Bucknell University Athletics
Fedorjakas Face Challenges of Raising Family, Coaching at Same Time
2/16/2007 7:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Feb. 16, 2007
By Todd Merriett, Bucknell Athletic Communications
Schober! Schober! Schober!
The name of the starting forward on the Bucknell women's basketball team comes from the small, excited mouth of 5-year-old Jamie Fedorjaka as she runs down the aisle of the chartered bus toward one of her favorite players. Her brother, 9-year-old Matt, her father, Frank, and her mother, Kathy, are all aboard, as are the dozen or so players on the Bison basketball team as the Susquehanna Trailways bus barrels down on one of its many destinations throughout the long basketball season.
Kathy is in her 10th year as the head women's basketball coach at Bucknell, while Frank is about to embark upon his second campaign as head men's lacrosse coach at the Lewisburg, Pa., university. Having the opportunity to bring her family along on a handful of road trips each year is something that makes Bucknell a unique and attractive place for Kathy. It is also one of the many tools the Fedorjaka parents employ to keep their family a close-knit bunch despite working in a profession that is more a lifestyle than a job.
The Fedorjakas rarely have a Saturday free from October to May, and the summer is usually filled with a decent amount of travel for recruiting. They are in charge of upwards of 60 student-athletes and have the pressure of keeping both of their programs at their customary positions near the top of the Patriot League. Daily practices and grueling travel schedules for games are just two of the many demands on their time, leaving precious few hours - and sometimes minutes - for family.
"It is a situation where family is our first priority, but we can't shortchange our jobs," explains Frank. "We need to make her head job, my head job and our family and kids all work. It is challenging, especially at this time of year when we are both in season."
Oftentimes just one head coach can cripple a family, but the Fedorjakas have two coaches in the household. How do they do it, especially when raising a pair of active young children?
Luckily, the Fedorjakas are firmly entrenched in the welcoming and helpful Bucknell and Lewisburg communities. They have a strong support system of friends to assist in transporting Matt to one of his many practices and games and to help watch both Matt and Jamie when both parents are tied up at practice at the same time.
Some coordination is involved in getting the kids where they need to be. Frank will often walk into Sojka Pavilion after his practice, still sporting multiple layers of clothing to pick the kids up from Kathy just minutes into her practice. Other times Jamie might have to watch a video on the TV in Kathy's office while she is meeting with her assistants to develop a game plan for their next opponent.
"Matt and Jamie have been raised around athletics, so they are used to it," comments Kathy. "If they have 10 or 15 minutes they can entertain themselves; it isn't like they are going to run onto the court and grab my leg during practice."
Over the years Kathy has developed a system where she looks ahead at the calendar in early January and tries to identify when they will need help and babysitters as well as some possible trouble weekends where she needs to find another solution.
"Asking someone to help out for two hours in the evening during a practice is one thing, but a whole weekend is another," explains Kathy.
On a recent weekend Kathy had to get creative. Her team played at Navy on a Saturday afternoon, while Frank's lacrosse squad had a scrimmage at North Carolina the same day. Instead of leaving the kids home, she brought them along on the road trip. The Fedorjaka children got to see the Bison win and Matt even earned "Fan of the Game" on the Navy video board despite Bucknell being scrawled across the chest of his T-shirt.
The Fedorjakas realize they live a harried lifestyle, but try to make concessions wherever possible to spend time together. Now in his second year as head coach after seven years as an assistant, Frank has a little more say in when his team practices. Additionally, the Fedorjakas can be found in an area restaurant many nights of the week. Instead of spending time shopping, cooking and cleaning for every meal, they will often make use of that time together at a restaurant.
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"I tell Frank that sometimes I would like to make something nice for dinner, but by the time we would eat and clean up it could be 9 or 10 o'clock and we don't have time to spend together as a family," explains Kathy.
"We take votes on where we will go each night and sometimes the parents win out and other times the kids do," says Frank with a smile. "There aren't enough hours in the day. We have to cut some things short. We aren't going to cut our programs short, we aren't going to cut our family short, so we have decided to cut eating at home short."
In addition to the daily tricks that help maximize time together, the Fedorjakas do make it a point to go on a week-long vacation in the summer. Additionally, the Fedorjakas' home in Winfield is often a host to other family members since with their schedules it is hard to visit parents, grandparents and siblings as much as they would like.
While it remains a mystery as to how the Fedorjakas are so successful at raising a family in addition to coaching a pair of successful teams, this fun-filled life is right up their alley. A pair of self-proclaimed sports junkies, Kathy and Frank met for the first time on the front steps of Davis Gym following a rousing game of noon-time basketball in the summer of 1991. While Frank was trying to catch his breath he watched in amazement as Kathy put on her headphones and headed out for her daily run. One month later Frank, then in his first stint as an assistant lacrosse coach at Bucknell, and Kathy, who was in her second year as an assistant women's basketball coach with the Bison, were dating.
After two years together as assistants at Bucknell, Frank and Kathy decided they needed to keep an eye out for head coaching jobs to further their careers, even if it meant moving to different places. Kathy took the leap first, landing a head coaching position at Connecticut College. A few months later Frank departed Bucknell for the head men's lacrosse job at Franklin & Marshall, a full five hours from the New London campus of Connecticut College.
Midway through that first year apart the two became engaged and Kathy decided staying in her home state of Connecticut wasn't for her. She ended up getting offers from three Pennsylvania schools - Bloomsburg, Haverford and Kutztown - and chose Bloomsburg, the furthest of the three from Franklin & Marshall's Lancaster campus.
Another year apart, although this time only two hours, was followed by two living in the coal region of Pennsylvania together. Married, but still without kids, the hour-long commute for both presented quite a challenge and led Kathy to occasionally rolling a couch into her office to catch a brief nap following strings of late nights.
"Even though we lived in Schuylkill Haven, we were never there," comments Kathy. "We didn't know anyone and never spent any time there. I remember going for a walk one day and just feeling depressed."
That depression did not last long as Frank and Kathy welcomed Matt to their family in June 1997. That began a whirlwind year for the Fedorjakas as Kathy returned to Bucknell two months later. They relocated from the coal region to Harrisburg, the halfway point between Franklin & Marshall and Bucknell.
"We came up with a plan where Matt would go to daycare three days a week with one of us and two with the other so we would both get the chance to see him," describes Kathy of their situation during her first year back at Bucknell. "I look back at it now and wonder how we did it."
Luckily they did not have to do it for long as the following year Frank returned to his position as an assistant coach at Bucknell. The position was upgraded with the hopes of luring Frank back as an eventual replacement for legendary long-time coach Sid Jamieson.
"We thought if this is where we wanted it to ultimately happen for us, I might as well come back to a program I could possibly be running in the future and help build it," says Frank, who spent seven more years as an assistant under Jamieson before succeeding him following the 2005 campaign. "I took a small step back to hopefully eventually take a step forward for the family and for the lacrosse program in general."
Based on their history, which featured Kathy moving no fewer than five times in six years, and Frank nearly as much, it is no wonder the Fedorjakas brush off their current life as no big deal. They are just happy to be together as one family.
