Interview: Greg Marsden

When it comes to college gymnastics, Greg Marsden is royalty. From its inception in the mid 70's until his retirement after the 2015 season, Greg coached the University of Utah Gymnastics team to a long list of accomplishments. For 40 years he lead the Red Rocks to success on the competition floor and in the stands. The Utes won 10 National Championships under his leadership and have the highest attendance record in all of women's collegiate sports. In 2009 they set a new average attendance record of 13,861 fans per meet. Their meet against Michigan last season had a record breaking 16,019 fans in the stands! They are also the only team to qualify to every single National Championships that has been held and they've never placed lower than 10th. After his 40th season of coaching, Greg announced his retirement, passing the torch to Tom Farden and his wife, Megan. Although he has retired from coaching, Greg is still very much involved with the sport. A few months after retiring he was hired as an analyst for Pac-12 Networks and can be heard commentating at several meets this season. Greg is also on Twitter sharing all his ideas and plenty of knowledge. (You can follow him by clicking here.) We recently caught up with Greg to reflect back on his coaching career, hear his thoughts on this season so far and hear his opinions on early recruiting and team success.

How did your coaching career begin? 
I was a diver at a small college in Arkansas and took a gymnastics class, because I thought it would help my diving. I wound up competing a little bit of low-level AAU gymnastics. After teaching high school for a year, I came to Utah to work on a graduate degree in Psychology of Sport, with the intention of teaching. As part of my graduate assistantship, I was teaching winter camping, lifesaving, handball and a gymnastics class. Title IX was requiring Universities to start varsity women's sports teams. I was asked if I would help start a gymnastics team. I was paid $1,500 and my budget included 5 in-state tuition waivers and $4,500. We put a notice in the student newspaper and held tryouts. Somehow, that first year, we qualified to Championships and finished 10th. I fell in love with coaching and the rest, as they say, is history.

Note in The Daily Utah Chronicle, fall of 1975

What would you consider to be some of the highlights of your coaching career? 

This is going to sound cornball but my entire career seems like a highlight reel. I've had too many great memories to single any out. 

Can you talk about making the decision to retire? Was it a difficult decision to make? 

No. I knew it was time to pass the torch on to a new generation of talented young coaches. I loved coaching, from day one, to the very last day of my career but somehow I just knew it was time for me to move on to new challenges. 

How are you enjoying life on the other side as a commentator and fan? I know the gymnastics world really loves reading your opinions on Twitter! 

I really had no ambition to be on TV but when the Pac-12 Networks called and said they thought I could bring a unique perspective, I agreed to give it a try. I'm not convinced I'll be any good at it but if not, I'll be happy to step away. The Pac-12 Networks actually encouraged me to get a Twitter account. I'm glad to hear that someone enjoys my thoughts. I'm excited about the number of programs that are working to improve their attendance and the number of live television broadcasts. I strongly believe that the future of NCAA Gymnastics is tied to attendance and television viewership. 

Utah has always been known for having a huge crowd at home meets. What can other teams do to get people interested and fill up those stands? 

First, create a fast moving, informative and entertaining meet format. If you get people to come and the format is not good, they will never be back. Then, it's hard work and more hard work. Get out into the community with your team to meet people, tell your story and get them to your meets. If they have a good experience, they will spread the word. Utah has been going to Elementary schools and professional organizations for more than 30 years and it continues to be the most important thing they do in order to develop new fans. Building an audience has to be a priority of the head coach. You cannot leave that to others, because they will never have the same passion for gymnastics or for your program that you do. If you look at the programs that are successful with their attendance, it's ALWAYS a priority of the head coach.

Having been the coach of a very successful team, what do you think are the key components for success? 

Well, that depends on your definition of success. I always thought of success as doing the best we could with the personnel we had, while developing strong, confident, independent young women. If we could do that, I considered the year to be a success. Sometimes that also translated in to success on the score sheet. For what it's worth, to me, it's always been about the process, rather than the outcome. If you have talent and the process is well thought out, implemented consistently, with discipline and enthusiasm, the outcome will take care of itself. With that approach, many teams have a chance for success and many young women will go to have successful lives, in part, as a result of their experience with gymnastics. 

What are some changes you would like to see made in NCAA gymnastics? 

• Add the directional and out of bounds lines to the vault landing area.
• Count all scores, with no exhibition routines.
• Whenever possible compete with two teams, but NEVER with more than four, including at NCAA Regional meets and NCAA Championships.
• Either do away with individual awards and become a "team sport" or bring back event finals.

What are your thoughts on the trend of early recruiting and commitments? 

One of the reasons I felt it was time to retire is that I was becoming increasingly uncomfortable with where recruiting is going. To be a 65 year-old man talking to 12 or 13 year-old girls about recruiting, just seemed creepy. And the math just wasn't working out anymore, when it's going to be three or four years before they are even on campus and then have four years on the team...unless I was going to coach to 100! It's ridiculous that girls that young are making that type of commitment before they're really old enough to make an informed decision. It's forcing coaches to be disingenuous when they make commitments that they may or may not be able to keep. There are simply too many variables for this to be good for either side. But now that the genie is out of the bottle, it's hard to put it back, as both sides feel pressure to get this done. 

The only thing that I can see that MAY work, would be to allow NO INTERACTION between college coaches and recruits and their families until a certain time, such as their junior year of high school. That means, no correspondence, no phone calls, no unofficial visits, no incidental contact at clubs or meets and no working through the club coach to recruit somebody prior to their junior year. Whenever recruiting begins, the NCAA should allow universities to pay for official visits, so that families are no longer asked to pay for the gymnasts to visit campuses. In fact, they should also allow universities to pay for a parent to accompany the gymnast in order to cut down on some of the shenanigans that goes on during official visits.   

Who do you think will be the dark horses this season? 

I think LSU or Michigan have a chance to become the seventh school to win a NCAA Championship and I think Boise State may have a chance to make it to NCAA Championships. 

What are your overall thoughts on the NCAA season so far? What teams are you most impressed with? 

I am impressed that more teams are becoming competitive. How about George Washington! On a given night, many teams have a chance to upset higher ranked teams and we are already seeing that happen. Florida and Oklahoma seem to be the teams to beat but the season is young and there are a number of teams that may be capable of doing that. It's going to be a fun season of NCAA gymnastics and I look forward to watching it develop.