Feature Story

A regimental review was held at the U.S. Coast Guard Academy in New London, Conn., Thursday, April 14, 2011, in honor of Dr. Ray Cieplik, the academy's director of athletics, commemorating his more than 40 years of service to the CGA. Cieplik first served as the head coach of the men’s soccer team in 1970 before accepting the position as Athletic Director in June of 1999. He is scheduled to retire June 25. Coach Cieplik’s contributions to the Coast Guard influenced more than four decades of cadets that have gone on to become officers in the Coast Guard. U.S. Coast Guard photo by Petty Officer 2nd Class Timothy Tamargo

1. What was it about the Coast Guard Academy that brought you here?

I had some contact by officiating a gymnastics meet here when I was employed elsewhere, and heard there might be an opening for a men’s head soccer coach at some time in the future.  I had not thought much about it, but when I received a call about it some months later, I applied, interviewed and got the job.  It was a chance to be a head coach at a young age, and I never would have thought I would still be here over 40 years later.

2. Why did you choose to stick with the Coast Guard for so many years?

When I first arrived here, I can honestly state that I really didn’t fully know what I was in for, other than having a great opportunity at a young age.  As the years went by, I came to realize that this was such a great place to grow professionally and personally, to be able to have some small part in developing leaders for a great, humanitarian service.

3. How does your wife/family feel about the years you’ve spent working for the Coast Guard?

I think we have all grown up together here in our own way.  My wife has been an absolute saint and has taken on a tremendous amount of the workload at home through the years while I spent a lot of time on the job.  She has been a true partner in this experience, being with me at contests and hosting and getting to know cadets and their families.  We have three sons, and being around cadets all through the years and having them at our home, has created lifelong friendships that our entire family can appreciate.  It has truly been a family effort.

4. How has CGA changed during your time here?

I think the overall approach to more positive leadership methods has been evident.  There is still discipline and structure, but the outcome seems to be more constructive.  In the past there sometimes seemed to be pride in going through a tough, miserable experience, but I think that has changed.

5. How has working at CGA changed you personally? Professionally?

My experiences here through the years have allowed me to fulfill my personal and professional goals more than I could have imagined when I arrived.  I have had the opportunity to take advantage of educational opportunities to advance myself academically, the opportunity to serve in professional organizations while representing CGA, and the opportunity to provide leadership for what I consider one of the most impactful departments at the Academy, the Athletic Division.  So, like the adage goes, I have received every bit as much as I have given.

6. During the course of your career, what drove you to continue serving the cadets and the academy?

Being made to feel like part of the Coast Guard family is inspiring and motivating.  When you receive some positive feedback (e.g. from cadets and parents) that what you are doing is meaningful, you tend to give back even more and become more immersed in the job.

7. What have been some of your challenges at CGA and how did you overcome them?

I’m not sure that I have had any insurmountable challenges.  But when someone who has not been through the academy experience arrives here, there is a learning curve that is different from the civilian world.  Adapting to a service academy’s way of doing business takes some time.  Simple things, like not being able to get the student-athletes at the times you would like to get them.  But once you adapt, you find that there are built-in advantages with structure.

8. Can you briefly give some background on your overall philosophy for preparing cadet athletes?

My philosophy for preparing cadets is that athletics provides them with another area to excel to help them become better leaders and will complement their academic and military preparation.

9. Why do you say Division 3 athletics is the last bastion of true athletics?

Division 3 stipulates that financial aid can only be received based upon need, and as important as athletics is to the participant, we want them to experience other worthwhile endeavors on their campuses.  This approach hopefully allows for a great experience while they compete as tenaciously as any college athlete in America, yet allows for balance in their lives.

10. What, in your opinion, makes a good student athlete?

Someone with a good background in his or her particular sport, who has not only been gifted genetically with talent in that sport, but with the willingness to accept direction to make them better.  And as important, one who has a great work ethic.  You can never overestimate the role of effort in helping to neutralize the lack of pure ability.  And, you can’t forget the “student” part of the “student athlete”.  A good student athlete cannot disregard the academic part of the dimension, though they might sometimes get more immediate positive feedback from the athletic component.

