MAC Coaches of the Year - Tom Chorny, Carolyn Condit and Inako Puzo
For the just-completed fall 2018 season, Miami athletics reached a milestone as three Miami coaches were honored as Coach of the Year in the Mid-American Conference: Carolyn Condit of volleyball, Inako Puzo of field hockey, and Tom Chorny of men’s cross country.
They come from different experiences at Miami. Coach Condit has been here for 35 years – she has been on the sideline for more victories than any coach in Miami history – while Coach Chorny arrived as director of track & field and cross country in 2016, and Coach Puzo just completed his eighth season at the helm of the field hockey program.
I believe that great intercollegiate athletic programs thrive because they promote excellence – just like great universities. Our “Graduating Champions” mantra in athletics is a perfect statement of Miami’s values, promoting excellence inside and outside of the classroom. We asked all three of these coaches about how they help their student-athletes compete and excel.
Coach Puzo, what is the secret to winning consistently?
Coach Puzo: I do not think anyone has a secret recipe that ensures that you win all the time. We do not even focus on winning. The words “win” and “championships” do not appear in our team mission statement or our goals. Our goals are focused on the development of our student-athletes, as students, as athletes and more importantly, as people. If we maximize their development, we have a very good shot to have success as a team.
Coach Chorny, as a relatively new coach at Miami, what have you learned about the student-athlete experience here?
Coach Chorny: The student-athletes here at Miami are some of the hardest-working kids I've seen. Miami offers some challenging degrees and it's often not an easy task to handle the workload of both academics and athletics. It seems that those athletes who figure out how to balance the intensity of both tend to thrive a bit more than the others – but all of them show up day after day, fighting to get better.
Coach Condit, why have you stayed so long at Miami?
Coach Condit: Originally I thought I would coach at Miami for three or four years, and then move on. As I headed into my eighth year, then my ninth …. I certainly was enjoying the caliber of student-athletes that Miami's academic reputation helped me recruit. I was also enjoying the team-building aspect, which was essential for winning, and the gender equity challenges that allowed me to positively influence progress for our female student-athletes and coaches. Time was flying by, and the job of coaching and recruiting left little time or need for me to count the years. And thankfully, I was not asked to leave!
What are your core values as a coach?
Coach Puzo: Respect, ownership, and honor.
Coach Condit: Honesty, loyalty, and charity – coach to player, player to coach, player to player … Beyond these, I believe there has to be order and self-discipline within the team and coaching staff to find success at a high level. It is important to empower our student-athletes to think for themselves and to be problem solvers. The less “coach-controlled” the culture, and the more autonomy a team is given, the more they will excel with one another.
Coach Chorny: As a coach, I want to see everyone get better and have their own individual successes. I also want to win, so we hold an elite vision for the program. Ultimately, we recruit athletes who have already achieved a lot of success or show a huge amount of untapped potential. I try to get them to understand that we don't necessarily get better by running an intense workout, but only once we recover from it. This means that each athlete is very much in charge of their own recovery and this requires them to display or develop a lot of independence and maturity.
What makes your Miami student-athletes exceptional?
Coach Puzo: I think that anyone who commits to play Division I sports, and honors that commitment, already is an exceptional person. Playing sports at this level takes much more than talent. Being a part of our program requires discipline, hard work, integrity, and passion. My student-athletes are exceptional because they are fully committed to being part of something big.
Coach Condit: First, their courage and resilience on the court has been a huge bonus. Second, their pride in representing Miami, how much they enjoy competing with their teammates. And third, their work ethic in pursuing Miami degrees, and how well they manage their academic courses through 20-hour weeks playing volleyball. They are not complainers! How blessed I have been to work with this team!
Coach Chorny: Our student-athletes are extremely driven and they don't settle for mediocrity. Combine this with the fact that they are very genuine and down to earth, and you get a really great group of human beings.
What one word describes this year’s team?
Coach Puzo: Grit
Coach Condit: Winners
Coach Chorny: Focused
