May 1, 2006
Illinois State student-athletes are the only students lucky enough to have the Paskas on their team. With Steve Paska having 20 years experience as head swimming and diving coach and Julie Paska having 15 years experience of student-athlete advising, it's plain to see that student-athletes come first for them.
The Paskas celebrate their 18th wedding anniversary in June in Bloomington-Normal; the same place they met 20 years ago--the Illinois State campus.
It was fate for ISU swimmer Steve and Redbird volleyball player Julie to meet at Illinois State. After both were student-athletes and earned degrees at Illinois State, Steve left the campus for three months before knowing he wanted to come back and Julie left to coach volleyball at Northern Illinois, but knew it wasn't right either.
"When I went to NIU for a year, I just really missed being here," Julie said. "I had played here and I just believed so much in what they were doing as a department, so I knew I had to come back."
The Paska family still keeps in touch with their old friends from their younger days at Illinois State. Steve and Wendy Gates--now Dr. Wendy Troxel--worked together as graduate assistants in the athletic department while Cindy Harris and Julie were teammates at Illinois State.
Troxel remembers when Steve and Julie got together.
"We had a fun group of `peons' that hung together both socially and professionally," Troxel, now an assistant professor in educational administration at Illinois State, said. "I remember clearly the day that Steve told me, `You know, I think I'm really attracted to Julie Mueller!' They started dating, and the rest was history."
The Paskas aren't only celebrating their wedding anniversary this year but also career anniversaries. Steve received his award for being the head swimming coach for 20 years at Illinois State and Julie was honored for being dedicated to student-athletes as an advisor for 15 years.
"It's been a great run and I can't believe it's been 20 years," Steve said.
Those 20 years probably flew by with the help of the Paskas' three children: Matt who is 16, stands 6-foot-5 and plays varsity basketball and baseball; Dusty who is 15, stands 6-foot-3 and plays baseball; nine-year-old Jill is on a club volleyball team--choosing a sport that her mother and aunts played in high school and college. With all of his kids' activities, plus his career, Steve may feel like he has more responsibility than just being a father of three.
"Steve has 40 swimmers that he's responsible for 24/7 and I don't have that so I take control of the kids' schedule, and I let him know when he needs to drive," Julie said. "But we do share the work 50/50."
Julie understands Steve's hectic schedule as head swimming and diving coach because she coached volleyball at Illinois State, Northern Illinois and Illinois Wesleyan in the 1980s.
"We had winning teams at Illinois State and won conference twice while I was coaching," Julie said. "I think maybe I should have kept coaching since we won every year."
The question of why Julie doesn't go back to coaching has not only been on her mind but on a lot of her old teammates minds as well.
"A lot of my teammates are coaching now, but they don't have husbands that are coaching as well. It is just tough to have two Division I coaches in the house, who are traveling so much when the seasons overlap," Julie said.
Having three children makes it impossible for both parents to be Division I coaches since the kids are so busy with sport activities of their own.
"They have great kids who definitely haven't fallen too far from the tree," said Harris, who works with both Paskas now as the assistant athletic director for compliance at Illinois State.
Steve, who credits the childrens' talent and attractiveness to Julie, begs to differ with Harris when it comes to their kids' athleticism.
"They didn't get their athletic ability from yours truly," Steve said. "Watching Julie play volleyball it's easy to tell that's where my sons get their athletic ability; they can jump, they're fast and they have the true competitiveness that Julie had."
Although Steve was a top competitive swimmer at Illinois State, he isn't wrong about Julie's skills and competitiveness. One of the greatest volleyball players in Redbird history, Julie played on Illinois State teams which won four straight conference volleyball championships. Individually, Julie was a three-time all-Gateway Conference selection and attained second-team all-America honors as a senior. Her maiden name, Julie Mueller, still is prominent in the Redbird record book.
The Paska children may have gained their athletic ability from their mother but they certainly are lucky to have the guidance of a father who has been honored "coach of the year" 11 times.
"Redbirds through and through," Harris said. "I think one Redbird in the house is awesome, but two like Julie and Steve, that's something special for sure."
The two Redbirds are helpful at home when it comes to advising their children academically for their future college careers and dealing with coaches.
"I think both of us working at the university has really been a good influence on our kids," Julie said. "We are hands off when it comes to their coaches--the kids are responsible for their sport and it's helped them grow up. We treat their coaches how we want to be treated as coaches."
The amount of guidance and motivation the Paskas provide at home doesn't stop there. Julie is in charge of guiding incoming student-athletes academically, while Steve must support his entire team daily.
"Their dedication to Illinois State University is legendary . . . they both have an amazing ability to mix tradition with innovation and progressive thinking," Troxel said. "That makes life better for the students they work with, and the university is a stronger place for them having been a part of the educational process."
Twenty years of putting others first would seem to put strain on a marriage, but that is quite the opposite for the Paskas.
"Without her I don't see myself being here because one of the reasons I love her terribly is because she's a great listener and we understand what both our jobs entail," Steve said. "She doesn't pry into trying to become a swim coach and I don't try to be an advisor, but being around athletics is something that our marriage was set up to be."
It seems the only thing this couple may possibly argue about would be baseball: Steve, a Chicagoan, pulls for the Cubs; Julie, from the metro St. Louis area, is a Cardinal fan.
Luckily they're in the middle ground at Illinois State, where the rooting interests between teams is almost equal and, hopefully, the Paskas will stay for quite some time to come.
