,” David Patterson said. “And I think we’re very lucky to be able to do what we love in a place that is truly special. It just doesn’t get any better.” Even though the calendar tells them that this will be their 30th season at Alabama, it doesn’t seem possible that much time has Did You 48 Know? Sarah Patterson has been named National Coach of the Year four times. flown by since the Pattersons coached their most and you could treat your student-athletes And while those numbers just scratch the Alabama’s all-time roster is filled with first practice at the Capstone. as maturing individuals who you want to see surface of the Pattersons’ accomplishments, it highly successful doctors and lawyers, moth- “Day-to-day it doesn’t seem like 30 years,” become better citizens who will continue to does outline a pattern success that is extraor- ers and executives, teachers and engineers Sarah Patterson said. “But then, when I find grow after graduation.“ dinary even among the nation’s elite collegiate and they all share the common thread that time to look back at all we’ve accomplished Alabama followed the 1988 NCAA programs. they learned at Alabama, the habit of winning. over the years it does. For me, each team is so crown with national championships in 1991, But the success that Sarah and David And that fact is probably the greatest single different and each season brings its own chal- 1996 and 2002. The Tide has collected five Patterson are most proud of is that enjoyed measure of Sarah and David Patterson’s three lenges and joys, and that keeps the excitement Southeastern Conference crowns under the by their charges after they leave Alabama. decades of success at Alabama. level very high. It’s why I love what I do.” Pattersons in 1988, 1990, 1995, 2000 and 2003. After spending their collegiate careers at the One of the reasons that the Pattersons have One job, one school, for 30 years is a Success on all levels has been a Patterson Capstone, Tide gymnasts invariably go on to been so successful over the years is that the feat that is exceedingly rare and to have tenants of excellence upon which they maintained such a high level of success have built the Alabama program have over that span of time makes it even been a constant from day one. more impressive. The seeds for that suc- “The core of what we are today cess were planted with the Crimson hasn’t changed from 20, 30 years ago,” Tide’s very first recruiting class. The Sarah Patterson said. “Now we’ve gotten a duo promised that class Alabama would little older and a little wiser, but when you make it to the national championships get right down to we still have the same during their careers. As seniors, that first philosophy, the same goals and the same recruiting class marched into the 1983 drive to succeed on all levels that we did at NCAA Championships where the Tide the start.” finished an amazing fourth at their first national championship appearance. The The Starting Point Crimson Tide has not missed an NCAA That start came at a point in time Championship appearance since, mak- when Alabama Gymnastics was a strug- ing it 25 in a row last season, the second gling program. The Tide hadn’t enjoyed longest streak in the history of collegiate a winning season or even the same coach gymnastics. in its four years prior to Sarah taking the During that 25 year span, Alabama has helm as head coach. In fact, Sarah had won four NCAA Championships and fin- been hired as an assistant coach for the ished in the top six 23 times. The Tide has program’s fifth year, but received a letter also finished in the ‘final four’ an NCAA- during the summer before she arrived best 21 times. on campus that changed her life and The first of those championships came Alabama’s fortunes. in 1988 and it cemented the Tide’s place “I was going to be the assistant among the nation’s elite program and gave trademark throughout their careers. In addi- lead lives of distinction, both professionally coach,” Sarah remembers. “But I got a letter credence to the coaching philosophy that tion to the Tide’s success as a team, indi- and personally. during the summer saying the previous coach Sarah and David Patterson had utilized since vidually, Alabama gymnasts have earned “Winning championships never grows had left and did I want to be the head coach. day one of their coaching career. 223 All-American honors and 21 NCAA old,” Sarah Patterson said. “And I have thor- I asked my coach at Slippery Rock, Cheryl “For David and I, that championship Championships. Six times a Patterson-coached oughly enjoyed watching our ladies take home Levick about it and she told me that it would validated our coaching philosophy of being athlete has earned the Honda Award, given conference and national awards and champi- be a great place to build a program.” a balanced program, striving for success ath- annually to the nation’s top gymnast. onships, but there is nothing like the sense of Upon her arrival, Sarah found a program letically, academically and socially,” Sarah Patterson-coached athletes have earned 18 satisfaction I get watching our ladies go out on its last leg. The 22-year-old New York Patterson said. “It proved you could have that NCAA and Southeastern Conference post- into the world and use what they learned at native was the Tide’s fifth coach in as many philosophy, those priorities. It proved you graduate scholarships another figure that is Alabama, both in the classroom and in the years. After four losing seasons, no one expect- could coach for a championship, you could best in the nation as well as 115 Scholastic All- gym, to make themselves successful. It is sim- ed success, except Sarah. instill that academic success was first and fore- American and 171 Academic All-SEC honors. ply the best feeling in the world.” After getting the Alabama job, she put in Tide Timeline March 20, 1995 - Ground is broken on Alabama’s state-of-the-art gymnastics practice facility. Alabama will move into the facility in August 1996. 49 the sense of accomplishment that working in Sarah Patterson Career Capsule the community gives, then when they gradu- Education: Slippery Rock State College (Penn.), 1978 ate and go out into the world, they will have Major: Physical education gained so much from that experience that they will always be giving people. That’s something HONORS: that’s very important.” — Alabama Sports Hall of Fame (inducted March 2003) Supporting the Crimson Tide — National Coach of the Year One offshoot of Alabama’s success in the - 2002, 1991, 1988 & 1986 gym and the classroom, as well as its commit- — SEC Coach of the Year ment to community service is an ever-growing fan base. - 1985, 1995 & 2000 “Our fans come in the years that we finish — 1997 U.S. World University Games second, third or fifth at the national champi- coach (silver medal) onships as much as they do the years that we — 1983 U.S. World University Games coach win it all,” Sarah Patterson said. “I think that’s — Honorary member of The University of Alabama because of what the program stands for. It’s National Alumni Association not just winning. It’s the type of people who — Alabama State Gymnastics Association Coach of a call to David Patterson, an Alabama diver program, he’s much more comfortable in the are involved in the program, the emphasis on the Year 1978-79 whom she had worked with the summer before background, providing the plan and structure.” being involved in the community and academ- at a gym in Huntsville, Ala. With the lure of a With Sarah and David in place, the differ- ics; it’s the total package. That’s why people ADMINISTRATION: leftover women’s basketball scholarship, David ence was immediately discernible. Excellence support us” — Associate Athletic Director, 1985-present joined the gymnastics program.