By Jim Sheahan
Director of Athletic Communications & Marketing

ANNANDALE-ON-HUDSON, N.Y. – Recently, just outside the squash courts in the Stevenson Athletic Center, Bard College squash coach Craig Thorpe-Clark sat on a bench in the hallway.

He was watching three members of the men's squash team who were playing sort of a point-by-point round robin in the middle of the day. This wasn't practice. Practice was later. But these three were going all out, hitting amazing shots, pushing each other to the limit and applauding each other's efforts. They should have been tired after 45 minutes but they weren't. They just laughed and kept going.

The look on Thorpe-Clark's face was one you don't see often. He looked satisfied and dare it be said, happy. Contented.

"You see what's happening over there, that's why I do this," he whispered. "They love squash. They're fully invested. See how happy they are? That makes it all worth it."

His countenance was markedly different than the one you see while he's in his office, or managing a practice, or counseling players during an actual match. He's usually focused and intense, maybe even troubled, wearing his glasses down on the end of his nose like some sort of squash professor.

His comfort zone is work. So last month when he was invited back to the University of Pennsylvania for the dedication of a new squash facility, he balked. Yes, he coached at Penn for 11 years, but this event was being held during squash season, and Thorpe-Clark coaches both the men's and women's teams at Bard. What was he going to do about work?

The folks at Penn know him, and they were smart about it. They knew if they told him exactly why he needed to be at the dedication – because they were naming a certain part of the facility in his honor – he wouldn't show.

"I didn't threaten him, but I told him he HAD to be there," said Gilly Lane, the current Penn men's squash coach.

It worked. They got him there and Thorpe-Clark was stunned, honored and 100 percent uncomfortable about the fact that Penn named the squash coaches' office suite after him.

"I was gob smacked," Thorpe-Clark said. "I had no idea what they were planning. I saw entire courts being dedicated, and donors everywhere. It's got to be one of the finest facilities in the world. And the fact they named the coaches office after me, it's just ..."

And his voice trails off. The native Australian rarely at a loss for words is rendered speechless.

Penn did it because Thorpe-Clark led a revival of the squash program during his time there. He coached seven All-Americans, six All-Ivy League selections and guided the Quakers to ten consecutive seasons ranked in the College Squash Association's Top 10, from 2001-10. They peaked at No. 3 nationally after the 2006-07 season.

"I remember being recruited by him, and my mother remarking to me after we met him, 'That's a special coach,' " Lane said. "She was right. There was something about him. He was passionate, thoughtful. He wanted to get the best out of me. And it was delivered with sincerity."

Recruiting Lane turned out to be great for Lane and for Penn squash. He was All-America, All-Ivy and team MVP for all four years, and he was the first Penn player to win the CSA's Skillman Award, given to a player who exemplifies leadership, sportsmanship and achievement over his career.

"I have two fantastic parents, and Craig was like a second father to me," Lane said. "He's a true teacher of the game, but he also teaches you about life. And one of the things I loved about my experience at Penn was that he brought in people who really wanted to be there. That's something I work toward every day now, creating a team that appreciates and respects each other."

Having coached at Vassar before Penn, Thorpe-Clark has gone through the process of building programs before. His work at Bard has followed a similar pattern. Before he got to Annandale, the men's team rarely won. Since he arrived in 2014, percentage-wise men's squash is the winningest program in the entire athletic department.

"At Penn, and again at Bard, the first thing you have to do is make sure you have players who are all in," Thorpe-Clark said. "You have to find the people willing to really work at getting better. Sometimes people will self-select off the team, and sometimes they need a little nudge. But once you have a really good group, you make progress."

By today's standards, it's an old-school philosophy. Show up on time. Give your all in practice. Improve.

"The court is small and the ball is slow," Thorpe-Clark said. "You get better by becoming more fit and practicing."

Bard had lost to Liberty League rival Vassar in men's squash 30 consecutive times between 1988 and 2014. Since Thorpe-Clark's arrival, Bard has beaten Vassar nine times out of 11, including eight times in a row. He was named the Liberty League Men's Squash Coach of the Year after the 2016-17 season, and the Liberty League Women's Squash Coach of the Year after the 2017-18 season. The men's team won the prestigious Sloane Award for sportsmanship from the CSA in 2016.

Earlier this month, the Raptors shocked Hobart at the Wesleyan Round Robin, 5-4. It was Bard's first victory over a Liberty League opponent not named Vassar.

"Improving takes a certain amount of introspection, and you have to be honest with yourself," Thorpe-Clark said. "For the players who can't be honest with themselves, I'm happy to be honest with them. They don't like it sometimes, but that's life."

Penn's beautiful new squash facility debuted on Homecoming Weekend in November. Thorpe-Clark was there, no doubt squirming uncomfortably in his seat, as Lane spoke to those assembled about Thorpe-Clark's impact on him and on Penn squash.

"He took a chance on me and changed my life," Lane said. "It opened a door for me, and now I'm so fortunate to be in the position he was in, at the school I love."

Perhaps this brings some satisfaction, some contentment to the veteran coach. Maybe.

"I think it's very nice what Penn did – they didn't have to do that," Thorpe-Clark said. "The thing that makes is most special for me is that it's the coaches' area."

And for a fleeting moment, a smile flashed across his face, and his eyes twinkled. "The coaches' area. I really like that."