Florida Gators: Gymnastics has the blueprint that other sports should follow
By Will Thomas
While a lot of the attention in Gator nation is on Florida football’s 6-7 season, and Florida basketball’s 7-7 start, Florida Gators’ gymnastics begins their 2023 campaign today and looks to take home the national championship after a 2nd-place finish last year.
The Gator gymnastics team has been one of the most dominant programs in the nation under head coach Jenny Rowland. Rowland is entering her 8th season as Florida’s head coach and has had the Gators ranked in the top 4 nationally every year she’s been here.
The Gators are four-time SEC champions under Rowland, and she’s a three-time winner of SEC coach of the year.
But Florida’s sustained success isn’t to the credit of Rowland and her alone. Her core coaching staff has been with her the entire time she’s been the coach, which is a luxury the head coaches of UF’s other sports don’t have.
Adrian Burde, the associate head coach, has been in Gainesville for 16 years and was just recently elevated to his current role in June of last year.
Owen Field, the assistant coach, is entering his 8th year with the program and coaches UF’s uneven bar performers, a unit that has won three National Championships and is regularly in the top four in the nation.
Having a consistent core of coaches, as the gymnastics program shows us, gives a team a huge advantage when it comes to team consistency and performance.
Florida football has been cycling through a new head coach every three years. And Todd Golden is in his first year after Mike White struggled to get anything going.
Having a solid core of coaches who have experience with the program has been paying dividends for gymnastics, and is something that football and basketball need to try and replicate the best they can.
Not only is it valuable to have that solid core of coaches for a while, but it’s just as important that they’re good at their job.
That seems obvious but look at Florida football. Dan Mullen brought over Todd Grantham, who he’d worked with for years, but he was terrible and cost UF their 2020 season.
Billy Napier has done the same, but guys like Chris Couch and Patrick Toney are yet to live up to the hype.
Another thing that gymnastics does a great job of is being very fan oriented. Throughout their routines they Gator Chomp and interact with the fans, making it a more fun experience for the people in attendance.
Granted, football and basketball players can get flagged or T’d up for celebrating like that during their games, but it’s an element that helps fans get more engaged with the gymnasts during their routines.
The Florida Gators gymnastics program has done an excellent job of sustaining its success, and they’ve laid out the blueprint that other sports should try and follow.
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