11. What leadership lessons can cadets learn on the playing field?  How does the cadet athletic experience translate to the fleet?

Athletics experiences should mirror real life: goal setting, commitment to the task, teamwork, perseverance, responding to adversity and learning how to compete ethically.  Most of our athletes and teams experience a significant share of victories and personal achievements, but certainly there are times they don’t succeed, and they have to take the time to analyze why and how they can improve upon their performance.  I would like to think that approach has relevance to other parts of their lives, including when they enter the fleet and deal with professional situations and in managing people.

12. How important do you believe college athletics have been to the cadets you have seen graduate?

For four decades I have experienced former cadets returning to the academy and stating that “if it wasn’t for sports participation, they would not have made it through the academy”.  While that may seem like an overstatement, to them it was not.  This can be a hard place, and coming down at 4 a.m. each day to practice and compete allows for a bit of escape, though they are working just as hard in a different kind of environment.  And most will provide testimony to the fact that they learned some of their most valuable leadership lessons in the athletic environment.

13. What have been some of your greatest victories? What did you learn from them?

There were a couple of regional tournament championships that come to mind.  But over time, I have learned that sometimes it is better to be lucky than good.  The so-called victories come in increments and sometimes are not reflected in the box score, such as seeing your athletes mature and improve.  I mentioned earlier that effort can sometimes overcome pure talent, and that is a great lesson to be learned.  I have learned that sometimes in athletics the best team, or the team that played the best that day, does not always win.  And after winning a couple of tournaments, I learned that in some years there seemed to be a kind of chemistry that was hard to define, and you would like to bottle it.  Like anything else where success is attained, you try to analyze why it happened and then try to replicate that same formula. 

14. The top CGA sports memory that I am fond of telling others is …

People often ask about the time we gave a goal back when an official erred by allowing a goal to stand after we had too many players on the field.  At halftime we asked to have the goal taken off the board, and our cadets learned a valuable lesson in ethics and integrity.  As fate would have it, we scored in the second half and won the game, so all turned out well.  

15. What have been some of your most memorable moments as CGA? 

This is a very difficult question, and I’m not sure I can provide a reasonable or articulate answer.  I have had the great fortune of being a faculty member, a coach, an administrator and a parent of two academy graduates.  So all of those experiences bring with them a lot of memories.  I have had an opportunity to teach cadets from all areas of the academy, not just cadet athletes; the opportunity to coach in three different sports with different kinds of athletes, and to experience success in each of those; a chance to lead division (Athletic Division) personnel that have a great impact on the institution by recruiting and developing great leaders; to advocate for our division’s place at this institution; and my wife and I have had the opportunity to see two of our sons matriculate as cadets and go through the process first hand as parents.

16. What mentors have you had at CGA and what was their impact on you?

I learned a lot by watching and listening to the colleagues I had when I arrived here.  They  were of immense benefit to me through the years and also the leadership of our Athletic Division over the years.  People like our previous athletic directors and department heads.

17. The best advice I ever received was …

Really two points.  One, learn how to deal with people.  Two, if you are in a leadership position, work to hire the best people and then let them do their jobs.  Hiring the right people takes care of a lot of issues.

18. What advice would you give to the next athletic director who works here?

The simple advice is to be involved in all facets of academy life and enjoy the experience.  Get to as many events as possible to get to know the cadets.  That is the joy of the job.

19. Where do you think CGA sports will be 40 years from now?

I would hope we would continue to make strides to keep our cadet programs competitive and to respond to trends that are taking place on the national scene.  Since we are an institution that has national outreach, I think it is important that we continue to offer those programs that are attractive in mainstream America, and to resource them in a way to allow the cadets to be as successful as they are.

20. If I had it all to do over again, I would …

Most likely choose the same path.  I have had great opportunities to fulfill all of the professional and personal accomplishments that I could have wished for and hopefully given back an equal amount of dedicated service to the institution.