Nationals may still be fresh in our memories, but the NCAA gymnastics coaching carousel is already up and running ahead of the 2027 season. To date, four Division I programs have announced head coach vacancies.

While Auburn, BYU, and Nebraska remain vacant as of publishing, Kent State has promoted Austyn Fobes to be the next head coach of the Golden Flashes, succeeding the now-retired Brice Biggin.

As college gymnastics continues to attract new eyes, coaching spots are likely to be more lucrative than ever, particularly for large programs with proven histories of success on the competition floor.

Here is an assessment of some of the top candidates this offseason.

Auburn Tigers

Former Coach: Jeff Graba

Jeff Graba led the Auburn Tigers through the most successful years in program history – including the Tigers’ first national final appearance – while star Suni Lee was on the team, but ever since the Olympic gold medalist left after her sophomore year, results have been hard to come by.

In early April, Auburn announced that it had mutually agreed to part ways with Graba after 16 seasons as head coach. 

Candidate: Owen Field – Florida Associated Head Coach and General Manager

Gymnastics fans are well used to Owen Field repping the blue and orange, but what if he swapped out his gator gear for tiger merch instead? 

Since coming to Gainesville in 2015, Field has grown into a jack-of-all-trades role for the Gators, becoming an NIL and recruiting savant alongside his coaching capabilities. The Florida roster is, in part, a who’s who of the U.S. national team. The new level of responsibility has not come at the expense of results either. Florida’s bars team ranked first in the nation this year and has only finished an outside of the top five once during Field’s decade-long tenure.

While compelling Field to leave Florida is likely to be a tough task, getting the reins to his own SEC program may be the opportunity needed to get him to move on. Field has never coached at Auburn himself, but Florida head coach Jenny Rowland coached on the Plains for five seasons before coming to Gainesville. She could be a point of reference for Field as to what a job on the Plains (or should we say Fields?) may look like.

Auburn has signed a number of heralded recruits over the last few seasons, the most notable of which is Lee. Her club coach was former head coach Graba’s twin brother. While Field will be unable to recreate that particular connection, his coaching and recruiting prowess could keep the Tigers’ talented upcoming recruiting classes from jumping ship.

Candidate: Sara Carver-Milne – Auburn Associate Head Coach

Before coming to Auburn, Sara Carver-Milne spent two decades as the head coach at Brown. While with the Bears, she served in a variety of roles, handling everything from marketing to recruiting on Brown’s tight athletic budget.

Auburn’s bigger pool of resources for athletics may just be what Carver-Milne needs to make a splash as a head coach in the SEC. Plus, as a Texas native, Carver-Milne could capitalize on a recruiting connection with the largest state without a Division I gymnastics program. Since coming to Auburn, Carver-Milne has helped recruit Lone Star State natives Katelyn Jong, Olivia Hollingsworth, and star class of 2027 prospect Elizaveta Grebenkova. 

While the post-Suni Lee years on the Plains have had their ups and downs, Auburn has a couple of strong recruiting classes coming in. Along with Grebenkova, top names include Nastia Liukin Cup qualifier Giselle Guenther and senior elite Ally Damelio. Keeping these high-profile recruits will likely be a priority for the Tigers, so an in-house head coach hire may be the way to go. 

Candidate: Aja Sims-Fletcher – Illinois Assistant Coach

Ironically, Auburn has a track record of success with Alabama Crimson Tide graduates on the coaching staff, with Ashley Priess Johnston being a key part of getting the Tigers to nationals in 2022. Aja Sims-Fletcher is another Alabama alum who could make a splash on the Plains.

Though Sims-Fletcher is best known for her achievements as a student athlete at Bama, her first major coaching role came at another Alabama institution: Talladega College.

While the Talladega gymnastics program was short-lived, many of the qualities that made her a fit for a brand-new program still hold true today for the Auburn opening. She is a proven leader who learned from one of the most successful coaches in the history of college gymnastics – Sarah Patterson – as an athlete and, later, volunteer assistant coach. Plus, Sims-Fletcher now has multiple seasons under her belt coaching in the Big Ten at Illinois.

Illini head coach Josh Nilson has repeatedly praised Sims-Fletcher for her ability to build a positive team culture and to get the best out of her athletes. She may not have the extensive coaching resume of some of the other candidates Auburn will likely consider, but some of Sims-Fletcher’s intangibles may be high on the minds of an Auburn administration that has seen multiple gymnasts come out about questionable team culture and alleged mistreatment during Graba’s tenure.

BYU Cougars

Former Coach: Guard Young

Less than a month after taking home the Big 12 Coach of the Year award, BYU announced it will not be renewing head coach Guard Young’s contract. 

Despite helping turn the Cougars into a consistent regionals squad, recent allegations of abuse that have swirled around the program have put a damper on Young’s tenure as head coach. While BYU will certainly be looking for a coach who can deliver results, rebuilding team culture will likely be just as large a priority. 

Candidate: Jimmy Pratt – Former Utah Assistant Coach

Jimmy Pratt left Utah in the middle of the season under the nondescript pretence of “personal issues,” but the leader of the Red Rocks’ top-10-ranked bars squad could be a good hire for a BYU team looking to break back into national relevance. 

While BYU does not require coaches to be members of the LDS church, the school’s stringent honor code and professional standards realistically limit the number of potential candidates the Cougars will have to work with.

A BYU alum himself, Pratt is already familiar with the school and program. He also briefly coached the Cougars, serving as a volunteer assistant for the 2009-10 season.

