Frank Carroll is winter -- white-haired and pale-skinned, but with a demeanor as gentle as snowfall.

He is the Lake Arrowhead, Calif., coach who has guided Michelle Kwan from an 11-year-old who could barely see above the boards to a self-assured 17-year-old with two U.S. championships and a 1996 world title. Carroll is likable and outgoing, comfortable in any situation.

Richard Callaghan is summer -- intense and introverted but kindly in his own way, the one world-level coach people know the least about.

He is the man who guided 15-year-old Tara Lipinski of the Detroit Skating Club to the world and U.S. titles in 1997 and a runner-up U.S. finish this season. Callaghan appears for work each day in a pressed shirt and tie, because he believes skating is business. That is his way.

But what Carroll and Callaghan share is the same for their skaters.

Today, an Olympic gold medal awaits the one who wins the long program at White Ring. Odds are, it will be Kwan or Lipinski.

Kwan, winner of Wednesday's short program, has blossomed into one of the all-time skating greats, distancing herself with her wondrous artistry and emotion on the ice.

Lipinski, who upset Kwan last year to become the youngest world and U.S. champion at 14, is a year older, but just a flower beginning to bloom. Already the world's best technical skater, Lipinski finished second to Kwan in the short program and knows she must perform her best to have any chance of topping Kwan.

Two skaters, two styles, one goal.

Kind of like the coaches.

While their styles are different, Carroll and Callaghan are able to connect with each's skater in his own special way. What they do has worked so far.

"Richard and Frank are among the few coaches who still have that spirited old-school way that's kind of a lost tradition," said John LeFevre, U.S. assistant team leader. "You can see that drive in their skaters. You look at Michelle and you look at Tara, and the similarity between them is that they are both focused individuals who are able to maintain that focus in any situation."

Case in point for Kwan: The other day in practice, she was having trouble with her triple lutz. She skated over to Carroll, who took her through the jump second by second. "It was like he was re-teaching her the jump right there," LeFevre said. "He's an absolute master, a genius when it comes to teaching."

Case in point for Lipinski: Before the Champions Series Final last December in Germany, she was following German star Tanja Szewcenko, who had just landed a near-perfect program. Lipinski was nervous. "He said something that ended up being funny and it totally relaxed me," Lipinski said. "Sometimes little things mean the most."

Carroll, 59, has been coaching the longest -- 38 years. He took Linda Fratianne to a silver medal in the 1980 Olympics, and had two-time world medalist Christopher Bowman, the renegade skater who's now a respected coach at the Garden City Ice Arena.

Callaghan, 52, started coaching in 1972. He has moved around a lot since he started, going from Rochester, N.Y., to Philadelphia to Colorado Springs to San Diego to Detroit, where he has been since 1992.

The student he has coached the longest is Todd Eldredge, whom Callaghan has guided since Eldredge was 10. Eldredge, 26, has won five U.S. titles, one world gold medal (in 1996) and a world silver (1997). But he was stopped short of his ultimate goal when he failed to win an Olympics medal. He was fourth here.

The other main skater Callaghan coaches at the Detroit Skating Club is Erin Pearl.

A former men's singles skater who placed fifth at the 1965 U.S. nationals, Callaghan was coached by Don Laws in Philadelphia before he turned professional in 1967. The coach Callaghan most admires is Slavka Kohout, who guided the great Janet Lynn.

"From Slavka I learned discipline, schedule, structure and technique," Callaghan said. "I think Frank and I are the same because we both love the sport and work as hard as we can to make our kids successful."

Carroll has a close relationship with Kwan, whom he began coaching in 1991. Although he said he doesn't socialize with her family, he has gone to movie premieres with his skater and has had her over to his home in Palm Springs to discuss programs and choreography.

"He is my coach and he is my friend," Kwan said of Carroll. "It seems like I've known him forever."

Callaghan's relationship with Lipinski is more businesslike. They've been together since December 1995, when Callaghan and Nicole Bobek parted ways 11 months after she won the U.S. title.

That year, Callaghan became the first coach in 45 years to train the men's and women's U.S. champions. The last was Gus Lussi, who coached Dick Button and Yvonne Sherman to national titles in 1950.

"Richard is all business," said Jim Disbrow, U.S. Olympic team leader who worked with Callaghan in Rochester and Buffalo. "If you look at it like a puzzle, all of the pieces fit. But I don't think he has ever heard of casual-dress day. But that is his flavor, it's his style.

"He doesn't open himself up, so a lot of people don't know that he has a family and a wife and daughter that he loves. You have to know him on a personal basis for many years to get to know Richard. We've shared many laughs and many dinners together, and he is really an extremely funny guy."

Much of Lipinski's loyalty to Callaghan lies in the fact that he has taken her so far so fast.

"I was 15th (in 1996 at worlds) and then we worked to be first," Lipinski said.

Callaghan and Lipinski spend long hours on the ice. At competitions, they are often away from the other skaters and coaches.

"I do like my own space and my own unnoticed communication with my students," Callaghan said.

Others assist in coaching Lipinski. She has at least one session a day at the Detroit Skating Club with Craig Maurizi. Megan Faulkner, Lipinski's former coach in Houston, is in Nagano to be part of Lipinski's support group.

"We're not father-daughter, it's not attorney-client," Callaghan said of his relationship with Tara. "It's a good business relationship with a lot of good feeling. I respect her and she respects me. We're both after a great performance."

But not everything has been perfect. Stresses between Callaghan and Lipinski's parents have developed, and Callaghan and Lipinski's agent, Mike Burg, rarely speak.

At Skate America last October, the Lipinskis were seen arguing with Callaghan at Joe Louis Arena. Presumably, it was because Callaghan had been a few minutes late for one of Lipinski's practices, for which he apologized.

There have been other disagreements about choreography and control, but everything has been calm in Nagano so far.

Lipinski has been skating great and has had the time of her life the past two weeks. She also has become the darling of the Games because many have been allowed to view her vibrant personality in relaxed settings instead of staged press conferences.

"Tara is a terrific skater and I'm so proud of her," Callaghan said this week. "You've got to assume that with the high profile of both skaters and the Olympic medal, you've got to take some rough times that go along with it. If it was just skating, it would be difficult, but it would be just skating. If Tara wins an Olympic medal, I'm not a better coach than I was today."