Headshot credit to Texas Woman’s, Auburn, and Cal.

It’s been 44 years since the NCAA started sponsoring women’s gymnastics, but to date, Texas – one of the largest hubs of the sport at the elite level – has never had a Division I team. 

This all changed in early June, when Texas State University announced it would field the Lone Star State’s first Division I college gymnastics team starting in 2028.

The Bobcats will join Division II Texas Woman’s University and newly-announced Division III program McMurry University as the state’s foothold in college gymnastics continues to grow. 

Gymnastics, both at the college and elite levels, has a long and storied history in Texas, but the state’s first Division I program is a milestone marker deserving of a big coaching hire. While Texas State and its gymnastics steering committee, headlined by Olympic gold medalists Carly Patterson and Jordyn Wieber, may choose to go in a number of directions, University President Kelly Damphousse has expressed a desire to hire a coach with both NCAA head coaching experience and ties to the Lone Star state.

Native Texans

Considering Texas State will immediately slot in as Texas’ premier gymnastics program, who better to lead the charge than a Lone Star State native? Whether it be someone with college coaching experience or one of the many heralded Texas club coaches, athletic director Don Coryell will have a litany of options available without having to look far from home.

Sara Carver-Milne – Former Auburn Associate Head Coach

Former Auburn associate head coach and longtime Brown head coach Sara Carver-Milne is no stranger to the plight faced by many Texan gymnasts hoping to stay close to home for college. With an absence of major players in the region, Carver-Milne headed across the country to compete for the University of Alaska, Anchorage, without so much as a recruiting visit.

Since graduating from Alaska in 1997, Carver-Milne has built up an impressive resume as a coach. Over her 20-year tenure as head coach with the Brown Bears, she oversaw 64 individual USAG nationals bids and won two ECAC Coach of the Year awards.

In 2022, Carver-Milne made the jump to the big leagues, joining Jeff Graba’s staff at Auburn. While her time with the Tigers was largely successful, she revealed in a 2024 interview with Gymnastics Now that “if there had been an opportunity in Texas, [she] would have jumped at it in a heartbeat.”

This new opening may be just what Carver-Milne needs to get her foot back in the door in her home state. Plus, with Graba taking a role in Texas State’s selection committee, she is perhaps more poised than any other candidate to have a voice advocating for her in the decision room.

Marnie Futch – Head Girls’ Coach at Metroplex Gymnastics

Just over two years ago, Georgia turned heads in the gymnastics community by hiring famed club coach Cecile Canqueteau-Landi as the next head coach of the storied GymDogs program. In only a short time, Canqueteau-Landi has been able to bring Georgia back to national relevance, earning the team’s first nationals appearance since 2019 and its highest year-end ranking in a decade.

Texas State could make a similar splash by hiring one of the many successful coaches who has helped produce countless elite and NCAA stars. Few coaches have been as successful as Marnie Futch, the head girls’ coach at Metroplex Gymnastics in Allen, Texas.

Over the past few years, Metroplex has given rise to elite and college stars, including Chae Campbell, Ashlee Sullivan, Katelyn Jong, and Jaylene Gilstrap, along with former Alabama assistant coach Gina Quinlan. Futch’s talent-producing resume is one of the most extensive and impressive in the country, and it will surely attract interest from Texas State if she is interested in making the jump over to the college ranks.

Much like Canqueteau-Landi at Georgia, hiring Futch could instantly give the new program access to some of the nation’s premier gymnasts – or even convince current star recruits like Michigan’s Shea Orlando or UCLA’s Michelle Pineda and Zoey Molomo to make the switch to Texas State.

Current Head Coaches

A couple of former and current head coaches may be enticing candidates for the Texas State job should the Bobcats’ administration follow through with their commitment to finding a coach with longstanding experience. From Big Ten stars to Texas legends, Texas State could be an intriguing enough job prospect to make some established coaches make the move to San Marcos.

Josh Nilson – Illinois Head Coach

There are only a handful of current college head coaches with ties to Texas, and Illinois’ Josh Nilson may just be the most high-profile name of the bunch. A former assistant coach at Texas Woman’s in the early 2010s, Nilson could bring the combination of expertise and local familiarity that Coryell and Damphousse are looking for.

