Chris Bogantes is making the move from SEMO to USU as an assistant coach. He also coached at Ball State and TWU.
The artistic gymnastics portion of the Rio Olympics concluded with two more days of event finals. Simone Biles won her fourth gold medal with a big win on FX. Teammate Aly Raisman won silver. On the BB, Biles had her first break and took the Bronze. Teammate Laurie Hernandez took the Silver. Danell Leyva, originally an alternate to the US squad, won silvers on PB and HB. Ex Michigan star Sam Mikulak placed 4th on HB.
Link: USA Gymnastics
The first day of event finals at the Olympics saw medals awarded on the Women's VT and UB, and Men's FX and PH. Several gymnasts with NCAA ties were in action.
Simone Biles cemented her spot in history with a dominating win in the AA at the 2016 Olympics. Teammate Aly Raisman won the silver, well ahead of third place Aliya Mustafina of Russia.
The Men's AA Final was an outstanding afternoon of competition this Wednesday, with the world's top gymnasts battling in top form.
At the Rio 2016 Olympic Games, the women's final concluded on Tuesday afternoon with a thrilling final.
The Men's Team final at the Rio 2016 Olympics concluded this afternoon, with a thrilling race for medals.
Former Iowa gymnast Tom Buese will join the coaching staff for the men's team. He has been the program director at Geddert's in Michigan.
The US Women dominated the qualifying competition at the Olympics, outdistancing the field by hitting 16 for 16 and outpacing 2nd place China by nearly 10 points, 185.238 to 175.279. (The format is four up, three count. It shifts to three up, three count in the finals). Simone Biles was sensational, showing only a few nerves en route to posting the highest scores of qualifying on three of four events to keep her quest for five gold medals alive. UCLA signee Madison Kocian posted the high score of the day on UB to qualify to that final.
China used big scores on PH and Rings to edge the US 270.461 to 270.405 in qualifying for the Team Finals at the Olympic Games in Rio. Russia is close behind at 269.512, Japan at 269.294, GBR at 268.67, and Brazil at 268.078. The Ukraine and Germany also made the finals. The finals should be a tight race for the medals, with the fewest mistakes likely to determine the winner in the 3 up, 3 count format.
As expected, the NCAA has officially updated the NCAA Code Modifications to change the start values of several vaults that were rated at 10.0 for last season. The original change created controversy because the Yurchenko Layout Half and the Yurchenko Layout Full were devalued from a 10.0 to a 9.95 start value last season. However, in an apparent oversight, the NCAA left the Yurchenko 1/2 to Front Layout (aka Yurchenko "Arabian" and "Hristakaeva") at a 10.0 last season, creating an unusual situation in which two vaults with slight different turn timing were given different start values.
Maryland has hired Evan Eigner as an assistant. He's a 2016 grad of Ohio State and was on the men's team for two seasons. He transferred there from Temple, where he trained under his father, Fred Turoff.
Link: Maryland Release
UNH has hired Lindsey (Bruck) Ayotte and Harris Bergman as assistants. Bruck is a former Michigan star who has been performing and coaching with Cirque du Soleil. Bergman is a former gymnast and diver who has been serving as a volunteer assistant at Pittsburgh. Former associate Head Coach Ed Datti has retired and will serve as a volunteer.
Link: Release
Barbara Gibson, head coach of more than 30 years, has announced her retirement. Assistant coach Kasey Crawford will be the interim head coach this season.