Though Pratt may currently be on hiatus from college gymnastics, he and his wife still run their gym, Bold Gymnastics, which has branches in Springville and Provo, Utah. The latter of these locations is less than a 10-minute walk from BYU’s campus. Bold has produced numerous BYU stars, including Kylie Eaquinto, Scarlett Sonnenberg, and Brynlee Andersen-Broekman (the daughter-in-law of current assistant coach Natalie Broekman).

Candidate: Jessie McDonough – Clemson Assistant Coach

You’d be forgiven for forgetting that current Clemson co-head coach Liz Crandall-Howell is a BYU alum, but before she was a Cal Golden Bear or Clemson Tiger, she was a Cougar. 

While Crandall-Howell and her husband Justin seem happy where they are, Clemson assistant coach and Utah alum Jessie McDonough may be worth a look for the BYU opening.

Before coming to South Carolina, McDonough was a longtime coach at Olympus Gymnastics in South Jordan, Utah. Olympus has been one of the most successful club gyms of the last decade, being the pre-college home to Avery Neff and Sage Thompson, among others.

Hiring McDonough could give BYU access to some of the top local recruits almost instantaneously, which could be the boost the Cougars need to get back to being a consistent top-25 program, like in the pre-COVID days.

Candidate: Warde Allan – Former BYU Assistant Coach

Warde Allan voluntarily stepped away from his assistant coach position with the Cougars a few months before the 2026 season, but Young’s departure may have created too big an opportunity for the BYU alum to pass up.

Allan’s wife, Jocelyn, is the head cheer coach at BYU, so even after leaving the team, he’s still close to Provo and BYU as a whole. The two also co-own TumbleTek – a Draper, Utah, gym specializing in tumbling. Allan’s background in strength and conditioning could be an asset for a Cougars squad that seems to rack up injuries season after season.

In many ways, Allan would be a lateral hire from the already-successful Young. The two competed alongside each other at BYU and coached together before Allan’s departure. However, Allan’s time away from the program may have given him some new perspective and, in the eyes of the BYU administration, distanced him from the allegations that persisted through Young’s time as head coach.

Nebraska Cornhuskers

Former Coach: Heather Brink

Nebraska was a bona fide powerhouse through the 2010s, finishing five consecutive seasons ranked in the top eight between 2014 and 2018 under head coach Dan Kendig. Once Kendig retired, the Huskers hired longtime assistant coach Heather Brink to be his successor.

Unfortunately, Brink failed to reach the heights of her predecessor in her time at the helm of the program. Between 1998 and 2018, Nebraska finished out of the top 16 only once. Brink finished 14th in her first season as head coach, but the team hasn’t finished a season ranked higher than 19th since. In early April, Nebraska announced that it would not be renewing her contract. 

Candidate: Marissa King and Oleksii Koltakov – Georgia Assistant Coaches

Since Brink took over Nebraska’s program in 2019, the Cornhuskers’ rosters have often featured an international flair. Marissa King – a 2008 Olympian for Great Britain – and Oleksii Koltakov – a longtime Ukrainian men’s national team member – may be the perfect pair to keep this legacy of international recruiting alive.

Since arriving at Georgia from Lincoln in 2024, King and Koltakov have ushered in some of the largest single-event lineup transformations in the country. Before Koltakov became Georgia’s vault coach, the GymDogs had the 28th-ranked lineup in the country; today, they rank fifth. The story is similar with King on floor, with a jump from 23rd in 2024 to third today.

It is worth noting that King is a Florida alum, so if the aforementioned Field gets hired by one of the teams on this list, she may be a prime candidate to replace him in Gainesville, especially considering her and her husband’s success at an SEC foe.

Candidate: Owen Field – Florida Associated Head Coach and General Manager

While it will be hard to lure a personality like Field away from the spectacle of SEC gymnastics, if anyone has a fighting chance, it is his alma mater, Nebraska.

Before leaving for Florida, Field helped guide the Cornhuskers to four straight conference championship titles (one in the Big 12 and three in the Big Ten) in various managerial and assistant coaching roles. 

Few people would be better suited to get Nebraska back to its national glory days than Field, who has helped turn Florida into a perennial title contender at the top of the SEC. The question then becomes: Is Nebraska willing to shell out the money required to secure one of the most lucrative coaches in the country?

If the answer is yes, then Field could be a straightforward, slam dunk hire. 

Candidate: Catelyn Branson – Arkansas Assistant Coach

When Lindenwood cut its program in 2024, two gymnasts – Nya Kraus and Reese Baechle – transferred to Nebraska, becoming key contributors for the Huskers over the last two seasons. As Nebraska continues its coaching search, another former Lindenwood Lion should be at the top of their list: Catelyn Branson.

Branson competed for the Huskers from 2016-19, helping the program to its most successful years in recent history. She has not stopped winning since leaving Nebraska either. After graduating, she joined Jordyn Wieber’s staff at Arkansas, helping to lay the foundation for the Razorbacks’ recent nationals runs.

After two seasons in Fayetteville, Branson took the head coach position for Lindenwood. Over three years in St. Charles, she coached the Lions to two USAG national championship titles.

Since Lindenwood’s team disbanded, Branson has returned to Arkansas to resume her position as the Razorbacks’ choreographer and floor coach. This year, she made her NCAA nationals coaching debut en route to Arkansas’ seventh-place ranking.

Branson already has ties to Nebraska and a championship pedigree dating back to her days at Lindenwood. Hiring an alum may not have worked out for the Huskers with Brink, but Branson could be the hire that gets them back on track.