Typically the summer is an awfully slow time for NCAA gymnastics, but lately there is  quite a bit of news to report. 

Conference re-alignment is shaking up the NCAA, driven by revenue sports like football, TV contracts and, most importantly, some sweet moola. All are understandable motives for change by Universities, but this will have a big impact on NCAA gymnastics. Most recently, Pac 10 and Big 10 gymnastics just got a bit bigger. 

University of Nebraska started things off by migrating from the Big 12 to the Big 10. Currently they plan to move over in the fall of 2011, giving Big 12 women's gymnastics one more year with 4 teams. After that it will become a sad tri-meet between Oklahoma, Missouri, and Iowa State. 

On the men's side, the Big 10 move is great for both the Nebraska men's program and Big 10 Men's Gymnastics. “The addition of Nebraska to the Big Ten is extremely exciting,” Illinois men’s gymnastics associate head coach Justin Spring said in a press release. “With the number of men's gymnastics programs dwindling across the country, adding a seventh team to our conference is a huge boost to our sport. Nebraska has always been a strong program and with them joining the Big Ten, we will all have to increase our competition level."

Currently the Nebraska men compete in the MPSF Conference made up of Oklahoma, Stanford, Cal, and Air Force. This will obviously hurt them, and I can only hope the best for Cal whose program has an uncertain future.  

On to the west coast, University of Utah gymnastics is no longer a loner. It was announced earlier today that Utah will join the Pac 10. This is HUGE for Pac 10 Gymnastics. It will give them 8 gymnastics schools, tying it with the new Big 10 as the largest women's gymnastics conference in the NCAA (SEC has 7 gymnastics schools). Another fun fact: Utah and UCLA have combined to win 15 (of 29) NCAA women's gymnastics championships. 

Utah will be coming from the Mountain West Conference which does not host a gymnastics conference meet. But speaking of the MWC, they have just added Boise State which is a negative for their gymnastics program who finished 2nd at the 2010 WAC Conference Championships. Boise is left without a conference and WAC gymnastics takes a hit. 

The conference changing craze seems to have died down for now, but I'll keep you updated if any other moves affect the gymnastics world. 

Now for other news in NCAA gymnastics:

- Penn State women's Head Coach Steve Shephard announced his resignation yesterday. I had the opportunity to get to know Steve this year and I am really sad to see him go. Assistant coach Jess Bastardi will serve as the interim head coach until they find a replacement. From the Daily Collegian

- The Cal Berkeley men's & women's gymnastics programs may be in jeopardy. Read about it here.

- UCLA star Vanessa Zamarripa earned international elite status last week in Florida and her scores qualified her to compete at the 2010 US Championships in Hartford. Read about it here. 

- University of Arkansas graduate Casey Jo Magee has decided to try elite for the very first time at age 21. She's currently trying to qualify on 3 events (leaving out bars) which is tougher to do score-wise. She's fallen short the first 2 tries, but I'm confident she'll get it done. Her beam has serious potential to competitive in the elite world. 

     

- Oklahoma senior Hollie Vise was named Big 12 Sportsperson of the Year. Good choice! Here's a look back at Hollie's Big 12 Floor Championship performance:

     

- University of Denver has hired Jay Hogue as an assistant. Hogue has been coaching at Broadway Gymnastics in Florida, and was a previous long-time staff member at Orlando Metro.  He replaces Nilson Savage who left in the middle of last season. From collegegymfans.com

- Vicki Chliszczyk has been named the Head Coach at Towson, replacing Dick Filbert, who retired. Chliszczyk has been an assistant for the past five season at Maryland and is a native of Canada, where she competed in gymanstics. From collegegymfans.com

- This doesn't have a ton to do with NCAA aside from the fact that many Canadian National team members come to the US for collegiate gymnastics, but up in Canada, National Team Head Coach Vladamir Lashin resigned from his position after a unanimous vote of non-confidence in him by Canadian coaches. They're seeking a replacement. Recently Rick McCharles contributed a video of a post-Canadian Championships bar clinic with Vladamir. Check it out. 

Now it's your turn. Did I miss anything? And what are your thoughts on all of this, particularly the conference shakeups?