2022 Coaching Changes (vacancies in post 100)

[Caledi]

Its a fine line, another 2-3 years of finishing 12 and then you trend towards Georgia or Alabama.

Maybe I’m misunderstanding what you’re saying, but I wouldn’t put Alabama in the same boat as Georgia. Alabama was 7th this year; UCLA is already doing much worse than them IMO.

 

[cuuf]

cuuf:

Its a fine line, another 2-3 years of finishing 12 and then you trend towards Georgia or Alabama.

Maybe I’m misunderstanding what you’re saying,

Yes, I didn’t write that clearer. I meant a program that has such rich history, dominant and then fell off. Georgia and Alabama have been mired in mediocrity for close to 10 years (Alabama) or more (Georgia). Its only recently that Alabama has started to show signs of life, we all know whats going on at Georgia. Its one thing to have a bad year that is an anomaly. Its worse if its a trend, and its a slippery slope from saying “oh its not that bad” till one year you turn around and its been 5+ years since you have been in title mix and a whole generation of athletes starts forgetting about you.

 

[rue_des_plantes]

Florida and Utah had major deferrals last year (+ Utah lost Skinner) and they still made FotF. UCLA’s apparatus coaching has been in decline for years IMO, especially VT/UB/BB. Their technique and gymnastics just look bad outside of what their A-team arrived on campus with, and then it’s always a scramble to complete lineups with some 9.7 girl, be it a walk-on or elite who comes and goes from lineups. Health is a perennial issue.

Wouldn’t say “results only” but also wouldn’t be surprised if somebody considered not making it out of Regionals again to be a cardinal sin. LSU handed them the lifeline of all lifelines, and they promptly threw it away on beam. Classic Comforte. If you absolutely need Norah’s score to beat Missouri, you’re not ready for Florida and Oklahoma. That lineup was plenty stacked as it was, and everybody had an issue except Malabuyo.

 

[irichluck21]

Oh they definitely underperformed all year. The level of talent on that roster should have easily been top 8 if not top 4.
But there were a lot of shake ups previously.

Just to go back to 2020-2021
Florida had deferrals. Florida also lost Gowey and Hundley (7 routines from “post-season”) but brought in a solid freshman group including Ellie Lazzari, Chloi Clark, and Gabby Gallentine to make up for it.
UCLA lost a HUGE group. Ross, Kocian, Hano, Kramer, A Glenn, G Glenn and 13 out of 24 “post season” routines. They lost 4 on BB, 3 on VT/UB/FX each. Plus the lost off Ross auto 9.950-10 is hard to replace. They got Chae Campbell but Frida Esparza didn’t live up to elite potential.
Utah lost Skinner (but she last competed in 2019) and Reinstadler plus Tessen and Dula so between the 3 it was 6 “post-season” routines lost. However they got Stanhope, Sabado, and Gilstrap who immediately impacted their line ups. But Utah, unlike UCLA (who lost 3-4 per event) retained the core (4-5 routines) per event.
Oklahoma lost Nichols and Degouveia so that was 7 “post season” routines but they also brought in Audrey Davis and Kat Levasseur who were able to replace those lost routines.

So the 2021 year really did have UCLA at a major advantage. Whereas Florida and Utah had some losses but were able to bounce back with replacements in the lineups. UCLA struggled to replace those critical routines.
So I stand by my argument that the other teams were able to adjust and rebound but UCLA was really struggling to piece together 6 strong routines (IIRC they went a few times with 5 on vault).

 

[makam]

But one thing ucla shouldn’t struggle with is recruitment. Of all the schools with good gymnastics programs, ucla is the only one i would pay actual money to go to. Getting a scholarship offer from ucla, utah, or lsu is a no brainer on which most people would accept. I mean, it might be nice to be a big fish in a little pond, but does anyone really dream about going to Missouri unless you are from the area? I guess if you are religious, some of the other schools might be your top choice, but in general, ucla should get the pick of the crop just for the weather.

(Im always surprised when european or canadian recruits end up in the deep south. Like, does anyone warn them about the weather, snakes, and racists?)

 

[Caligym]

Wow! Congrats to McDonald! Big loss for Cal

 

[Sasha]

100% this. As a non-American, the only top gymnastics schools whose academic reputation I’m familiar with are UCLA, UC Berkeley, and Stanford. University of Florida? Couldn’t tell you anything about it.

Agree about the deep south; I’m always slightly fascinated that Olsen chose Alabama of all places. I can’t think of a state that is more culturally or climatically different from British Columbia. It’s also fascinating that Utah manages to draw Brits. I guess they have the gymnastics pedigree, but I hope these girls packed a lot of lotion, just saying.

Anyway, this is just sleep deprived ramblings. Back to the real conversation!

 

[blake]

Georgia just picked up Jafree Scott. It’d be nice to see her thrive in NCAA.

 

[irichluck21]

Georgia just picked up Jafree Scott

She was supposed to go to Florida. So clearly her scholarship is going to a senior.

 

[irichluck21]

But one thing ucla shouldn’t struggle with is recruitment.

They don’t struggle with recruitment. They get 4 and 5 star recruits plus elite athletes.

The problem with last season is that so many athletes deferred and they lost a strong senior class and had to revamp half of their roster from what would have been 2020 post season had it not been COVID cancelled.

