Wayne and Susan Kreklow don’t call going to work “a job.” They don’t even call it an obligation, or something they necessarily have to do. Being Missouri volleyball coaches is just their life.

“It’s just something we’ve always done,” said Wayne, the head coach. “It’s become so intertwined with who we are and who our family is. You get to a point where you don’t even know anything else. I wouldn’t have it any other way.”

Both Wayne and Susan grew up with volleyball. Wayne played basketball and volleyball in high school in Wisconsin and then went on to play basketball for Drake University in Iowa. In the offseason, he played on a club volleyball team and continued playing club when he graduated.

Susan played volleyball in high school in Missouri, and she played at the collegiate level at Central Missouri before transferring to Missouri State. She also played on club teams when she graduated, and the Kreklows met through mutual friends and volleyball tournaments.

Wayne and Susan both began their coaching careers for high school teams. Wayne coached for Central Decatur High School in Iowa, and Susan coached for St. Clair High School in Missouri. In 1989, Wayne came to Columbia to earn his master’s degree at MU, and he was a graduate assistant coach under former Tigers volleyball coach Craig Sherman. A year later, Susan began her collegiate coaching career as a head coach for Columbia College. The two finally found themselves in the same town, and after marrying in 1992, they have been in Columbia ever since.

“This is the way it has unfolded for us,” Susan said. “One thing happened after another, and we both ended up in Columbia and have never left.”

Wayne ended up taking a position as a co-coach beside Susan at Columbia College in 1994. There, the pair took the women’s team to the NAIA national tournament six times and won consecutive national titles in 1998 and 1999. In both seasons, the Cougars went undefeated. The two also started a men’s volleyball program in 1997.

The Kreklows’ success at Columbia College was too great for Missouri not to take interest. In 2000, Susan was offered the Missouri volleyball head coaching job, and Wayne took the assistant coach position. The pair worked that way for five years until they switched positions to allow for more family flexibility.

“The family commitment at the time made it really difficult to be a head coach and have three small kids, so we asked if we could flip flop,” Susan said. “We were just having trouble with everything that goes along with having a family and being there for our kids, so it was a comfortable thing to have him as the head coach and give me more flexibility to be at home.”

The family atmosphere is something the Kreklows have stressed both in their home and in their volleyball program. Wayne and Susan have three children: Rick, Ryan and Ali. All went on to play collegiate sports, with Ali staying close to home and becoming a Tigers volleyball player three years ago.

Wayne and Susan made a promise to stay in their children’s lives while they were in high school, even if it meant having a busy schedule all year due to their children’s club sports. Working at the same place made it a little easier, and both of them said they would not have it any other way.

“I mean, there were times we were going 100 mph, seven days a week doing the job and taking our kids to all their different activities,” Wayne said. “I’m going to St. Louis with one, Susan is going to Kansas City with another, it got crazy. No matter how tired and exhausting it was, we worked really hard at being there for our kids. As a coach, I never wanted to look back and regret not being there.”

It has never been hard for the pair to balance their home and volleyball lives — both said they have learned to handle the balance well. They said sometimes they have to leave volleyball at the front door when they walk home at night, but they also know when they need to be talking about it, too.

Both said the advantages of working with their spouse far outweighs the disadvantages.

“As a coach, you have to have someone to really talk to about everything,” he said. “You have to have someone you can bounce stuff off of at all times that you wouldn’t tell anyone else. And that’s one big advantage of Susan and I working together; the person I’m talking to gets it. She understands me and I understand her.”

_Edited by Peter Baugh | pbaugh@themaneater.com_