University of North Carolina Athletics
My Carolina Experience: Yuri Suguiyama
October 22, 2014 | Swimming & Diving
By Zoya Johnson, GoHeels.com
Yuri Suguiyama was a world-class swimmer coming out of high school. Among his top priorities when looking at colleges was a top-flight educational experience and the chance to swim in a competitive conference. That is exactly what he found at Carolina.
"I think like most people, as soon as I stepped on campus it felt like home. The quaint Southern town, the architecture, the feel of the main quad and the people really stood out to me. One thing that you get a sense for when you're on campus is just how happy everyone is to be there and how much love there is for the University itself. You can't help but feel really good about a place like that," says Suguiyama, who came to Chapel Hill from Ijamsville, Md.
"Picking the right school is about finding out where you want to live for the next four years. You're going to have good days and bad days in college. The important thing is despite them - when life may not be going that great - you're still going to be really happy there. Chapel Hill is such a dynamic yet reassuring place to go to school and that makes it the perfect place to experience such formative years," says the University of California assistant swimming coach and 2004 Tar Heel graduate.
Doing well academically was certainly important to ACC champion swimmer. Finding his life's calling would be equally important.
"On the athletic side, I wanted to help our team win an ACC title and I wanted to be an individual All-America. I don't think that really changed much throughout my college. Academically, I zeroed in on political science and economics as majors. I still wasn't 100 percent sure what I was going do by the time I graduated, but I did get exposed to a lot of great professors and I got to take some outstanding classes that I think had a pretty big influence on my learning and thought process."
Suguiyama did become an All-America in the pool and in the classroom. He was also first-team All-ACC for three years. By the end of his career, he was a record holder in the 1000-yard freestyle and 1650-freestyle and he was fourth in school history in the 500 free. He was also one of the top academic achievers among his student-athlete peers.
When it came time to think about his future, Suguiyama turned to career services and UNC swimming alumni to get his foot in the door as an investment banker. Though shortly after getting that first job he realized banking was not for him he remains thankful for the opportunity as it pushed him to pursue his passion for coaching. And what a coaching career it has been for the 32-year-old who was born in Raleigh.
He coached with the Nation's Capital Swim Club in Washington D.C. for six years, during which time he gained high acclaim for his work with 15-year-old Olympic phenom Katie Ledecky, who won the 800-meter freestyle at both the 2012 U.S. Olympic Trials and the London Olympic Games.
Shortly after Ledecky's success in 2012, Yuri got an offer he could not refuse. "I had achieved everything I wanted at the club level so I felt at the time, coaching at the University of California, which is arguably the best men's college swimming team in the country, was an opportunity that I couldn't pass up. I've always wanted to be a college coach and got into coaching with that goal so I just felt like it was a good time to make the jump."
Since making that jump Suguiyama has already helped the Golden Bears to an NCAA championship. He was named the College Swimming Coaches Association of America's Assistant Coach of the Year in 2014.
"Both Carolina and Berkeley are institutions where people are expected to compete at a high level and do well in the classroom. I think the one thing about coming from UNC was that I could relate to and appreciate some of the pressures there are in the pool and in the classroom to succeed. As far as making the jump from club coach to college I think regardless of where you are coaching it is about connecting with people. You're trying to find common ground or ways to reach the athletes.
"When I went to UNC, I remember being inspired by a lot of what our alumni and other student-athletes had done in general. I remember thinking that if you go to UNC and graduate from a great place like Chapel Hill you're going to do something really cool in life.
"I also remember seeing a quote my junior year on campus somewhere by Benjamin Franklin that went, 'Either write something worth reading or do something worth writing about' and that's always kind of stayed with me. I remember that idea of doing something worth writing about had a big impact on the way I tried to finish my career at UNC. It was always something I had in the back of my head. Being at Carolina with that mindset was like an adventure to me and that was the way I've viewed my time at Chapel Hill and kind of what I've done ever since in what I've done professionally."
When you look at Suguiyama's professional accomplishments and pursuits it is clear that he has more than lived up to the notion that Chapel Hill is just the beginning for those who leave it.
"Chapel Hill allowed me to move into adulthood in a really hospitable place. I think the people I met there that I really connected with were dynamic, very goal driven people. They all had really high aspirations and I think that you can't help but get caught up in that. Another thing I took away from my experience was an openness and willingness to learn and consistently find ways to challenge myself. That willingness to always be open to new experiences has helped me extensively in my coaching career."
ACC champion, All-America, UNC degree holder, coach of an Olympic champion, assistant coach of an NCAA championship team - Suguiyama's resume ranks with the best of them. Even though he currently dons the gold and blue of Cal, his passion for Carolina Blue has never waned.
