For the first time since NCAA women's gymnastics coaches began voting for their coach-of-the-year award, they have honored Utah's Greg Marsden.
Marsden, whose team won the 1990 NCAA championship Friday at Oregon State and took 10 all-America awards in the individual championships Saturday, was chosen co-coach of the year, sharing with Towson State's Dick Filbert.When the award automatically went to the coach of the national-championship team, Marsden won regularly. His teams took six straight titles; Friday's was Utah's seventh national trophy. In 1986, the last time Utah won, coaches began voting on the honor, and it went to Alabama's Sarah Patterson.
This year, with only eight gymnasts, Marsden's team weekly had the country's best scores. It upped its school record from 192.8 to 193.4 to 193.75 to 194.5 to 194.95, finally winning the national championship with 194.9, an NCAA meet record by more than two points.
Towson State went from unknown to a national ranking to an impressive ninth-place NCAA finish this season.
Since he's not unanimously popular in the coaching community, Marsden said he was surprised to win the award, which was presented at a competitors' banquet following Saturday night's event finals. The voting was done Saturday morning.
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Utah loses only one gymnast from the championship team to graduation _ Salt Lake City's Kris Takahashi. Friday's win meant no Ute has graduated without participating in at least one championship for 12 straight years.
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The Utes have teased themselves in song. They wrote new words and made a tape of themselves singing to Billy Joel's "We Didn't Start the Fire."
Among the choruses:
"We are the Utah gymnasts; we've been winning since the team's beginning . . . " and "We are the Utah gymnasts; we may be tiny, but we'll kick your (backside) . . . "
The lyrics mention many associated with the program, including trainer Jeff Wilcox, sports psychologist Dr. Keith Henschen, nutritionist Kathy Fenton and athletic director Chris Hill. They also glorify favorite foods like frozen yogurt, bagels and potatoes.
The Utes played the tape while toasting their victory with pizza and Diet Coke Friday night in Marsden's hotel suite and sang the song live for their boosters on Sunday's flight home.
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Oregon State's classy two-event NCAA champion, Joy Selig, was coached during her younger club years by Jim and Meg Stephenson, who are now Ute assistants.
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Marsden proposed a year ago that tougher scoring rules be applied to NCAA regional and national meets because the quality of college gymnastics is improving so much that old rules can't adequately separate skills any more.
"We use the simplest rules for international competition, 1B rules. When we go to regionals and nationals, we should go to Competition 2 rules," Marsden says. "I don't think it's good for every school in the country, but for the top teams, it would help judges distinguish scores. Right now, it's too easy for these people to start with a 10.0 routine. More needs to be required."
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At the Midwest Regional April 7, Utah and Nebraska wore the same color leotards. There was no chance of duplication at the nationals. Utah wore day-glo pink warmups and leotards for the team championships Friday night and changed to neon-lime and black uniforms for Saturday's individual-event finals.
"It's part of the show," says Marsden. "You're here with a couple hundred other gymnasts. Part of the sport is aesthetic in nature."