Head coach Kristin White helps Utah State Gymnastics find its balance
Kristin White was in Oklahoma visiting her family when she got the call letting her know she had been hired as the new head coach of Utah State Gymnastics.
The announcement was met with lots of hugs and tears.
“It’s something that you’ve dreamed up your whole life, and to kind of see it come to fruition was something really exciting to share with all of them,” White said.
White was born and raised in Oklahoma and was the “hometown girl” competing on the University of Oklahoma gymnastics team. After graduating in 2010, she remained at OU as the team’s graduate assistant for two years. While there, she realized coaching college gymnastics was what she wanted to do with her life.
“I found my passion for the sport again,” White said. “I wanted to be able to go into coaching and give that same environment that I was given in college, and just really watch the student–athletes succeed.”
White knew if she wanted to coach college gymnastics, she needed to learn how to coach. After receiving her master’s degree in adult and higher education, she started coaching club teams in Massachusetts and Oklahoma before being hired as an assistant coach at Iowa State for two seasons. White came to Logan from Arizona State, where she was an assistant coach for three seasons.
Upon her arrival in Logan, White focused on reestablishing the team and getting her new staff in place.
White hired Rachel Slocum and Robert Ladanyi as assistant coaches this summer. Slocum is the primary coach on vault, and Ladanyi is the primary coach on bars.
“I feel very blessed to have one of the best staffs in the country, in my opinion,” White said. “Both of them are great technical coaches and have worked at some of the top programs in the country.”
Other than preparing for a great season, White has been focusing her first year as head coach on building a better team culture and relationship with the student–athletes — trying to teach them they’ve got people in their corner.
“Gymnastics is hard, and you’ve got to love what you do, and you’ve got to love the people that are around you,” White said. “When you have that feeling in the gym every single day, that’s going to make you a better athlete, even on the days when you don’t necessarily want to.”
White has been building that culture by getting to know the student–athletes and planning team activities, including tailgates and a team retreat at Bear Lake. The coaching staff also has monthly one–on–one meetings with the athletes to check in with them.
Senior Ariel Toomey said the athletes can talk with the coaches about anything during those meetings, and it’s nice that White truly wants to know what’s going on in the lives of her students.
“Not every day’s going to be perfect,” Toomey said. “Instead of getting mad, she really tries to understand what might be going on outside of gymnastics. So she’s really big on communication and making sure that we’re on the same page.”
Toomey said her first impression of White was that she cared about the student–athletes as individuals, rather than just their scores. Toomey was home for the summer when White started the job, but White called her frequently to check in and get to know her.
“She was just very involved from the very start and really wanted to get to know us,” Toomey said.
Junior Brianna Brooks said kind and caring coaches can be hard to find in the gymnastics world, and the new staff has been “a breath of fresh air.”
“I feel like it’s really easy to talk to her, and I can call her whenever,” she said. “Even at practice, she’ll just, like, call people over and just ask them about their day.”
Brooks is from Las Vegas, which is a seven–hour drive away, so she said it’s nice to have someone there for her in Logan.
“She’s like my second mom,” Brooks said. “I think she’s like everyone’s second mom.”
Along with creating a positive team culture, White also stresses the importance of academics, emphasizing “success both on the competition floor and in the classroom.”
White set a standard for a 3.6 GPA from each athlete this year, and she starts each practice with a discussion about how school is going.
Senior Angel Stuart said White emphasizes that the 3.6 GPA is a standard, not just a goal, and she is proactive in making sure the student–athletes are turning in their work on time.
“She’ll take the time to be like, ‘Step out of practice or go to study hall, get your homework done, and then get back in the gym,’” Stuart said.
White sets these academic standards because one day, gymnastics will be gone, and the student–athletes are at USU to get an education and to set themselves up for the rest of their lives.
“We’ve raised the standard in terms of academics, but I think they understand that it’s very important to me, and they’re doing a great job staying on top of it,” White said.
White doesn’t just emphasize balance for her athletes — it’s also very important in her own life.
“I really do believe in trying to have a good balance because balance makes us successful,” she said. “That’s something that our staff tries to work on as well is just balancing the crazy coaching lifestyle while also balancing, you know, kind of having that family aspect.”
White moved to Logan with her husband, Trent, and their 1–year–old son, Brayden. She said her husband understands how important the job is to her and helps her maintain a balance between work and family.
“A coaching lifestyle is different, and a lot of people don’t experience that,” White said. “I give a lot of credit to him because he’s my biggest supporter, and he’s the one that helps kind of keep me grounded.”
Utah State Gymnastics ended last season ranked No. 23 in the nation. Under former head coach Amy Smith, the team won its first Mountain Rim Gymnastics Conference championship and finished third in Session 1 of the second round of the NCAA Norman Regional.
Coming off a historic season could be intimidating for a new coach, but White is excited about the standard of excellence the team has set.
“Those goals and dreams don’t go away, you know, so I’m definitely very excited about it,” she said. “I know that our team is very hungry to succeed on the competition floor.”
See coach White and the Utah State Gymnastics team in action during their first home meet on Jan. 27.
Featured image by Bailey Rigby.