We have the greatest gymnastics fans on earth and are known as much for them as we are for our accomplishments. And I could not be more grateful for how the University and community of Salt Lake has embraced this team. – Greg Marsden
SALT LAKE CITY — Utah gymnastics coach Greg Marsden’s never been one for the limelight. Sure, he’s as vocal and loud in the gym as anyone, but he’s always stressed the attention should be on his gymnasts.
So, it didn’t come as a surprise that Marsden didn’t want a formal press conference to announce his retirement after 40 years. It also didn’t come as a surprise that when his boss made him do it, he focused on those who helped him build the program and become the winningest coach in gymnastics history.
Utah’s athletics director Dr. Chris Hill said the day was tough for him, given he and Marsden have a long-standing relationship. Marsden said he met Hill when the two were graduate students.
“He’s given me advice and helped the whole department — people maybe don’t understand that,” said Hill. “We would have long philosophical discussions. He would give me some advice, sometimes very gingerly, sometimes where he would storm out of the room where I’d yell at him. At the end of the day, he made us better. And I think that’s the bottom line is at the end of the day there were so many things that were in the best interest of our student-athletes I would have never thought of if it weren’t for Greg,”
Marsden thanked his two sons Montana, 26, and Dakota, 23, for understanding when he missed many of their games to watch another group perform. He thanked donors, administrators, staff and assistant coaches. He didn’t waiver with his decision, even though those he told early in the year said it would be OK if he changed his mind about retiring.
He credited the gymnasts he’s worked with — too many to name, too many thinking about what Utah gymnastics looks like without Greg Marsden. Then he singled out another group that helped him achieve one of his biggest goals.
“We have the greatest gymnastics fans on earth and are known as much for them as we are for our accomplishments,” said Marsden. ”And I could not be more grateful for how the University and community of Salt Lake has embraced this team.
Though the Utah gymnasts were surprised Monday when Marsden told them, it was a theme of sadness, to see their beloved coach walk away, combined with excitement for what the future looks like under the new coaching duo.
“Obviously a lot of shock because you never want a head coach to retire while you are here,” said freshman All-American Kari Lee. “But Greg wouldn’t have retired if he didn’t know he had a great sports staff behind him to take over. He created it — he wouldn’t want to leave it with people he didn’t trust.”
So, a new era begins for Utah gymnastics. It still includes a Marsden as Megan Marsden is staying on as co-head coach and Tom Farden, who was promoted from assistant coach.
“If I felt like I had every quality needed, Tom wouldn’t be co-head coach with me,” said Megan Marsden. “I still have years in me so I wanted to keep coaching. The best part of this job is having an impact on young lives — I'm just not ready to give that up.”
“This is really an amazing opportunity,” said Farden. “I think we are ready with things in the gym, but where we will have extra work is with the marketing and social media because that has blown up under Greg.”
Greg Marsden leaves with a 1,048-208-8 record, 10 national titles, 25 individual national champions and 367 All-America awards, nearly 36,000 Facebook followers and an average of 14,950 fans per meet. What he also leaves is a void in the gymnastics world because nobody has fought harder to promote and grow the sport than Greg Marsden.
As for Greg Marsden, he admitted he doesn’t fish or golf so he’s not sure what he’ll do with his time. But one thing is for sure, gymnastics fans can’t wait for him to Tweet about it — #MarsdenMustacheMovesOn.
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