Four head coaches at Bowdoin—Nathan Alsobrook ’97 of Nordic skiing, Marissa O’Neil ’05 of women’s hockey, Frank Pizzo ’06 of sailing and Megan Phelps ’15 of women’s basketball—are Bowdoin alums. In interviews with the Orient, Alsobrook and Pizzo reflected on their time at Bowdoin.

Alsobrook did not always harbor the passion for Nordic skiing which eventually shaped his career and led to his dedication to the sport.

“Nordic skiing really changed who I am as a person,” Alsobrook said. “I started when I was 16. I had to get badgered into it. I really hated winter at that time. And I did not like outdoor sports in general. [Nordic skiing] changed how I approached the outdoor world, and also how I approached sports. It initially was about the chip on my shoulder, trying to prove myself. And as I grew deeper into the sport, it was more about ‘how can I do hard things, and how can I become better at this very specific task that I’m doing?’”

Alsobrook graduated in 1997 and was the captain of the Nordic ski team. He learned to build on his athletic drive while discovering his potential, challenging himself and spending time in the outdoors, motivations which felt fulfilling and affirming. Coming into his senior year, Alsobrook was completely devoted to the team.

“By the time I graduated my senior year of college, I knew that I wanted to stay in the sport in whatever capacity I could, and I was hoping that coaching could be that pathway for me,” Alsobrook said.

Just two years after graduating from Bowdoin, Alsobrook returned to Bowdoin as the assistant coach of the Nordic team, and since 2007 he has been the head coach. To him, the heart of a coach’s job is giving athletes a roadmap to success, much like how he managed to reorient his hard work around deep-seated motivations.

“The athlete does have to have something inside themselves,” Alsobrook said. “The best coach in the world is not going to be able to create motivation where it doesn’t exist. My job as coach is to find that spark and help kindle it.”

Alsobrook emphasizes that a positive environment and supportive team culture are crucial to building that spark into a flame. Under his tenure, dozens of Polar Bears have qualified for the NCAA championships. Alsobrook was named the 2018 New England Nordic Skiing Association Coach of the Year and the 2020 Eastern Intercollegiate Skiing Association Coach of the Year.

20 years ago, the Sailing team’s head coach, Frank Pizzo, graduated from Bowdoin, leaving behind a sailing team which he would soon return to reshape. In his undergraduate years, the team operated out of a limited boathouse, and the atmosphere was less professional. Pizzo saw room for growth.

“Bowdoin had a ton of potential, so I was very quickly thinking that if I could coach at Bowdoin in any capacity, I’d want to. It was a totally untapped resource, in terms of how good the team could get. And I was lucky. I became a head coach at 23, after a year coaching at Columbia and [being] back at Bowdoin as an assistant coach. I doubt there’ll be another 23-year-old head coach ever at Bowdoin,” Pizzo said.

Last spring, Pizzo led the sailing team to their best finish in program history, with the women’s fleet finishing in fourth place in the Women’s Fleet Race Championship to cap off the season.

Pizzo sees sailing as a sport of grit, and believes it teaches a valuable lesson about the relationship between hard work and control. To him, the athletic side of one’s college experience is different from other aspects in that an athlete can control their level of effort but not the outcome of that effort. He considers effort and passion to be the driving force that allows an athlete’s growth to be limitless.

“You’ve got to be really into it,” Pizzo said. “It’s got to be something you think about a lot. And you come to practice with the intention to get better. You have the day where you’ve been able to do your work, and get through your classes and sleep, and you have good focused energy to be able to dedicate to the sport. When you get those kids on the team, there’s no limit to how good they can get.”

Both Alsobrook and Pizzo found an empowering passion for their respective sports at the College. After their collegiate years, they have continued to foster it in themselves as well as hundreds of Polar Bears.