Princeton University Athletics
Company Man
August 01, 2000 | General
He's a throw back, to a time when everyone used words like "neat" and phrases like "good fun" and ended sentences with exclamation points. He's right out of some yearbook, circa 1950-something, when everyone looked as clean-cut as he still does today.
On his worst day you couldn't wipe the smile off Bob Callahan's face. Today, well, he just beams.
And why not? Callahan coaches the Princeton men's squash team, a team that is coming off a season that proves that sometimes good things find their way to good people.
Callahan, coaching a unique mix of dynamic freshmen added to the best player he's ever had, led the Tigers to a dramatic 5-4 win over Harvard in February to win the outright Ivy League championship for the first time since 1982. Even a late-season loss to No. 1 Trinity and then a third-place finish in the national tournament couldn't put a damper on that outcome.
The season then culminated with a dominating performance by No. 1 player Peter Yik to win the individual national championship. Yik tore through the field without losing a game.
"I am thrilled with this season's outcome," says Callahan. "To win the Ivy League title, to have Peter Yik repeat as the individual champion and win the prestigious Skillman Award for sportsmanship, to have the team win the Barnaby Award for team sportsmanship and to have five players named to the scholar-athlete team is just great. I couldn't be happier. It's a great bunch of guys, and they deserve all the best."
Callahan's perspective on the world is certainly an interesting one. From his office on C level of Jadwin Gym, Callahan and women's coach Gail Ramsay oversee the beautiful new squash facility.
Their offices sit directly across from Jadwin's Zanfrini Room, which serves as the media room for men's basketball games and luncheons. The media doesn't often filter its way to the squash offices, which could be a sore spot for some. Not for Bob Callahan, though. He knows he's found his niche at Princeton, and he's thriving in it.
Not bad for an IBM guy.
"After college I worked at IBM for four years," Callahan says. "Then [former athletic director] Bob Myslik asked me to help on the search committee for the squash coaching position. The more I helped, the more I realized that I might love the job. One day I sheepishly asked Mr. Myslik if Princeton might consider me as an applicant."
If that sounds random, then consider how Callahan came to Princeton in the first place, as a student in the early '70s.
"I came to Princeton as a tennis recruit," he says. "I played squash in high school, but I didn't like it nearly as much as tennis. When I arrived at Princeton my freshman year, the squash captain asked me to try out for the team. I did so sort of grudgingly. It was the best thing I ever did. I played tennis on the team for four years, but squash had taken center stage for me."
Callahan was Princeton's No. 1 player his final two years, and he was named first-team All-America twice. He led the Tigers to three national championships, including one as a senior in 1977.
Even after Callahan jumped into the head squash and assistant tennis coaching position, he didn't envision his career path as being solidified.
"I figured I'd stay here three years tops," he says. "Then I figured I'd go to business school. Instead, after being here a year, I knew I had found the right place for me."
In his first year as head coach he led the Tigers to an undefeated season, the Ivy League title and the national championship. Callahan's teams have compiled an Ivy League record of 68-20 and an overall mark of 171-31. Princeton, consistently ranked among the nation's top three teams, also won the 1993 national title.
Beyond that, Callahan has risen to the challenge of promoting his sport, which routinely draws large crowds to Jadwin.
To that end Callahan is director of the U.S. junior development for squash. In the summer he directs the prestigious Princeton Junior Squash Training Center, which annually attracts the top 300 junior squash players in America. He also served as the tournament director for the World Junior Championships at Princeton in 1998, the first time the event had been held in the United States.
"My goal since I arrived on campus as coach 18 years ago was to not only guide our squash team but also to do everything I could to help the sport of squash grow," he says. "We started our summer camp in 1982, and it has grown to be the largest in the country. We started an adult camp for folks who took up the game later in life and still want to improve. We started a junior squash tournament for kids ages 10 to 18, and it is now the largest junior tournament in the country. We founded the first National Training Center program. We started the first coaching academy aimed at bringing together high school, college and club coaches for extensive training. I even used to fly out after practice Friday evening to cities all around the country to run weekend clinics for aspiring players who didn't have access to teaching professionals, but that got to be a little much."
Callahan's program is primed for even greater success, especially considering the four freshmen in Princeton's top six last year. His work at the 1998 World Junior Championships has opened up doors internationally for the Tigers.
Still, he does have his own personal five-man rotation to fall back on, sons Gregory (17), Tim (15), Scott (13) and twins Peter and Matthew (11). All are nationally ranked in their age groups. Should they come to Princeton, whose program they've grown up around, they'll find a most amiable coach waiting for them.
"Coaching," Callahan says, "is about knowing your sport, setting clear goals and expectations, developing a team culture, earning player's trust, helping each player reach their goals, being consistent, being optimistic, being demanding and stressing the highest level of sportsmanship at all times. Players are shaped by their athletic experience, not only the wins and losses and hard work and discipline but the off-the-court stuff as well. Six hour van rides. The practical jokes. The nicknames. The team spirit. Playing on a college athletic team is a special time and experience. You're part of a bunch of guys you would do anything for and will remember the rest of your life. It means a lot to me that I can be a part of that experience and that I can help influence their growth. I hope I help make the experience as rewarding for them as it is for me."
Basketball, football or squash, it doesn't matter. So what if that doesn't sound very cool by today's standards.
It's just how Bob Callahan is, and that's a good thing. Coaches this solid don't come around too often.
Princeton is lucky this one has stayed as long as he has.
by Jerry Price