Synchronized Coaches: Coaches TJ and Gabbie Sugg

Coaches TJ Sugg and Gabbie Sugg are a married couple who coach track and field at Redwood. Mr. and Mrs. Sugg discuss how the stars aligned for both of them to be coaching at Redwood.

By Fabian Anguiano

Born and raised in Visalia, Gabbie was extremely involved in athletics at a young age. Her taste in running began in the fifth grade at the Junior Olympics. “I think I ran the 800 for the first time, and that’s when I got my first taste of running, and kind of loved it, and just kind of went from there.”

TJ’s story was similar and different at the same time. Born and raised in North Texas, TJ would run a lot in his PE class, and his parents encouraged him to start doing that competitively. He then started running in high school, and did pretty well; he also played some other sports as well.

For TJ, success came naturally in every sport. “ I enjoyed pretty much every sport I played. I’m pretty well-rounded, I suppose, as an athlete, and running, I’ve had some good success in running, so I’m thankful to have found that.”

For Gabbie, sports were life, playing four total sports during the school year, doing cross country and volleyball at the same time, and competing in track and basketball.

This was interesting when two of the four sports she competed in collided, “My junior year in high school, in the morning, I went and ran for the valley championship for cross country, and my team won.”

Mrs. Sugg would have more than one valley championship to celebrate that day. “I then came back to Visalia that same day, just a couple of hours later, and played the valley championship for volleyball, and my team won as well. So I had two Valley championships in one day.”

Those are the experiences that shape coaches.

TJ was surrounded by athletics growing up, with his father being the athletic director at his elementary and middle school, and his mother being a basketball coach.

For TJ, positive experiences shape better coaches. “ It was definitely really enjoyable to have that positive experience with [my dad] being around as far as a coach. Then I also had some great coaches growing up. In college, I had a couple of coaches that really poured into us as far as not just athletics, but also kind of rounding us out as people.”

What was given to TJ is what he wants to give back. “We definitely just want to give back to the kids who are coming up. We’ve been involved in sports for our whole lives, and at a high level, we went to a Division I school and competed in cross country and track there.” 

With that, they feel they have some great input. They also want to be positive.

What inspired Gabby to coach was the love of the sport in the first place. 

Having graduated from college in 2020, it was the first time she did not have a sport to compete in, and, missing cross country and track, she figured it was time to get involved again.

The knowledge Gabbie and TJ obtained through those years in athletics can be utilized in their coaching.

“In a way, we can help educate young athletes with all of the knowledge that we’ve gained over the years of this sport, and give back and make sure that we are a part of helping raise the next generation of runners and competitors.”

The coaching philosophies TJ has encountered throughout his career helped him as a coach, saying, “It’s very helpful to have different coaches over the course of our lives, to see different coaching styles and take things we like from one coach, maybe not do something that we could do a little differently.”

For Mr. and Mrs. Sugg, being a coach does not only mean getting them to run a faster time, but rather seeing them grow.

Both Mr. and Mrs. Sugg were stellar athletes growing up, which led to them meeting each other, as the two were recruited to run at Baylor for cross country. 

They met at practice during an icebreaker for their first meeting. They became friends at first, seeing each other every day at practice and the dining hall.

The two would start dating later in their freshman year of college, they would get engaged in 2020, and would then get married in 2021, and the rest is history.

Gabbie would get offered the job to be co-head coach and the distance coach at Redwood, not too long after giving birth to their son. They would tell Mrs. Sugg that if she had anyone else to bring, it would be great, and no one sounded better than TJ.

To Mrs. Sugg, this was the perfect duo, “I thought it was just a perfect setup to have a girl and a guy, both with experience in Division One, both willing to share that time and work together. So our schedules just worked out.”

Mrs. Sugg had a taste of Redwood before becoming the track coach. Having been an assistant head coach for cross country.

The Suggs want to create a great atmosphere for the team, “We really want people to know Redwood distance, as a great program, that’s headed up by a couple of great coaches and has some Sure Great performances.”

Gabbie had more to add, not about themselves, but about the group of individuals they coach. She says, “They’ve been some of the hardest working high scorers I’ve ever met. They’re seriously so so talented naturally, but also just such hard workers. It’s been really fun to walk into that atmosphere.”

TJ had more to add on about their great team, saying, “ I really feel like a lot of the job is already done for us with these kids; they show up, and they really want to work hard and get better.”

While some coaches need motivation for their team, Gabbie and TJ say that it is not needed. “They’re so diligent. We hardly have to do anything to get them excited for workouts. They really want to improve, and we’re so thankful.”

Tags: coaches, fabian anguiano, gigantea, love, rangers, Redwood, redwood gigantea, redwood high school, redwood rangers, redwood sports, rhs, sports, Track & Field, visalia ca, visalia california