Interview: Joan McNaughton

Joan McNaughton's teaching career spanned thirty-four years, starting in Osceola, WI, and ending at Minneapolis Southwest, with a stint at Minneapolis Roosevelt along the way. Her coaching career began during the 1976-77 season at Southwest. She is in a unique position, both as a pioneer female head coach and as the coach of an urban nordic team. Though now retired from teaching English, she continues to coach.

• Skinnyski: You and Gary Wald at Washburn were the Minneapolis City Conference for years-you kept it alive. Did you feel like an orphan?

  McNaughton: Not really, because when I started, there were ten teams in the city. And jumping and alpine were a part of the programs. Now though, there are just three teams.

• Skinnyski: You told me at Elm Creek that you might step down if a coach could be found, but that you had a concern about the program folding if a coach couldn't be located.

  McNaughton: Yes, that's true. It would have to be a teacher or someone who has a real love for the sport, because the financing isn't always the best.

• Skinnyski: I see that Henry still has their team going.

  McNaughton: Edison tried for a time too, but they just couldn't sustain it. They had no equipment-their kids would show up at the Conference on wooden skis.

• Skinnyski: Where do you practice?

  McNaughton: We go to Wirth. City schools don't dismiss until 3:10, and that makes it hard to go very far. And Wirth keeps the clubhouse open for us. They're great that way.

• Skinnyski: How many kids do you have?

  McNaughton: Usually around forty, but on any given day, it's about twenty-five to thirty.

• Skinnyski: Rol Ring-Jarvi and Melinda Silbernick talked about the changes they've seen in their careers. How about you?

  McNaughton: The biggest one, I think, is in the technical side. Equipment is better and grooming is way ahead of what it was. My kids never knew what a set track was for years; we usually just skied them in. And kids can't just come out as ninth or tenth graders anymore and have much success. They need earlier training or a skiing family.

• Skinnyski: It must have worked, since you had four women's teams qualify for State, along with lots of individuals.

  McNaughton: Well, the kids just worked hard at it.

• Skinnyski: You mentioned that you often saw that the girls were much more willing to practice and work, but that the boys were more competitive on race day.

  McNaughton: I had numbers of girls that were content to stay at the JV level and not compete on the Varsity. But the girls' teams went to State more often.

• Skinnyski: I had a few girls that wouldn't pass one of their teammates in a race.

  McNaughton: I saw that too.

• Skinnyski: You coached both the men's and women's teams, and had to be one of the few women head coaches around.

  McNaughton: Judy Young was an assistant at Washburn for years. I can't recall any other women from the early years. Really, there weren't a lot of women with a skiing background then. I remember, early in the Birkie, there weren't more than a hundred women racing.

• Skinnyski: Did you ever feel any pressure because of your pioneer status?

  McNaughton: No, not really. We did have trouble trying to get a locker room-we couldn't get one.

• Skinnyski: Have you had skiers go on to be coaches?

  McNaughton: Yes. Pete Moran was at Irondale and Stephanie Simmons was at Blake for a time. Sarah Rohwedder is my assistant now.

• Skinnyski: Back to the early years of coaching-you've experienced every kind of winter we could have. What did you do with those snowless open winters?

  McNaughton: Same thing we do now. We run, hill bound and go to the weight room. Roller skis are great but that gets tough when the snow leaves and only ice and slush are left on the roads.

• Skinnyski: How about other changes?

  McNaughton: I think we really made a good change when we dropped the 10Km classic for boys. That was the toughest thing in high school athletics, by far. I'm glad we got the season extended too, though I've heard that was due to a clerical error at the League office that year.

• Skinnyski: I recall from meetings with other coaches that there some resistance, but we were the only country whose juniors were racing at that distance.. And Ahvo used to say that we race our younger kids too often and too long. We need shorter distances. Wouldn't it be fun to add that sprint format to the State Coaches' Relay at the Ridge?

  McNaughton: Some of our kids are going over for the sprints at Battle Creek. They're exciting and fun.

• Skinnyski: I keep seeing you at various races, winter and summer. What's up for you personally?

  McNaughton: I'm off for Seeley Hills.

• Skinnyski: Do you prefer classic?

  McNaughton: It depends on the conditions, cold, soft snow for classic and skating when it's warmer. I like both. I like the 42km classic at Mora.

• Skinnyski: How about the Birkie?

  McNaughton: I love it, it's really a special atmosphere. Tony Wise really had a great idea. The combination of the course and the atmosphere is something. Transportation can make it a problem for your start time sometimes.

• Skinnyski: You mentioned many years at the Pepsi.

  McNaughton: I really like that race, and I was a Founder for it. I did it eleven years running. But they keep changing the weekend, so I've not gone recently.

• Skinnyski: How about the summers?

  McNaughton: Fat Tire is great and I do several road bike races too. I like the ones in western Wisconsin.

• Skinnyski: What does the future hold for you?

  McNaughton: Keep going until the parts wear out! It's getting tougher. I am getting back into photography, an early passion of mine. And I keep my garden going.

• Skinnyski: Thanks for all of your hard work at Southwest.

  McNaughton: You need to be flexible-then it all works out.

Dennis (Denny) Nelson coached at Coon Rapids High School for 18 seasons before retiring. He's still very active in the ski community, volunteering at Champlin Park and area races, and can usually be found in the Fall working out with the WAM-XC group. Denny has graciously offered to do a series of interviews for us with some of the legends in high school nordic coaching.