Though Nilson’s first two seasons in charge of the Illini have produced a mixed bag of results, he still has a successful resume dating back to his days as an assistant under Nadine Walsh and as head coach at Temple. During his time in Philadelphia, Nilson led the Temple Owls to three straight conference titles and their first regionals appearance in almost three decades. Prior to that, he helped Air Force reach its highest USAG championship ranking in nearly a decade.

Bringing Nilson to San Marcos could be a win-win for all involved parties. Illinois finished the 2026 season ranked 42nd – its lowest finish since 2003. But Nilson’s past pedigree of success and taking programs to new heights make him a candidate that may be worth taking a chance on.

Lisa Bowerman – Texas Woman’s Head Coach

Sometimes the best choice is the simplest one, and it is hard to argue that anyone knows more about college gymnastics in Texas than the coach of the state’s current lone program: Texas Woman’s Lisa Bowerman. 

Though Bowerman herself is not from Texas, she has long-standing ties to the state, having trained under former TWU assistant coach Scott Cusimano as a club gymnast at GymQuarters in Missouri before joining the Pioneers’ staff in 2005.

Bowerman stepped up to the plate for TWU in 2011 after the retirement of long-time head coach Fred Kudlac and has carried the flame of the Pioneers’ early 2000s success experienced during his tenure. She has led the Pioneers to five USAG/WCGNIC national championships as a head coach and has aided a litany of gymnasts to individual national titles.

While the demands of a Division I program like Texas State will likely eclipse those of TWU, Bowerman’s teams have often outperformed numerous Division I schools, showing the potential for success at a higher level.

Wildcards

With fellow Texan program TWU having a large coaching alumni contingent, the Bobcats can choose a candidate familiar with Texas, or they can attempt to lure coaches with a history of success at the highest level. Though these candidates may lack the head coaching experience that Texas State is looking for, their ties to Texan gymnastics may still make them worthwhile prospects.

Stephen Hood – Former Denver Assistant Coach

Texas Woman’s has been a breeding ground for some of the nation’s top coaches, with Nilson, LSU’s Garrett Griffeth, and recently-hired Arkansas assistant Zan Jones all spending time as part of the Pioneers’ coaching roster.

Another member of the Texas Woman’s coaching tree is Stephen Hood, who served as the Pioneers’ vault and bars coach and recruiting coordinator from 2018-2021. After his time at TWU, Hood made a quick stop at Utah State in Amy Smith’s final year with the Aggies, before heading to Denver in the summer of 2022.

In two years with Denver as the lead floor coach, Hood helped the Pioneers etch a new program record floor score (49.825) and NQS (49.530). Hood was particularly successful with standouts Lynnzee Brown and Jessica Hutchinson, who combined for four perfect 10s on floor over his two years with the program.

Hood’s experience coaching three events at the college level, along with his club experience at Gulf Coast Gymnastics, makes him a versatile candidate with a proven record of success at the highest level. After leaving Denver, Hood embarked on a worldwide travel journey with his wife, Auburn gymnastics alum Abby Hood, before settling down to coach at Íþróttafélagið Gerpl in Iceland.

While in Iceland, Hood has mentored the country’s top gymnasts, including 2026 national champion and multiple-time world championship competitor Thelma Aðalsteinsdóttir.

It would be hard to blame Hood if he wanted to stick to international travel (he’s visited Slovenia, Uzbekistan, and Italy just within the last month), but a head coaching position may be just what’s needed to make the next stop on his adventure San Marcos, Texas.

Kyana George – Former TWU Assistant Coach

A former Metroplex gymnast who trained with Futch before a successful college career at Cal, Kyana George checks a lot of boxes that the Texas State administration may be looking for in its first head coach.

After graduating from Cal in 2022, George joined Ashley Johnston’s inaugural staff at Alabama. After a year of coaching alongside her former club coach Quinlan, George headed to Denton to join Bowerman’s TWU crew as a coach’s assistant before transitioning into a full-time coaching role in late 2024.

Texas Woman’s was a force with George on the staff, winning back-to-back WCGNIC national titles and qualifying multiple gymnasts for NCAA regionals. She primarily helped with beam and floor, and she oversaw the program floor record being broken in early 2024.

It is worth noting that George was removed from TWU’s roster in early March without explanation. It’s possible that she may be moving on from college coaching entirely, but if she’s still interested, Texas State could be the job that gets her back into the college gymnastics world.