Switching Sides

There has been some shifting around with the coaching positions in the college gymnastics world. Most recently, the University of Michigan, the University of Missouri, and Western Michigan in particular seem to be trading their coaching staff around. It will be interesting to see how these teams do this season, especially Western Michigan and Missouri who will have almost an entirely new coaching staff.

Western Michigan has lost their head coach Dave Kuzara who has now taken on the role of assistant coach at the University of Michigan. Kuzara has quite the coaching resume so far, having been the head coach and assistant coach of 3 different programs. Dave was the assistant coach at Michigan in the early 90's before becoming the head coach at the University of Massachusetts. Kuzara was also the assistant coach at West Virginia University and the University of Arkansas for a few years. Western Michigan will also be loosing their assistant coach, Casey Jo Magee who is a former Arkansas gymnast gone elite. Casey retired from gymnastics after failing to qualify to Nationals in 2012. Casey has accepted the position of assistant coach for the University of Missouri. Shannon Welker, who was the assistant coach at Michigan for the last 5 years has happily accepted the role of head coach at Missouri. John Carney who was the assistant coach at Oregan State will also be joining the Mizzou coaching staff. These changes seem to be kind of unfortunate for the Western Michigan gymnastics program but will hopefully work in favor massively for Missouri this season. I can't wait to see what happens!

Another thing to take note of, Western Michigan and Missouri seem to be the school of choice for the siblings of Olympic gymnasts. Jessica Peszek and Skylar Memmel, the sisters of 2008 Olympians Sam and Chellsie, have signed with Western Michigan. Hannah Finnegan, who is the sister of 2012 Olympic alternate Sarah, will be attending Missouri in the fall. (She was going to Nebraska but changed her mind.) These girls should be great assets for the team!