These names could be in the mix for Georgia gymnastics head coach opening
Georgia gymnastics will have a new head coach atop the program next season after Courtney Kupets Carter was fired Friday after seven seasons.
The school has had three head coaches since legendary coach Suzanne Yoculan retired in 2009 after winning 10 national championships.
The program hasn’t reached that level since, while Oklahoma has won six, Florida three and Alabama and UCLA two each during that same span.
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Georgia said a national search for the next coach is underway to find the program’s ninth head coach.
Here are names believed to be on Georgia’s radar:
LSU coach Jay Clark
Fresh off the Tigers' first national championship in program history Saturday, Clark is expected to be a top target for the position. Just completed his fourth season as LSU coach (after one season as co-coach). The Tigers were ranked No. 2 nationally entering the postseason, won the SEC Championship and lifted the trophy after winning in Fort Worth. Clark coached Georgia from 2010-12, but did not advance to the Super Six in his three seasons.
The Roswell native and UGA grad was an assistant coach under Yoculan from 1990-2012, including during five straight national championships from 2005-09. His best finish in three seasons as head coach was ninth.
California co-coaches Justin Howell and Elisabeth Crandall-Howell
The Golden Bears reached the NCAA Championship finals meet for the first time in program history and finished second. Howell has served as head coach at Cal since the 2013 season and is a former San Jose State gymnast. Crandall-Howell, his wife, has been co-head coach since the 2019 season after serving as an assistant coach. She’s a former BYU gymnast and international judge.
Cal won its first outright Pac-12 championship in school history, but the school will move to the ACC where long travel could be a factor.
Arkansas coach Jordyn Wieber
The former 2012 U.S. Olympic gold medal winner guided the Razorbacks to the NCAA semifinals this week as one of the final eight teams. Their seventh-place finish was the program’s highest since 2012.
Wieber, 28, finished her fifth season with the Razorbacks. She was a volunteer assistant with UCLA before that. The DeWitt, Mich. native was a member of the “Fierce Five” USA Olympics team and a two-time all-around U.S. champion.
Georgia assistant coach Ryan Roberts
A Gym Dogs assistant the past two seasons under Kupets Carter, Roberts served as an Alabama assistant four years before that. That continuity could help with the current roster where he’s said to be well regarded. Roberts, who coached the bars group at Georgia, also coached five years at the World Olympic Gymnastics Academy (WOGA) in Frisco, Texas. He competed at UMass-Amherst and the University of New Mexico.
LSU assistant coaches Courtney McCool Griffeth and Garrett Griffeth
McCool Griffeth is a former Georgia gymnast from 2007-10, winning three national championships. The 2004 Team USA Olympian and her husband Garrett are both in their third seasons as assistants under Jay Clark. She was a club coach for more than a decade and an assistant at Utah for two seasons and a volunteer assistant at Arkansas. Garrett Griffeth earned bachelor and master’s degree from Georgia and was a graduate assistant under Clark at UGA and an administrative associate. He also was an assistant at Arkansas and Texas Women’s University.
This article originally appeared on Athens Banner-Herald: These are names to know for Georgia gymnastics head coach opening
