Tom Forster resigns

[YurchenkoLoop]

Slava or Graba if they’d want it.

 

[irichluck21]

All three of my references are @JoseM

He is also a reference for Dominique Helena Moceanu!

 

[irichluck21]

Slava or Graba if they’d want it.

Both have current elite gymnasts though.

 

[rue_des_plantes]

I think the argument I’ve seen against Mihai is complaints the Australian gymnasts had–things like 10+ days of practices without days off. Take that as hearsay, though.

And things may have changed, but Mihai was rumored to no longer be interested after 2017.

IMO CKC is a pipe dream and doesn’t seem to be doing too well at Georgia, although it’s hard to know the truth there at any given moment with Suzanne’s constant lurking (and meddling, obviously) in the background.

 

[irichluck21]

I think that Kupets would be out of her depth - has she even coached at elite level? She seems out of her depth at Georgia as it has tumbled down the rankings since she took over

She did coach club gymnastics for like a year. Not sure that it was elite.

The HPD doesn’t necessarily coach as much as act as manager of the team and consult with coaches.
I can see Kupets doing this role, since as head coach of UGA she has a lot of administrative duties. I believe she only coaches beam and her assistants do the other events. She would leave the majority of the coaching to the individual coaches.

 

[YurchenkoLoop]

Wieber.

 

[irichluck21]

Wieber.

She’s definitely not leaving Arkansas anytime soon and just got engaged and planning a wedding.
She’s gonna be making more money at Arkansas and is in very high good standing right now.

Kupets was brought up because last year was their worst finish ever in 18th place and with no star recruits and with Victoria Nguyen out with injury for most likely the season, plus an underwhelming intra squad, it doesn’t look like the makings of a stellar season.

8th place in the SEC and a finish in the 15th-20s range is not a good look.
One off year finishing 18th can be overlooked given Covid-things, however, finishing 2022 with a similar ranking won’t be good for Kupets.

The program has become the Romania of NCAA. Kupets was supposed to return UGA to championship glory. That hasn’t happened and now it is year 5 with the rankings gradually decreasing since Kupets took over.
7th, 8th, 12th, 18th…so yeah, Kupets could be looking for an out and fresh start before she gets the ax.

 

[Doug1233]

Kupets is the kind of pick that would satisfy the inane Twitter mob, but wouldn’t actually bring much to the table in terms of elite international coaching/judging quality.

But to be honest, the role is completely redundant anyway. Why not pick someone purely for good PR? USAG kinda need it rn.

 

[QuietColours]

Kupets was a great gymnast, but being a great gymnast is a very different skill set from being a great coach or administrator, and we haven’t seen any evidence that she’s particularly good at either of those.

As best it looks from the outside, she has her current position because she was a huge star on the team several years ago. She doesn’t seem to have any particular qualifications beyond that and having worked as a coach for what I’m fairly certain was just a regular JO team. I’m honestly not sure how that’s qualification for an NCAA head coach or a high performance coordinator.

 

[irichluck21]

But to be honest, the role is completely redundant anyway. Why not pick someone purely for good PR? USAG kinda need it rn.

Absolutely. Kupets as a former USAG gymnast, 2x World Champion, and 2x Olympic medalist fits the bills.
Plus in her time with UGA, has had plenty of media experience.
Leave the coaching to the coaches and act more as manager of the program…Kupets can do this.

 

[Doug1233]

She doesn’t seem to have any particular qualifications beyond that and having worked as a coach for what I’m fairly certain was just a regular JO team. I’m honestly not sure how that’s qualification for an NCAA head coach or a high performance coordinator.

My point is that having experience, being a good administrator, or having any particular qualifications, are not pre-requisites for this role.

Leave the coaching to the coaches and act more as manager of the program…Kupets can do this.

Not even a “manager” of the program - just the person you put in front of Gymcastic’s microphone to calm the Twitter mob.

 

[RedBirdie]

At this point, no legitimate coach (elite or NCAA), choreographer, judge, or former gymnast will touch this job with a ten-and-a-half-foot pole (other than Moceanu). You might as well throw your hat in the ring. Look at how it’s an open application for anybody to apply to versus shopping around within the gymnastics community. They know it’s now a hard sell. Might as well start dipping in the gymnternet community and find the hardcore fans who study the CoP and judge for fun.

I don’t disagree that this job is basically an impossible sell, but I believe the public job posting for this and every position at USAG is part of their “commitment to transparency.” Gotta at least pretend that we haven’t already picked who we want and go through the whole charade.

 

[Rich]

what about Valorie Kondos

 

[Sasha]

That could be interesting, for a variety of reasons.

At least we know she’d address USAG’s long-standing issue of hair elastics being worn on wrists.

 

[KorbutFan]

Val is another one who’s had gymnasts speak out against her.

 

[esta]

How about Pereskaia?

 

[Doug1233]

I don’t think she has the camera-facing media skills needed for the moment.

She’s on the committee so I’m sure she had a hand in picking the team anyway.

 

[rlayt]

I can’t think of anyone who hasn’t had SOMETHING unsavory, unprofessional etc and has the right qualifications as stated in the job posting.

A reimagining of the role is needed.

 

[onodian]

Cue in Jack

 

[ArnoldRimmer]

Entirely unsavoury.