New track coach hopes
to balance career,
marriage
By Paul Trembacki
Sports
Editor
Lissa Olson's office is an amalgamation of pictures
of award-winning athletes, books, videotapes, paperwork and schedules.
But the one item that has its own place, away from
everything else, on its own metal drawer, is a magnetic San Francisco
49ers schedule.
It's a sure sign she plans to make her long-distance
marriage work.
Olson's husband, Greg, accepted a job with the
49ers as quarterbacks coach in March after spending four years in the
same position at Purdue.
Lissa had planned to leave her position as jumps
and sprints coach for the Purdue men's and women's track teams after
last track season to move to San Francisco with Greg. But this summer,
in a move to consolidate the men's and women's track programs, Purdue
offered Lissa the head coaching job of both teams and she took it.
"Obviously being apart is not something we’d
choose, but luckily Greg's very supportive of me and my career," Lissa
said.
"We’re like those married actors you
hear about, where one lives in New York and the other lives in L.A.
and everybody says ‘How do you do that?’ All I say is you
could not do this unless you had a strong marriage. That’s the
way a marriage works – you always want the best for the other person."
Although the track and football seasons don't overlap,
both coaches have year-round duties to keep them occupied.
Recently, Olson has been busy getting several athletes
ready for the World University Games in China. Shaun Guice (high jump),
Carri Long (high jump), Serene Ross (javelin) and Krissy Liphardt (400-meter
dash) left for Beijing today to compete in the games, which will last
from Aug. 27-31.
But with the 49ers' schedule in hand, Lissa knows
she'll see Greg at least once a month during the football season. The
49ers play at Chicago in October, at Indianapolis in November and at
St. Louis in December.
The Olsons, who don't have any children, celebrated
their 10th wedding anniversary on July 6 while they were vacationing
in Washington and California. The announcement of Olson's promotion
came July 10 while she was still out of town. Upon returning from her
vacation, Olson checked her e-mail and found more than 100 messages
from current and former athletes, most of them congratulatory and highly
supportive of her decision to become a head coach.
"I know there’s going to be some bumps
along the road," Lissa said. "I have high expectations for myself though.
What’s important to me is meeting my own expectations."
Olson is the only female heading a men's track
team in the Big Ten, but she doesn’t think that’s an issue
because she’s been coaching men and women all her life.
There is only one other Big Ten coach who oversees
men's and women's programs concurrently — Ohio State's Russ Rogers.
However, Olson is not new to coaching a consolidated squad. She was
the associate head coach of a combined program at her alma mater, Washington
State, from 1995 to 1997, which made her a good fit for the newly created
position.
"We are convinced that a unified program will take
greatest advantage of the skills of our specialty coaches and ensure
the long-term success of the program," associate athletic director Roger
Blalock said at the time. "This provides a better opportunity for our
student athletes to have more one-on-one contact with coaches."
That one-on-one contact is important to Olson.
She doesn’t want the paperwork and other administrative duties
of head coaching to distract her from coaching. She will continue to
coach the jumps and sprints for the men and women, getting out on the
track and working with the athletes as much as possible.
"If I have to be here from 6 in the morning
to 9 at night, I will," she said.
She has the same attitude about finding time to
keep up her relationship with Greg.
"We can make it work," Lissa said. "But
who knows where this is all going to end up?"
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