After the first day of competition at next weekend's Big Ten Championships, most of the coaches will take time to rest and prepare for the final day of competition.

Not Penn State track and field coach Beth Alford-Sullivan. She will be traveling between Bloomington, Ind., and Champaign, Ill., as she will split her time between the men and women's championships.

The Big Ten is the only conference that has separate championships for men and women, but because the two cities are only a three-hour drive apart, she has a chance to spend one day with each of the teams.

On May 15, 2006, Penn State announced Alford-Sullivan would coach both the men's and women's teams, making her one of only five women in the nation to coach combined programs.

Associate Athletic Director Jan Bortner said that when Penn State began the process of finding a new men's coach, they looked at a candidate's experience and philosophy to decide who would replace longtime coach Harry Groves. Ultimately, Alford-Sullivan's success with the women's team was a main reason she was hired.

"We obviously wanted to get the best person for the job," Bortner said. "At Penn State, we look not as much at the gender as we look at the qualifications. We made the decision that Beth would be the perfect candidate."

Though Alford-Sullivan estimates that 60 percent of the nation's track and field programs are combined, there are only three other Big Ten coaches that have combined programs Michigan State's Walt Drenth, Indiana's Wayne Pate and Purdue's Jack Warner.

Alford-Sullivan's female counterparts, Boston University's Robyn Johnson, Sacramento State's Kathleen Raske, Cal Poly San Luis-Obispo's Terry Crawford and Wake Forest's Anne Schweitzer Bennett form a tightly knit group.

Alford-Sullivan's first coaching experience was with Raske at Southern Illinois as the two coached together as graduate assistants for two years. Raske oversaw the sprinters and hurdlers, and Alford-Sullivan coached distance on the women's team.

Their paths have gone in different directions in coaching since, but the two remain very close friends. Raske still considers Alford-Sullivan to be "one of her best friends."

Alford-Sullivan and Raske have both been influenced by Crawford, the 1988 Olympics coach.

"She has been a very strong mentor for women in the sport," Alford-Sullivan said. "Not only as athletes but definitely as coaches. She has been a big mentor of ours. She has given me a lot of advice and a lot of support in the process at Penn State."

Alford-Sullivan said that women face a variety of obstacles in pursuing a coaching career, including balancing coaching with their personal life. She said that it is especially difficult in university towns, where there is not a wealth of job options for spouses who want to pursue professional careers themselves.

After arriving here in 1999, she turned the women's program into a contender at both the conference and national levels, she will look to do the same with the men's team.

"The goal when I accepted the position was to turn the men's program around in three years and have it competitive within the Big Ten," she said. "And I think in the front-end of the Big Ten in three years is where we will be."

Alford-Sullivan's confidence is backed up by her accomplishments. She was named 2004 Big Ten Women's Indoor Coach of the Year and 1996 NCAA Women's Cross-Country Coach of the Year. She also was an assistant on the 2004 U.S. Olympic team and currently serves on the board of directors for the United States Track and Field and Cross-Country Coaches Association.

Adding to the challenges, she must also replace Groves, who spent 38 years as the head of Penn State men's track. Though the two coaches have different styles, Alford-Sullivan said the men have handled the transition well "It [the atmosphere] is definitely different," jumper Ryan Kleintop said. "Coach Groves is more of an old school, hardcore training. Coach Sullivan has kind of got the new twist to things, not that I like one better than the other, but it is a nice change. It's a real positive environment. In team's meetings we're always talking about what our goals are. You always know what is coming up next, and it's real structured."

While it may seem like combining the programs would spread the coaching staff thin, it's been just the opposite. In separate programs, each team would get only three assistant coaches, whereas in a combined setting, there are six assistants. The move has allowed the coaching staff to focus on their areas of expertise.

"With the coaching change it allowed us for more coaches," sprint coach Chris Johnson said. "And of course we can coach our own events instead of having to coach more events. Everybody's getting more attention in their event areas."

Penn State also allowed Alford-Sullivan to hire her own coaches, which has given the team a more cohesive staff that is all on the same page as far as goals are concerned.

In addition to giving Alford-Sullivan increased support, the athletes have gotten more support as well.

"She didn't have all these people before, all these coaches who are such a big support and such a big base for her," sprinter Shana Cox said. "It does amazing things for the team and I'm glad, I'm so thankful for it. We have a lot of things this year that we didn't have last year in terms of support."

Jumpers coach Drew Hardyk, who spent the last 13 years under Groves, seems satisfied with the transition and with how well Alford-Sullivan has handled her time with both teams.

"Beth has done a really darn-good job of making everything come together," Hardyk said. "(She is) managing the fact that the guys have a new coach as well as at the same time the women are taken care of properly."

Although she does feel some pressure to succeed, Alford-Sullivan thrives off that pressure.

"I like to consider pressure as a sign of expectations, and expectation is a sign that there's confidence you can do things," she said. "I feel an obligation primarily to Penn State, my university, and to my teams for both programs to be up and going. Also for future success, for opportunity for women and for opportunity for our sport in general."