Oct. 1, 2002
All in the Family
The Smith Center Serves as the Unlikely Setting for
“As the Volleyball Turns”
By Brian
Krause
The cavernous and often bustling hallways of the Smith Center, filled
with sneakers, sweat socks, and locker rooms, are not known for romance.
But for Jojit and Kimberly Coronel, two members of the Department of
Athletics family, the Smith Center foyer was the setting of their very
own GW fairy tale.
Once upon a time, he was the assistant volleyball coach and she was
the squad’s athletic trainer. They cultivated a strong professional
relationship working long hours together and traveling with the team.
“I first realized I liked Jo when I went home to Colorado during
(the 1999) winter break,” Kim says. “He called me a few times
and I was so happy that he did.”
At the end of the season, she was transferred to the women’s basketball
team, and Jo Coronel took her on their first date — to Old Ebbitt
Grill. “We never dated while we were working together,” Jo
Coronel explains. “I didn’t ask her out until the season was
over and she was with the basketball team, it may have been uncomfortable
otherwise.”
“Kim is a very private person,” says assistant women’s
basketball coach Tori Harrison. “They work in the same building
and most people didn’t even know they were dating. They’re
such a cute couple.”
One of the few in the know was Tim Burke, executive assistant for the
department and Jo Coronel’s close friend and golf course confidant.
“He can talk to me about anything on the golf course,” Burke
says. “I told him, ‘You’ve got to follow your heart.’
”
“It was hard because they tried to keep it quiet for a while, they
didn’t want everyone knowing their business,” Burke adds.
“I think what they have is very special and they really handled
it well professionally.”
In August 2000, the death of former head volleyball coach Yvette Moorehead
brought the couple closer together. “Kim was very helpful when
Coach Moorehead passed away,” Jo Coronel says. “It was a great
help to me to have her here because she knows the girls. We’re
very lucky that we both work here and can lend support to each other
throughout the day.”
Now the head coach, Jo Coronel rose to the occasion and steered the
squad to an impressive 25–6 record that year, and was named both
the 2000 Northeast Region Coach of the Year and the 2000 Atlantic 10
Coach of the year.
“When I saw how he handled that situation and how he comforted
the girls, that made me know for sure that I wanted to marry him,”
says Kim.
While taking a walk around the city and its monuments the following
Valentine’s Day, Jo Coronel proposed on the steps of the Jefferson
Memorial. “Since it is so far away, I figured there would be less
people there than at the other memorials,” Jo Coronel explains.
The next day the Smith Center was plastered with red construction paper
signs that read: “Kim said yes!” There was even one taped
to Jo Coronel’s back. Kim spent most of the day retelling the story
and showing off her ring.
“It was actually surprising that a lot of people didn’t know
that we were dating,” says Jo Coronel. “We had really tried
hard to make it private. Some people didn’t even know we were engaged
until the next season.”
The engagement did not come as a shock to the women on the squad, who
came screaming down the hall in excitement when they heard the news.
They had been secretly gossiping and keeping track of the couple with
their own mock soap opera, “As the Volleyball Turns.”
“They decided that Jo and I would get together and would update
each other every time they saw us together,” says Kim. “They
knew before we did.”
Jo and Kim Coronel were married in Colorado last December and now reside
in Arlington. Although they work on different floors of the Smith Center
and have different schedules, they still find time every now and then
to duck out for coffee together.
“We really like this school,” says Jo Coronel. “We’re
very blessed that we both came here at the same time for different reasons.”
And they both lived happily ever after.
Men’s Soccer Rallies Past Radford
GW’s men’s soccer team scored three goals in the final 10
minutes to rally past the Radford Highlanders, 3–1 for its fourth
victory of the season, Sept. 22.
The Colonials broke the scoring drought in the 82nd minute of play when
senior midfielder Riccardo Forno scored his first goal of the year off
two passes from freshmen Steve Brown and Frank Ambrosio.
Forno’s goal sparked the Colonials and soon after, senior midfielder
Michael Goldman turned a pass from Forno into a game-winner. The Colonials
added an insurance goal when Goldman and junior forward Fabio Andrade
set up senior Matt Osborne for his fifth goal of the season.
The win pushed the Colonials (4–3) over the .500 mark on the season.
To date GW has held opponents to 11 goals on 136 attempts while netting
16 goals of its own on only 94 shots.
The Colonials open October with a pair of road games against A-10 opponents
St. Bonaventure (Oct. 4) and Duquesne (Oct. 6). The team follows those
matches with four home games against conference foes Dayton (Oct. 11),
Xavier (Oct. 13), Saint Joseph’s (Oct. 18), and Temple (Oct. 20).
To close out the month the Colonials visit Fordham (Oct. 25), and La
Salle (Oct. 27).
Cross Country Places First and Fourth
at Mount St. Mary’s Invitational
Freshman Lindsay Blum finished first out of 84 runners to lead the GW
women’s cross country team to a first place finish out of seven
teams at the Sept. 22 Mount St. Mary’s Invitational. Junior Darrell
Andruski finished ninth out of 85 runners to help the men’s team
finish fourth out of nine teams.
In October the teams will compete in three events: the George Mason
Invitational (Oct. 5), the Penn State Open (Oct. 12), and the Maryland
Invitational (Oct. 19).
Send feedback to: bygeorge@gwu.edu
