Gym Dogs Advance to NCAA Championships Yet Fail to Win Athens Regional
by T Kyle King on Apr 3, 2011 12:06 AM EDT
in Georgia Bulldogs Gymnastics
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PrintThe good news is that the Gym Dogs’ season didn’t end in abject disaster the way it did in Jay Clark’s first year. The bad news is that, despite getting an absolute gift of a postseason matchup, Georgia finished second to UCLA in the Athens Regional.
Five scores of 9.85 or better paced a 49.325 effort by the Red and Black on the vault. While this put the host squad ahead of Louisiana State (49.075), Maryland (48.925), North Carolina State (48.7), and West Virginia (48.65) in that event, UCLA’s 49.4 gave the Pac-10 squad the top vault score for the regional.
Cassidy McComb’s 9.9, Gina Nuccio’s 9.925, and Kat Ding’s 9.95 on the bars led the Georgia gymnasts to post a 49.425 team score in the event. The Tigers (48.75), the Terrapins (48.625), the Wolfpack (48.575), and the Mountaineers (47.775) all failed to match that mark, but the Bruins tied the Gym Dogs with a 49.425 of their own.
The Athenians proved unable to card more than one score above a 9.775 on the balance beam, leading to a disappointing 48.8 mark that trailed the scores posted by UCLA (49.2) and LSU (48.875). Georgia still finished ahead of NCSU (48.6), WVU (47.075), and UM (47.025) on the beam.
No Bulldog competitor failed to earn at least a 9.8 in the floor exercise, which allowed Hilary Mauro’s and Shayla Worley’s 9.85s, as well as McComb’s 9.9, to produce the 49.2 overall result that exceeded the West Virginians’ 49.0, the North Carolinians’ 48.875, the Louisianans’ 48.65, and the Marylanders’ 48.625, yet still trailed the Californians’ 49.4 on the floor.
When the tallies were completed, the Gym Dogs had carded the 196.75 that enabled them to finish ahead of LSU (195.35), N.C. State (194.75), Maryland (193.2), and West Virginia (192.5), allowing Georgia to advance to the NCAA Championships, which begin in Cleveland on April 15. However, the eighth-ranked Athenians could not match the 197.425 carded by a sixth-ranked Bruin outfit that fell to Georgia in Pauley Pavilion on March 6.
Obviously, it is good to have the Red and Black back among the top twelve teams in the nation, but it is disconcerting to see Georgia once again fielding the second-best gymnastics squad in Stegeman Coliseum on a given weekend. That this program is in a better position than it was a year ago should not blind us to the fact that Georgia gymnastics is nowhere near where it was two years ago, nor to the fact that, on Saturday, Jay Clark once again was no better than the second-best coach in the building.
Settling for no better than second-best in the regional round for the second straight season is beneath a program that won five straight national championships in the seasons immediately preceding Coach Clark’s ascension to the throne he has occupied so unworthily. Jay Clark’s substandard stewardship of the Georgia gymnastics program, like Liz Lemon’s romantic relationship with Floyd DeBarber, should end after a trip to Cleveland.
Go ‘Dawgs!
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Hey, the Gym Dogs made it to the NCAA's...
… and that ain’t bad! Of course, the fact that the 3rd-place finisher (LSU) was almost a point and a half behind the Dawgs means that Georgia would have had to collapse in epically… uh, epic, fashion to fail to advance to the NCAA’s.
All the same, though, good for the girls for having enough pride and strength to make it to the national tournament. If recent form holds, the team will perform poorly on the big stage in Cleveland, Georgia will fail to make the Super Six, and the seach for a new head coach will start shortly thereafter.
For the record, . . .
. . . K.J. Kindler’s office phone number is (405) 325-6876.
I’m just sayin’.
Go 'Dawgs!
For those who are curious, the twelve teams who made it to Cleveland were . . .
. . . Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Kent State, Michigan, Nebraska, Oklahoma, Oregon State, UCLA, and Utah. The fifth-ranked Sooners won their regional with the best postseason score in program history, while Florida fell to Arkansas in Denver.
The Razorbacks have fielded a gymnastics team for just nine seasons, yet Arkansas has made eight straight regional appearances and has earned its fourth straight trip to the NCAA Championships. In addition to defeating Georgia, the Hogs beat the Gators twice this season. The SEC, which once consisted strictly of Georgia and Alabama, is becoming an even more competitive gymnastics conference, making it all the more imperative that the Gym Dogs be led by an elite head coach. Jay Clark is not that coach.
Go 'Dawgs!
FYI:
The Razorbacks’ co-head coaches are Mark Cook (CS-Chico ‘77) and Rene Cook (Penn State ’93). If Greg McGarity hired them to rebuild the program in Athens—-and, let’s face it, if you didn’t have prior ties to Arkansas, wouldn’t you take a job in Athens to get the hell out of Arkansas?—-we’d have a head coach named Mark overseeing a program in Stegeman Coliseum and a head gymnastics coach who was an alumna of Penn State University. How’s that worked out for us in the past?
Go 'Dawgs!
While I do not know nearly as much about the Gymdogs as you do, Kyle
I am skeptical there is another Suzanne Yoculan out there for the picking. I think she was unique and the expectation that we would make a seemless transition from 10 national championships to 20 would be unrealistic. I would seem unlikely that anyone would have maintained her level of excellence. When you are at the top, you have no where to go but down.