2022 should have been so much better even though they still had to replace 7 routines. Shapiro on BB, Kooyman on UB/BB, and Dennis in the AA (although she didn’t do UB due to injury, they really needed her on this event). Not to mention the huge incoming class. Then you add in multiple injuries all year with Frazier going out for the whole year, and Jeffrey transferring to LSU (She looked competition ready on VT/UB). It was almost the case of TOO many options, which is why the start of the season was so rough.

Hopefully Janelle McDonald will right the ship as she is certainly talented as an assistant coach and I can’t wait to see what she does as a head coach. I am hoping Comforte is let go asap, as she was part of the drama this season and as beam coach she hasn’t lived up to expectations.
This might be an opportunity for Ross to return to her alma mater and get some assistant coaching experience.

 

[RedBirdie]

Color me surprised by UCLA’s choice. Didn’t have McDonald on my radar.

 

[RAFIKI]

My three choices are
Amy Smith
Janelle McDonald
Carly Dockendorf

With Janelle being the more likely of the three, unless Smith wants to move up to a high profile program, then she makes the most sense.

Congratulations!

 

[ArnoldRimmer]

The other one I’d heard of prior to learning of the NCAA through the gymternet is Michigan. I’d picked up from somewhere that it was considered one of the academically stronger institutions. But otherwise yep, just the ones you mentioned. Can’t imagine I’d ever have come across LSU or Auburn, for example, if not for gymnastics.

I think British people sometimes like the idea of Florida because it’s quite a popular holiday place. Maybe that has something to do with the relative over-representation.

 

[RedBirdie]

Michigan is considered one of the best public universities the US, alongside Cal, UCLA, University of North Carolina, and University of Virginia.

 

[bcpn]

Under Miss Val, UCLA tends to focus their efforts on getting the top elites and then fill the rest of their roster with local walk ons who have varying levels of success. Don’t get me wrong, appealing to former elites is great for the program but UCLA has traditionally had little presence at L10 meets. Hopefully we see some L10 stars to UCLA in the coming years under Janelle.

I am very curious what Janelle will do in terms of assistants. I agree with those who say Comforte should be gone. Beam has been a struggle for UCLA for the past 3 years and her routine construction is dismal.

 

[cuuf]

The top 5 public universities are UC - Berkley, UCLA, Florida, Michigan, UVA (No gymnastics), UNC, UC- Santa Barbara (idk if they have a program?). Stanford is private but also highly regarded academically.

 

[cuuf]

Dont forget Florida!

 

[irichluck21]

UC- Santa Barbara (idk if they have a program?)

Sad about UC Santa Barbara, they had a gymnastics team since the early 1980s but were never able to make it out of that regional to nationals due to UCLA, Cal State Fullerton, and Arizona State being so strong in the west regional.
They won several MPSF conference titles for example.

Their program was cut for the 2001 competition year, the coaching staff left, however, many gymnasts were unable to transfer in time. So the petition was granted to extend one more year for the Lady Gauchos. They hired a new coach, Mari-Rae Sopper, who knew it was a one year contract and took the team anyway. Tragically, Sopper was on the plane that was hi-jacked and crashed into the Pentagon. Last minute, Alanna Trimble, former Lady Gaucho took on the head coach position as a recently graduated senior entering the graduate program.
No matter what, the team was going to be dissolved at the end of the 2002.
They finished ranked 69th in their final season.

University of Virginia has flirted with a gymnastics program and has a club. I wonder if the ACC now sponsoring gymnastics would motivate UVA to create a program.

 

[irichluck21]

Additionally, I do hope that Janelle not only helps to heal the trust of the team and refocus the climate and culture, but I do hope that she pulls back on the social media/viral/ social justice endeavors.

While social justice is important, overly focusing on social media and or desperately trying to go viral IS a distraction. They are students but also athletes, many of whom are receiving full ride scholarships to compete for UCLA.
There should be a winning attitude and a hunger to win. Look at Oklahoma this year. Though they did win in 2018, they barely won and there has not been a hunger and desire to WIN since the Dantzscher, Tousek, Richardson, Maloney, Antolin, Schwikert years to be honest.

Continue to keep a social justice stance, but go back to organically going viral (ie Mincie Hall and Shannon Evans) as opposed to trying to force it to happen.

There just appears to be a lot of individuals on the team as opposed to a unified squad. I suspect with Frazier, Flately, and Jeffrey gone that a lot of the drama will be mostly behind them.

 

[irichluck21]

So so far we have these vacancies:

Alabama
Head Coach (Ashley Priess-Johnston)
Assistant Coach
Assistant Coach

Arizona
Assistant Coach

Arizona State
Assistant Coach

Auburn
Assistant Coach

California
Assistant Coach

Central Michigan
Assistant Coach

Clemson
Assistant Coach

Georgia
Assistant Coach
Volunteer Assistant Coach

Long Island
Assistant Coach

Nebraska
Assistant Coach

San Jose State
Assistant Coach

Stanford
Assistant Coach

Temple
Assistant Coach

Texas Women’s
Assistant Coach

Utah State
Head Coach Kristen White
Assistant Coach
Assistant Coach

UCLA
Assistant Coach
Assistant Coach

Ursinus College
Assistant Coach

Yale
Head Coach (likely go to Andrew Leis who was interim) Andrew Leis
Assistant Coach Morgan Ross