For Buffs' Rokos, 'Family' Has Always Been Most Important Result

BOULDER — It's never been about the numbers for legendary Colorado Buffaloes ski coach Richard Rokos.

It's been about the process, the family, the atmosphere and environment he has carefully built in his 31 years at the CU helm. It's been about bringing the team and everyone in its periphery together, helping them learn that being part of the whole is really what matters.

The numbers?

They're simply a result of that process — but when you talk about Rokos, you have to talk about the numbers. You can't help but highlight the results that have rewritten the CU record book, numbers that have made Colorado skiing one of the most successful programs in the nation during his tenure and a cornerstone of Buffs athletics.

Start with eight team national championships in his 30 NCAA appearances, with the 31st coming up this week. Add 42 individual champions, 225 All-Americans, 345 top-10 finishes at the NCAA Championships and 14 RMISA championships. Throw in countless additional runner-up and podium finishes, and it adds up to one of the most impressive resumes in CU history.

But to Rokos, who will make his final appearance with the Buffaloes at this week's NCAA Championships in New Hampshire, those numbers are secondary to the process he used to produce them. While he admits the team and individual championships are a bit of a blur, what he remembers clearly are the team activities.

Bike rides from Boulder to Winter Park. Team hockey and soccer games. Roller-blading through Boulder. Team picnics.

And the weddings. At last count, he has officiated at more than 30 weddings for his athletes and assistant coaches — and now, the children of some of those athletes are among the newest crop of Buffaloes.

"Since I started, I have tried to make it all about family," Rokos said. "I wanted to build something that would bring us all together. That is why we tried to do so many things as a team. In the end, for 30 years, I have been trying to run something that would have similarities every year. We always wanted to build something that would bring the whole team together and make us a family."

That was Rokos' goal from the very beginning, starting in 1990 when he was named to the position.

Instead of the Alpine and Nordic squads training separately and seldom — if ever — interacting with one another, Rokos made CU skiing truly a team sport. He organized team activities that brought them all together. The bike rides, the games, the picnics and team meals — all were geared toward creating a team atmosphere in a sport geared toward individual accomplishment.

It was a process that produced results.

Now, when he reconnects with skiers from past years with regular emails, his efforts to establish that process are validated.

"I have sent emails to many of our skiers from different eras, and the responses are always the same," Rokos said. "I hear about the shared experiences. Skiing, doing training, being with their teammates. They may be a generation apart, but they are sharing the same things — the rides to Winter Park, hiking 14ers … those are the things they remember."

Of course, they also remember the championships and successes. Those were clearly part of the experience and part of the process.

But, Rokos makes clear, "Even the years when we didn't win a championship, it was still a great year. Winning should be part of the process. If you have a good process, the winning will come sooner or later. That's always been my philosophy."

Obviously, the philosophy and process has served the Buffaloes well. They have won with great regularity and are always a national title contender, and will be among the contenders again this year when the NCAAs begin Wednesday at Cannon Mountain and Jackson Nordic Center in New Hampshire.

But this year's championships, he admits, will be a little different. This year, when the final race is contested, he may take a moment or two to reflect on his tenure in Boulder. It is something he has never done before because there was always next season to contemplate. Another year of the process, another year of figuring out ways to tweak his system in order to make the Buffs a little better.

Now, the man who escaped the heavy thumb of Communist rule in Czechoslovakia in 1980 with nothing more than the bags he and his wife could carry may take the time to look back.

He will remember the path he traveled, from teaching at a tiny ski area in Michigan to becoming an assistant coaching job at CU and finally landing the head coaching job.

Not that he ever expected it to last three decades.

"When I started here, I did not have any plans to stay this long," he said. "At the time, we were still sort of surviving from day to day. The years just started to link together year after year .. and 30 years later, here I am still sitting in the same chair. We have had success, we have won championships.

"But what I will remember most is the family."

Contact: Neill.Woelk@Colorado.edu

For Buffs' Rokos, 'Family' Has Always Been Most Important Result

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