Utah gymnasts weigh in on new coach Carly Dockendorf
Carly Dockendorf is the head coach of the University of Utah’s women’s gymnastics program.
The news became official on Dec. 7, when the university announced that Dockendorf had signed a four-year deal to lead the Red Rocks through 2027 and shed the interim head coach tag she received following a mutual parting of ways between the school and now former head coach Tom Farden.
“I have my position and it is just equally as important as the rest of our staff’s position and our team’s position. To have this opportunity to be out there and be a part of this program in whatever capacity is a true dream.” — new Utah gymnastics head coach Carly Dockendorf
But it felt more official the next day, when Dockendorf held her first press conference as the leader of the Red Rocks and answered multiple questions regarding allegations of verbal and emotional abuse that had been leveled by former Utah gymnasts and parents against Farden. Those allegations rocked the program during the fall and led, in part, to the early retirement of All-American Kara Eaker.
Friday night at the Huntsman Center, though, was Dockendorf’s first opportunity to be Utah’s head gymnastics coach in front of a large crowd, during the preseason showcase known as the Red Rocks Preview.
Afterward, sitting at a nondescript table in the depths of the arena, dozens of interlocked U logos emblazoned on a background behind her, Dockendorf looked the part of head coach more than she ever had before.
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She said, though, that her new role doesn’t feel all that different from her previous one (she was Utah’s associate head coach the past two seasons).
“I know my title has changed, but I still just feel like I’m a member of the team,” Dockendorf said. “I’m just one role in a whole group of important roles. That is really how I look at it. I have my position and it is just equally as important as the rest of our staff’s position and our team’s position. To have this opportunity to be out there and be a part of this program in whatever capacity is a true dream.”
Positive vibes
Since she was named the head coach, praise of Dockendorf has not been hard to find. In the immediate aftermath of her hire, former, current and future Utah gymnasts posted on social media and expressed their excitement and support for Dockendorf’s hire.
Wrote former Utah All-American Sydney Soloski: “One of the best in the business.”
Wrote 2025 Utah gymnastics commit Sage Curtis: “So happy for you! Can’t wait!”
Wrote current Utah gymnast Sarah Krump, a sophomore: “That’s my coach! I know her! So blessed to have (Carly Dockendorf).”
Utah athletic director Mark Harlan also spoke glowingly of Dockendorf when her hire was announced.
“She embodies all the characteristics necessary to lead one of the sport’s most storied programs, and I have no doubt that she will continue to elevate the program to new heights, producing results in competition, in the classroom and in our community that our fans and alumni can be proud of,” he said in a statement. “I am excited to see Carly take the reins of this program.”
Since then, Utah seniors Maile O’Keefe, Abby Paulson and Jaedyn Rucker, junior Grace McCallum, sophomore Makenna Smith and freshman Ella Zirbes have all raved about Dockendorf.
“After so many unknowns, it was like, when they announced it, I think it was just like a weight lifted off everyone’s shoulders, like finally we have a finalized answer,” Rucker said. “And there’s no better person to do it than Carly. I don’t think there’s one person on this team that could say anything bad about Carly.”
“I mean, with the transition from one coach to another, she made it seamless,” added McCallum. “And we all feel so supported . ... She just makes us feel so confident in ourselves. And it’s just been truly the best experience.”
For those who’ve known Dockendorf from well before she arrived at Utah in 2018 as a volunteer assistant coach, none of the praise is surprising.
Said Mark Moschetti, assistant sports information director at Seattle Pacific University, where Dockendorf was an assistant coach prior to joining the Red Rocks, “She was always one of my favorite people around here and is a terrific coach.”
Sarah Jean Marshall, the former head coach of the now-defunct women’s gymnastics program at Seattle Pacific, was a longtime rival of Dockendorf’s as a gymnast — Dockendorf competed collegiately at the University of Washington, while Marshall competed at Seattle Pacific — and then became her colleague, with both serving as assistant coaches under Laurel Tindall at SPU.
Marshall has been around Dockendorf for years, and, as she tells it, you’d be hard pressed to find a better human being, let alone coach.
“She is one of the most compassionate and excellent coaches that I have worked with,” Marshall told the Deseret News.
If you had to boil it down, two things really set Dockendorf apart from other gymnastics coaches, per Marshall — the way that she is able to relate to student-athletes and the level of care she has for each person on her team.
Keeping it real
Dockendorf was both a gymnast and a pole vaulter in college, and even attempted to compete in the Olympics for Canada in the latter, but her success did not come easily, Marshall says.
“She struggled. It’s not like gymnastics was always so easy for her. She was extremely talented, but she also struggled with some mental setbacks and fears. She even stopped doing gymnastics for a while because it was too much.
“So I think that’s an area she really excels in. She connects with her gymnasts because she’s real with them. She can say, ‘I get this. I know what this feels like. And you can get to the other side. You can be extremely successful. And above all of that, what you do here in the gym and in competition doesn’t really determine who you are as a person.’”
None of that is to say Dockendorf doesn’t expect great things from the athletes she coaches, Marshall said. As a high-level athlete herself, she is determined to have success.
“She has high expectations for the gymnasts. And holds them accountable to what they’re doing in the gym,” Marshall said. “But she also makes sure to make it clear to them that their gymnastics isn’t determining their worth as people.”
Paulson experienced that from Dockendorf early in her Utah career.
Paulson was “kind of one of those burnt-out elites who didn’t really like gymnastics” when she arrived at Utah in the fall of 2020, but Dockendorf helped her rekindle her love for the sport by helping Paulson understand that her worth went well beyond gymnastics itself.
“She’s always been a positive light in my life,” Paulson said. “She taught me my worth. And more than just gymnastics, she taught me that I can, like, love who I am outside of the sport, and that my worth and everything that I value isn’t dependent on my performance.
“So I feel like her as a head coach now is just super exciting seeing that she can hopefully take that and grow us as a program and as a team, and as individual athletes in that aspect, too.
As O’Keefe tells it, Dockendorf gets to know each gymnast individually, on a “personal level.” That sort of investment, “really helps us feel comfortable knowing we can go to her with anything,” O’Keefe said. “That she’ll hear us out and take things into consideration and make alterations to our assignments and to our days, kind of taking everything into perspective.”
‘Calming down’ a toxic environment
Many, though not all, of the gymnasts who alleged verbal and emotional abuse by Farden, allegations that spurred the university to hire the law firm Husch Blackwell to review the program, were equally supportive of Dockendorf taking over as the program’s head coach, or close to it.
Multiple former Red Rocks told the Deseret News that Dockendorf is a “great coach” and one noted specifically that she believes Dockendorf has the ability to “calm down” what they allege has been a toxic atmosphere at Utah.
“I never had any problems with her (Dockendorf) and I honestly think and hope that she is going to help the team and environment,” she said. “I feel she could continue to make a good impact in the lives of those who are on the team by pushing and motivating them to do their best every day, while still helping them have fun and enjoy the sport they love.
“... I believe she’s capable of caring for each and every one of them as an individual first, and athlete second. Which would lead her to always being there for them no matter what happens in practice or competition.”
Two former Utah gymnasts who were contacted by the Deseret News for this story, who were among the number that alleged abuse by Farden and who did not want to be identified, did not have anything ill to say of Dockendorf, but expressed that they had been hopeful that the university would just “clean house” to move on completely from the Farden era.
Overwhelming, though, most current and former Red Rocks stand firmly in support of Dockendorf leading the program, this season and into the future.
