Cheering to the Top 20. From Rose to Butterfly

Cheering to the Top

How Coach Linda Gooch rose from cheerleader to head coach.

BY KASYN GIVENS

Linda Gooch has been involved with UCF’s cheer program since the ‘80s, but things have changed since the era of puffy cheer uniforms and unchecked stunts. Gooch, who prefers to be called “Coach,” started off as a cheerleader then transitioned to head cheer coach, where she helped build the legacy of the spirit team. Under Coach, the team has placed in the top 10 of the College Cheerleading National Championships 26 times, including titles in 2003, 2007 and 2020. Centric Magazine: What’s the biggest challenge the team faced?

Coach: “The fact that we were on our own. We didn’t have a coach, but this was very common for cheerleading during the ‘80s. It was evolving at that time, and so we were very much like a club. We would run our own practices, vote on a captain, drive ourselves to away games. Anybody between the ages of 18 to 23 can attest that sometimes you do need a bit of guidance and leadership. They don't let people rent a car until they're 25 years old. Why? Because your brain is not completely developed. Yes, it's the athlete’s job to believe that they can survive anything, but it's the coach’s job to decide what is actually survivable. That’s why we needed to take two steps back and master base skills before moving on.”

CM: What’s the biggest difference in the uniforms?

Coach: “Wow. For one thing, today’s uniforms actually have our school on the front of it. If you look at the early uniforms, it might’ve said knights on there, but a lot of the uniforms had nothing on the front. Cheerleading uniforms have certainly come a long way. I'm laughing because I look back at some of the very first uniforms we had in the late ‘60s to early ‘70s, and you had just a sweater with a big K on the front. Today, there's so much with putting your mark out there, and having that stacked UCF logo big and on the front of our uniform is a big deal.”

CM: What new legacy/impact from the team present day will stay for generations to come?

Coach: “We just have some really great people, some really nice people and that makes it so much fun to come into practice. When you're just working with a great group of folks that are supportive of each other, they celebrate and are happy to see ... their teammates achieve things and do well even if it’s not them. When I look at the leadership of our seniors — they’re the ones that drive that. That's a legacy that they’re going to leave, and that’s something that those young ones will carry forward.”

CM: How have the skills and rules changed? Coach: “I joke all the time because I will tell our team that my generation of cheerleading was responsible for all of the rules. Because we were doing all the really scary stuff when there were no rules, the rules have become more stringent and for a reason. When people are left to their own devices, their goal is to get height. During the ‘80s, it was all about how high can you get and how high can you build pyramids. You're building things that are really too high. We joke and call them the UCF rules because a part of being successful sometimes means you got to be creative and push the envelope. We would push the envelope on certain things and people would go ‘That's really cool; you can win.’ But then they make it illegal the next year because it’s one of those disclaimers: ‘Please don't try this at home.’ They're afraid others will see that and not realize this is being executed by a professional.”

CM: What was your transition from athlete to coach?

Coach: “In the ‘80s cheerleading went through this huge transition. I was a gymnast in high school, and my senior year of high school they did away with gymnastics in the county high schools. I went to high school here, and I thought, ‘What am I going to do?’ And a

girlfriend said, ‘Why don’t you go out for the cheerleading team?’ I tried out and cheered for football my senior year. When I came to UCF, I didn’t know anything about cheer here. I had a girlfriend who was in a sorority, and she got all the information for me. I tried out as a sophomore and loved it. I loved the gymnasticathletic part of it and all the acrobatics that was involved in partner stunting. I was just hooked. When I graduated from UCF, they were hiring a coach, and now you know the rest of the story.”

CM: How has cheer evolved as a sport? Coach: “It probably started as more of a sideline ‘Rahrah’ perception. Anybody who has watched us at a football game would absolutely agree that it takes athleticism. It’s a sport and certainly our team members are athletes. The other thing is the competitiveness of it. If you watch ESPN and you see the college championships, it’s treated like a sport. Television certainly has gone a long way changing that perception.”

CM: How has the legacy of the past affected the present? Coach:“ I can speak just from where we’ve come from. People come from all across the country to be a part of this. Along with that, there’s a great responsibility because you have a lot of eyes on you. People that are watching how you carry yourself and how you do it. If you’re at UCF, it doesn’t matter if you’re the chess or quidditch team. You need to aspire to be the absolute best. We have a little bit of that chip on our shoulder as UCF students.”

UCF cheerleaders hype up the crowd with a one-man stunt at a football game.