Two Newly Retired Coaches Are Still Fan Favorites

he championships and personal accolades that come along during decades of coaching can be rewarding, but it’s the deep and lasting relationships forged with their student-athletes that matter the most.

That’s how two of Vassar’s longest tenured coaches, Jonathan Penn and Ronald Stonitsch, summed up their careers as they began their retirement. Penn coached men’s and women’s volleyball from 1996 to 2011 and continued as the women’s coach until 2023, posting more than 500 victories. While he has stepped down as a coach, he continues to work for the Department of Athletics and Physical Education. Stonitsch took over the reins of the men’s and women’s cross country teams in 1982 and retired as assistant cross country and track coach at the end of the 2023 season.

During Penn’s 23 seasons as women’s head coach, Vassar reached the postseason 17 times. Penn coached the men’s team to 158 wins, including two trips to the Final Four and a national runner-up finish in 2008, when he was named Coach of the Year by the American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA).

Penn, who played volleyball at Penn State University, said volleyball has been a part of his life since childhood. His godfather was Chuck Nelson, a member of the USA squad in the 1964 Olympics in Tokyo, “and when I started out, my goal was to coach the men’s national team,” he said.

Landing the job at Vassar took him on a much different path, and Penn said he soon realized it was the right one. “I didn’t know what I was looking for until I found it,” he said. “The students at Vassar are amazing. Of the 10 best conversations I’ve had in my life, at least seven or eight of them have come at a team dining table or on a team bus. I performed wedding ceremonies for two of my players and was asked by another to walk her down the aisle. Many, many alums have become dear friends.”

Two of Penn’s former players, Princeton Head Men’s Volleyball Coach Sam Shweisky ’01 and former women’s player Lauren Gass ’06, said Penn has continued to be a major influence in their lives well beyond their time at Vassar.

“Jonathan’s had an extraordinary 28 years of passion and leadership,” Shweisky said. “He always cared for you as a person, beyond what happened on the court, and I try to carry that example with me in my own coaching. He’s continued to be a sounding board for me.”

Gass, who played in three NCAA tournaments during her four years at Vassar, said Penn had a profound effect on her life early in her college career. “I struggled with academics when I first came to Vassar, and I was thinking of transferring to the University of Michigan,” she recalled. “Jonathan talked me out of it. He told me it was okay to struggle sometimes, to not have all the answers. He said I had a great future at Vassar, and he was right. He was someone you could talk to about anything, not just volleyball.”

Alums who took part in Vassar cross country over the past four decades say the same thing about Stonitsch. “Ron didn’t recruit me before I got to Vassar, but he was a great mentor,” said Tracy Nichols Busch ’91, who earned All-American status—thanks in large part to Stonitsch’s perseverance. Busch finished 19th, good enough to qualify as an All-American in the NCAA Division III championship race in 1990, but she was initially disqualified for allegedly taking several steps just outside the designated lines on the course.

Stonitsch appealed the ruling, noting that the lines had been blurred on a muddy section of the course and Busch had merely followed a couple of the runners ahead of her. After several weeks of discussion, the NCAA reinstated her as an All-American. But Stonitsch didn’t stop there. He nominated Busch for the NCAA Honda Inspiration Award, citing a physical condition that kept her from sweating and cooling her body down during races. Busch won the award.

“Ron was the perfect coach for Vassar at the time,” Busch said. “Sure, it was competitive, but it was like being in a family. We knew Ron wanted to win, but none of us ever felt anything was expected of us—we could decide for ourselves.”

Stonitsch, who was an eight-time All-American as a distance runner at C. W. Post College, said he treasured the relationships he had forged with his runners. “I’m grateful to so many of them, not just for their friendship but for all they do to help us recruit,” he said. “It’s a competitive market; we need everybody to help us.”

Current Cross Country Coach James McCowan ’99, who earned All-American honors while competing for Stonitsch, said his mentor had managed to create a unique culture for the team while holding down another full-time job as a counselor for the U.S. Department of Labor. “Ron couldn’t be there for practice every day, so he instilled a sense of responsibility in all of us on the team,” McCowan said. “He was a father figure for me back then, and he still is.

“We may have had some different coaching styles,” McCowan continued, “but what’s always been clear is how much Ron cares about the students he coached and about the team and about Vassar, and that all comes from a place of deep love.”