2023 coaching changes and athlete transfer portal

[irichluck21]

Kaytianna Kell (née McMillan) named assistant coach at Oregon St.

I had a feeling this would happen once Raschilla left.
Kell is the perfect “legacy” head coach to take over the program once the Chaplins retire.

While Tanya Chaplin is only 26 years as head coach of OSU, she was a 7 year assistant coach at Washington, and 1 year assistant coach at UCLA. So that is 34 years of coaching, so retirement is definitely close.

 

[irichluck21]

Lacey Dagen (formerly Oregon State) is now an assistant coach at Arizona State.

Georgia announced that Sam Wellborn is permanently and assistant coach and Mollie Korth moves from volunteer coach to the 3rd assistant coach.

Also, previously named interim head coach Hilary (Mauro) Steele is now permanent head coach at Temple: Temple University

 

[blake]

Kyla Bryant hired as an assistant coach at Arkansas.

 

[irichluck21]

The adding of a 4th paid coach will make things interesting.

 

[blake]

Michaela Gentry SJSU (Junior) → Illinois

Shruthi Anand (5th year) NCSU → Pitt

 

[irichluck21]

Myia Hambrick moves from volunteer coach to 3rd assistant coach.

I am expecting the same to happen to several volunteer coaches, including Courtney McCool Griffeth.

 

[blake]

Talia Folino (LIU) to Alaska. She has two seasons left.

 

[irichluck21]

I wonder if LIU will end up axing the program. It is clearly not what it was meant to be.

If the athletic department aren’t willing to invest in the program and don’t keep the promises they made, they won’t attract any gymnasts. Having to commute 30 minutes one way to practice and then 30 minutes back to campus is not ok. One hour doesn’t seem like much time, but for a student athlete it is. Especially if the team practices daily, that is 7 hours in a week gone just commuting.

 

[RedBirdie]

They’re not the only team that has a not-insignificant commute. I can think of several others and none of them are losing gymnasts at this rate.

 

[irichluck21]

Emily Bellin, interim head coach at Springfield is now permanent head coach.

 

[irichluck21]

Trinity Thomas announced she is getting a 2nd masters and has decided to return to Florida gymnastics for one more year as graduate student coach.

 

[blake]

They’re not the only team that has a not-insignificant commute

I know GW and Lindenwood both train at club gyms, and I imagine the commute in DC would be worse than in long island.

Here’s Folino’s Instagram post:

Her caption seems to imply there was an unhealthy environment at LIU. Some of the comments on her post from LIU teammates have a similar vibe. Juk: “the light at the end of the tunnel is here” / Koopman: “can’t wait to watch you grow in this new positive environment” / Hilliard: “new chapter in a nurturing environment”

I’d rather they find a replacement for Lane than sack the program altogether.

I wonder if the LIU’s athletic department lacks the resources to help international students integrate. All their international athletes have either transferred (Juk, Titarsolej, Folino) or retired (Lapp, Hilliard), save for Ricketts and Takagi, who didn’t appear to actually be training at all in her final season.

 

[blake]

Marissa King promoted to assistant at Nebraska

 

[irichluck21]

They’re not the only team that has a not-insignificant commute. I can think of several others and none of them are losing gymnasts at this rate.

That’s correct, but they don’t have the same amount of international students as LIU had, that seems to be the issue is not necessarily the commute, but how these students get to a gym 30 minutes away. They likely don’t have licenses and if they did likely don’t have a car.

Either way it appears that LIU is not a good experience for them as they are all mostly going from the program.

I agree it might be time for a new head coach.

 

[RedBirdie]

Does LIU not provide transportation? That’s insane. I’m 99% certain GW does, because freshmen and sophomores are prohibited from having a car on campus. Parking permits are crazy expensive; I always took metro when I worked there.

Heck, I did club at American University as a grad student and we got to use one of the university’s 15 person van to get from campus to the gym. I can’t remember if freshmen were even allowed to have a car on campus, but most undergrads did not because parking was expensive and very limited. The expectation was you used transit.

 

[blake]

Sydney Schumacher (Brockport) to Auburn. Auburn’s vault lineup could definitely use her tuck Y1.5.



This is the first time I’ve seen a gymnast transfer from D3 to D1. Has it happened before?

 

[Hatsumomo]

Probably for the best. DC has quite the learning curve with its roads.

 

[RedBirdie]

The traffic circles are bad enough, but then add in Maryland Drivers™? And God forbid you have to drive through the monumental core with clueless tourists wandering onto Independence Avenue without looking…

 

[Hatsumomo]

My mom and I drove into DC a couple of weeks ago for a sumo exhibition and I got the reminder why I usually take the Metro. Especially going into NE and the ridiculous Saturday construction on New York. And you have to figure out which roads you can actually turn onto because of the multiple one-way roads.

And if it isn’t Maryland Drivers™, it’s Pennsylvania Drivers™. I need them to go and keep their happy asses in PA. Do that weird shit in Philly, not here.

 

[blake]

Anahit Assadourian (Pitt) to Minnesota. She represented Armenia at worlds in 2019, but I don’t believe she ever competed during her time at Pitt.



In other gopher news, Kiki Parenteau has been promoted from volunteer to assistant coach.

Kiki Parenteau Promoted to Assistant Coach - University of Minnesota Athletics

Kiki Parenteau has been promoted to assistant coach.

gophersports.com