This is not an endorsement of Jay Clark, but a call to caution. Finding someone to take you to the next level is great, as long as it is the next level up. There are other directions besides up. I think his resume at the time he was hired would have topped any of the assistents in your post last week. Head coaches with proven track records coaching different classes of girls, not just riding one star, however, are a different matter.
Suzanne on the live video stream of the regional
Suzanne stopped by the booth (or table or whencever they do the commentary) and made some remarks. Interesting stuff. Obviously, she called for no one’s head, and there was no discussion of whether Clark should or shouldn’t remain at the helm of the program she built. She pointed out that this is like building a program from the ground up all over again. She gave some general opinions on coaching decisions (the kinds of stuff one focuses on heading into a meet like this, the advantages and disadvantages of starting on beam, Clark’s line-up decisions and aggressive calls in some routines, UCLA’s consistently spectacular floor choreography). She said she was certain UGA would be headed to Cleveland (not that tough a call with only bars remaining). It was clear she has no expectation that UGA would win the championship, even though she never said that. None of the discussion was couched in terms of placating fans, although she did talk about fan expectations compared to the direction of the program, about which she expressed what I interpreted as approval.
I'm watching the SEC Gymnastics Championships on ESPN2, and a thought occurred to me.
Granted it’s most likely not an original thought, but I think Greg McGarity should target the Gymnastics coach at his last job: Rhonda Faehn. I have several arguments in favor of Faehn:
1) She has proven that she can recruit well and win at the highest level of collegiate gymnastics. In her 8 years at the helm of the Florida program, she has only failed to make the Super Six once. She hasn’t yet won any national titles… but she has built Florida into a program that is always in contention for the title.
2) She has no historical ties to Florida. She started out in Texas under biggest-name-of-them-all Bela Karolyi, and competed in college at UCLA. If 99% of the other gymnastics programs in the country came calling to her with the prospect of a change of address, she’d probably laugh them out of the room; satisfied with her current posting. If the program with 10 national championships (and one of her former bosses) came calling, however… well, she’d at least have to listen, I think.
3) It would cause great wailing and gnashing of teeth (in gymnastics circles, at least) in Gainesville, Florida. (I hate Florida.)
Nice thought
But you can’t have Rhonda. Whatever Rhonda wants in Gainesville, Mr. Foley will provide. Ms. Faehn is leading a team at the cusp of its first national title. The 3 best gymnasts on her squad are 2 sophomores and a freshman. UF has the talent to win the title this year, and consequently will for the next 2 years at least.
Why would she leave the Faehn Gymnastics Center to try and restore the program within the Yoculan Gymnastics Center?
I think you are being a little silly complaining about not winning a regional title that means nothing. That’s like getting angry because your swimmer qualified for his or her event championship, but only placed second in their qualifying heat. Each regional sends 2 teams to the championship. UGA was one of those 2. Mission accomplished and time to move on.
We came in ranked #1, but finished 2nd to Arkansas (for the second time this season). But in gymnastics, there is really only 1 meet that matters…..
I didn't realize the gymnastics facility was named in her honor.
So… maybe not as much of a chance of luring her as I thought, then.
To answer your other point, however, skigator93, Kyle and I have been harping to all who will listen for the better part of 12 months now that Jay Clark is not the (proverbial) man to coach Georgia gymnastics. I agree that finishing second in regionals means nothing (unless it’s a tie for second, and you lose the tiebreaker… like Georgia did last year).
The problems with Georgia’s gymnastics program run much more deeply than a simple second-place finish. Under Coach Yoculan, Georgia would have down meets and down days, but when the lights were the brightest and the pressure was on, her teams stood the tallest and consistently performed. Under Jay Clark’s tenure, we’ve seen exactly the opposite. Georgia has creamed opponents against whom they were clearly superior. When faced with a foe who doesn’t get intimidated by the name, however, Georgia has consistently fallen short for 2 straight seasons.
For most gymnastics programs, being in the Top 10 every year would be a cause for great celebration. At Georgia, though, that’s an unacceptable level of performance. For 26 years, a “down” year at Georgia has meant, at worst, that you’re among the top six teams in the nation. A “mediocre” year means you’re in the top 3, and a “good” year means you were the national runner-up.
For better or for worse, Georgia gymnastics is now like Alabama football or Kentucky basketball. We have to be considered among the best every single year, or else the coach must be held to account.
by vineyarddawg on Apr 3, 2011 8:32 PM EDT up reply actions 1 recs
I think you guys are having a difficult time realizing what Suzanne Yoculan was
and that was a once in a lifetime coach.
Alabama went 17 years and shuffled through 6 coaches between its last 2 national football titles and has only won a total of 2 since The Bear left 28 years ago.
Since Adolph Rupp left Kentucky 40 years ago, the ’Cats have won a total of 3 national titles. The Cats have also been led by 3 different head coaches in the last 5 years.
Since John Wooden left 36 years ago, UCLA has won exactly 1 national title.
When coaching legends leave, the next coach doesn’t typically step right in and continune winning championships.
BTW, the UF gymnastics facility isn’t actually named after Rhonda Faehn…..yet.
I can sum up my argument in six words:
Ron Zook.
Steve Addazio.
Jay Clark.
(fin)
by vineyarddawg on Apr 4, 2011 12:19 PM EDT up reply actions
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