Georgia gymnastics coach Suzanne Yoculan’s relationship with Board of Regents member Don Leebern has been well-documented.

She’s been in a relationship with Leebern since 2000, and shares an Athens home with him despite Leebern still being married. This is not new information, but with the release of Rich Whitt’s book “Behind the Hedges: Big Money and Power Politics at the University of Georgia,” has reintroduced the same questions she’s been facing for years.

The book is heavy on Leebern’s role as an influential figure on the Board of Regents, and spends a chapter covering his relationship with Yoculan.

In a recent interview with WXIA-TV in Atlanta, an emotional Yoculan said she worried that people get the wrong perception of her, and accuse her of not being a proper role model for the gymnasts she influences day-in and day-out.

“I know in my heart I have taught these girls to fight, to fight for what they want, to fight for what they believe in, to stand on their principles and to be honest and committed,” she told The Red & Black Tuesday. “And in terms of my relationship with Don Leebern, I have been honest and committed. I know in my heart that that is the strongest message that I can give to these young women. They all know about the relationship, they know about it before they come to Georgia because I’m very honest about it.”

Yoculan will be calling it quits after this season, her 26th year at the helm in Athens. She made that announcement prior to the 2008 season, but in that same interview with WXIA-TV, it seemed to hint that Yoculan’s retirement was forced due to the long-term toll of public perception of her relationship.

Not so, she said Tuesday.

“It was just edited funny,” she said. “My retirement has been a plan for two years, and it’s been a thought-out plan, not an emotional one. We’ve already talked about the reasons. It’s the right time for the program, which is as important a piece as anything personal.”

The Gym Dogs are shooting for their fifth consecutive national title, and a record 10th, this season. Yoculan has led them to 16 SEC championships and has been named NCAA Coach of the Year five times. She’s no stranger to winning – or adversity.

Said junior Courtney McCool: “I think she pays attention too much to people who don’t know what they’re talking about and lets it get to her. I really just think she needs to block it out. Because she knows that we’re true to her and she’s true to us.”

Said senior Courtney Kupets: “No matter what anyone thinks, you have to look at the person themselves and what they do and how they show themselves … You can look at it as negative and take everything from her life that’s been negative and say she’s a negative influence, or you can take all positive things she’s done.”

During Yoculan’s tenure at Georgia, the gymnastics program has not seen a single athlete transfer.

In the book, Barbara Dooley, the wife of Bulldog legend Vince Dooley, is quoted as telling her husband he should have “fired [Yoculan's] ass right away” when her relationship with Leebern was made public. She’s also quoted as saying that she had heard previous rumors of Leebern’s affairs, but said “he was being discreet about it, as far as I knew.”

Yoculan called the book “beating a dead horse,” but said, contrary to Dooley’s take on the situation, it has been her openness and honesty through everything that allows her to continue to be a positive influence on the lives of young women.

“I think I’m a good role model because I’m honest,” she said. “A lot of people do questionable things discreetly.”